The "big-headed dolls" priced over 10,000 yuan have become a new type of luxury for the "pain-stricken" young people.

The head circumference of humans usually ranges between 55 - 60 cm. But miraculously, it doesn't look out of place at all when a cartoon big head measuring 70 - 80 cm is worn on a human body.

Recently, more and more young people have become obsessed with these two - dimensional style doll costumes and head shells, turning themselves into "walking dolls".

They are called "kig players", short for "kigurumi", a borrowed Japanese word meaning "putting on a doll". Even a 1.8 - meter - tall man can turn himself into a cute big - eyed girl as long as he customizes a suitable head shell.

It doesn't belong to the second dimension, nor the third dimension. They are a 2.5D existence. Different from the cosplay circle, the most intuitive understanding of kig is: "Cosplay is using the third dimension to represent the second dimension, but kig is directly bringing the second dimension into the third dimension, just like a figurine."

It can also be said that kig is a cosplay with a lower threshold. Players don't need to wear makeup, and their real faces are not shown. They also don't need a perfect figure, as they will wear a flesh - colored bodysuit to cover every inch of exposed skin. All of this is to hide themselves and restore the character, bringing the beloved two - dimensional characters into the real world.  

In China, this is still a niche and avant - garde field, but the price is beyond imagination. Just a single kig doll head shell has an average price of around 3,000 yuan in the industry, and top merchants can even sell them for 6,000 yuan or more.

When the once - niche ACG culture openly presents collectibles and themed items to the public, and as more people enter the two - dimensional market, turning it into a red ocean, there are always some people who target more niche segmented markets and find new blue oceans. Take this kig head shell customization service store, Ouyu KIGLAND, for example. It received seed - round financing from Miracle Plus just over a year after its establishment.

It's getting harder and harder to understand what young people are into.

Only 998

Ouyu's first market appearance brought a sensational news to the kig circle in 2024: 998! Just 998 yuan for the whole collection! This is their first "big hit in the circle" cosplay head shell - a lively girl with onion - green double ponytails.

The on - body effect of the seller's show in the Taobao review section

What does it mean to get such a head shell for only 998 yuan?

Yangzi, a senior kig player who has been in the pit for 5 years, told me that 3,000 yuan is the baseline in this industry. In 2022, she spent 3,000 yuan on her first BJD doll - style head shell. If she wanted higher quality, in the early days of the industry, a second - hand head shell from Heyao Workshop would cost 3,000 yuan. She once bought one on Xianyu, and when it arrived, the head shell was soaked in the second - hand smoke smell of the previous owner, and it took a long time for the smell to dissipate.

Yangzi's (far right) first BJD doll - style head shell

Now you're saying a brand - new one for 998 yuan? It's hard not to suspect it's a fraud. In Ouyu's fan group, many people were on the fence, afraid of receiving a shoddy money - grabbing product. But on one hand, Ouyu issued 300 - yuan large - value coupons in the private group, so the first few dozen users only actually spent 698 yuan. On the other hand, they promised to remake the head shells for free for users who received sub - standard products until every user who received the product could praise the sub - thousand - yuan head shell as cute.

These promises made those hesitant users couldn't help but place an order to try something new. After getting the head shell, their reactions were quite consistent: "For this quality at 998 yuan, what more could you ask for?" Ouyu's money - losing deal was scolded by peers for a long time as "pretending to be a good - hearted person and disrupting market competition". But for ordinary players, this is a great thing. "Where did this person come from to do charity?"

The founder, Li Mingwei, is a post - 2000s who entered the industry in 2024.

Although he is young, he has a rather rich resume. Graduated from Harbin Sport University, he was once a speed - skating athlete, coach, and referee. He did software outsourcing for the Information Department of Harbin Branch of China Merchants Bank, served as the CTO of a web3 startup, and worked as a curator for fan - made comic conventions...

This series of titles seemingly have nothing to do with industrial design and fast - moving consumer goods. But the core identity that supports him to start a business in the kig circle is being an old - school otaku.

Li Mingwei is not only an old - school otaku but also a niche old - school otaku who is always one step ahead. In 2016, when the term "collectibles" wasn't even popular in China, he was importing "badges" (anime badges) from Shanghai suppliers and selling them at Harbin comic conventions. In 2018, he organized a fan community and successfully held several local "fan - only events" - which is also a popular trend in local two - dimensional comic conventions this year. In 2022, when the pandemic was about to end, he noticed the strong social desire of the two - dimensional group that hadn't had offline communication gatherings for a long time, and he started to enter the market for cosplay peripheral props in advance.

To date, the two - dimensional economy has evolved from the entertainment of a small group to a mass consumption frenzy. According to iiMedia Research data, the scale of China's general two - dimensional users has increased from 212 million in 2017 to 503 million in 2024, covering a wide range of two - dimensional fields such as anime, games, and novels. But the commonality is that young people no longer want to hide their love for virtual characters in their hearts. Instead, they want to openly display it as another social label representing their personal identity.

Driven by this underlying logic, when searching for new business ideas in 2023, Li Mingwei naturally turned his attention to the kig circle.

