The sudden surge of squishies is driven by Tiktok trends, nostalgia, and sensory fidgeting needs. It seems like everyone wants to own all the types of squishies. Most stores you go to, their stock sell out shortly after a shipment due to the popularity of squishies.
Squishies started to gain a lot of popularity around 2014 to 2017. Countries like Japan would make soft form squishies that were first designed to get the attention of the female population based on Rebecca Deczynski research . They would make the squishies with cute designs like a cute cat, big fruits that also smell like the fruit, and other foods or animals. As different squishies were released many Youtubers would do unboxing videos or would restore old broken squishies.
One of the most popular Youtubers was Moriah Elizabeth. According to Moriah’s YouTube, she has 10.7 million subscribers. Many saw her videos and would end up wanting to get more squishies. People would send her their old squishies for her to use to create new ones.
In 2021, brands like Nee Doh, Taba, and soft foam squishies started to rise in popularity with the amount of media attention they were getting. Lots of popular influencers would show off all the new squishies they would get. Up to this day there are a dozen different Needohs and squishies with hundreds of variations. Countless toys are getting purchased a day because people either need to get a new one because it popped, their friends just got the newest one that they also like, or they just want to add more to the variety they already have.
There are many different types of squishies that people rave over. The most popular brands are Nee Doh’s, Dumplings, Taba Squishies and many more that aren’t name brands but similar. That said, with all the new and cute designs they are coming out with, it doesn’t seem like there will be a decline in squishy sales anytime soon but mostly a rise in sales and popularity.