He noticed the term "kigurumi" in 2020. At that time, the bloggers showing head shells were mainly concentrated on Twitter. He customized his first anime - style cute girl head shell at a personal store called "Rabbit", and as one of the earliest vtubers (virtual streamers) with the ID Remi, he went live on Bilibili while wearing the head shell, even coding.  

Remi's look

This circle has an audience base, but there are also inherent problems. Currently, most head shell manufacturers operate in the mode of small workshops, with a maximum of 15 orders per month per shop. The production capacity of head shell manufacturers is seriously insufficient. If compared with top workshops, the production cycle of some shops ranges from 3 months to a year and a half, and users can't even get on the order list even if they have money.

Obviously, there is still a huge unmet demand in this market.

Build a "super factory" for the two - dimensional world

In 2023, Li Mingwei just finished his full - time job at a technology company and decided to fully invest in the kigurumi startup project. His technical partner, Ma Han, also joined as a partner. Among the areas around Shanghai, Kunshan Industrial Park has the lowest land price. He rented a cheap private house in Huaqiao Town and started learning to make head shells from scratch.

Generally, a head shell has three components: a 3D - printed hard face shell, handmade wigs, and makeup.

At that time, the most money - and time - consuming problem was that many individual workshops couldn't make 3D - printed face shells by themselves. According to his research, small workshops had to outsource the face shell for modeling, printing, and painting. Just this part of the bill would cost over 1,000 yuan. That's why the pricing of individual kig makers is so high.

After weighing the options, he decided to teach himself 3D modeling and then find an external factory for printing, which could compress the cost to 200 - 300 yuan per face shell. He also learned on the go about wig pattern - making and face - mold makeup. They disassembled a sewing machine to make hairnets, using the "ancient method of pattern - making" with plastic wrap to determine the cutting position. For makeup, he started from art line - drawings and learned color - mixing.

Naturally, they took many detours in the process. For example, they sewed the hairnet with needles for a long time only to find that others used magnets. They couldn't control the spraying well, and the sprayed faces looked shiny and became waste. It's imaginable that there were many failed products. By the end, they even didn't have money to make molds. After all this hard work until November, "only one out of ten was presentable." But after all the tinkering, they successfully received a few orders.

At first, Li Mingwei didn't think about large - scale production. He just thought that he and Ma Han could work together, complete a few orders a month, and split the living expenses. 2024 was a turning point for him. After their small workshop met the quality standards, "I had two options in front of me: either run a small shop or seriously start a business. But I didn't know where the small shop was headed. I thought its sustainability was very poor."

He knew many small shops of his peers, and their survival cycles were within this range. They could only complete three to five orders a month. Later, some went back to work, and some left the circle. Eventually, they couldn't last long.

"The problem isn't how difficult the technology is, but how to match production with flexible and changeable demands. I don't want this to be overly subjective or experience - based. I want it to be standardized. So I decided to seriously start a business. We want to build a 'two - dimensional super studio' that can meet more demands."

The two emptied their savings and took out loans, raising 200,000 yuan to build the whole workshop. It was the sauna - like weather in the Yangtze River Delta region in 2024. Since the power of the blister machine was over 2,000W, only one of the air - conditioner and the equipment in the room could be turned on, and of course, it wasn't the air - conditioner.

At an operating temperature of 160 degrees, the room temperature reached 40 degrees, and they could only rely on a Xiaomi fan for cooling. This experience made him obsessed with air - conditioners. So now, his factory is one of the few in the industrial park that equips employees with air - conditioners.

Li Mingwei's early studio

Another "cost - reducing innovation" of his is the wigs. Generally, in the cosplay circle, those responsible for making wigs are called "wig ladies". Wig ladies teach themselves cutting, dyeing, and spraying out of love for the two - dimensional world. It's a completely time - and labor - consuming manual job. On Xianyu, wig ladies charge an average of 500 - 1,000 yuan, and users need to wait in line, with a production cycle ranging from half a month to a month. Peers who make wigs also recruit wig ladies who understand the two - dimensional world.

But for the sake of efficiency, Li Mingwei really recruited professional hair stylists. In Kunshan, an industrial city where the average monthly salary is 4,000 - 5,000 yuan, Li Mingwei offered a monthly salary of 13,000 yuan to a hair stylist. He talked to four or five local laid - off hair stylists, and it took a lot of time just to explain "what the two - dimensional world is". Many people didn't understand, but fortune favors the brave. There was still a hair stylist who was interested in trying this new position.

The professionally - trained hair stylist has now become the styling director of the studio. "He can cut five heads at the same time in an afternoon. 'And this kig head doesn't hurt, and he doesn't have the pressure of constantly communicating with customers. For the teacher, this job is actually easier.' " Li Mingwei said.

This year, the studio expanded, and Li Mingwei moved to a larger industrial park in Kunshan. They occupy an entire floor. Surrounded by workshops making precision - processing equipment and recycling hardware, they carry a bunch of cartoon big heads downstairs for packing and shipping every day, attracting many surprised looks from the workers.

In this niche and