[10][11] According to her backstory, she lives in a London suburb with her family, and is close to her twin sister Mimmy, who is depicted with a yellow bow.

[13][14] Originally, Hello Kitty was only marketed towards pre-teenage girls, but beginning in the 1990s, the brand found commercial success among teenage and adult consumers as well.

A variety of products have featured the character over the years, like school supplies, clothing, accessories, and toys, along with other items.

[27] Hello Kitty has also instead been put forth as an early example of mukokuseki, a Japanese term meaning "stateless" or "nationless" in reference to characters lacking any identifiable national background.

[28] The character's first appearance on an item was in March 1975 on a vinyl coin purse sold in Japan, where she was pictured sitting between a bottle of milk and a goldfish bowl.

The newspaper later wrote that analysts called the characterization "weak",[17] and that Hello Kitty not having a mouth has dampened her success as an animated TV character.

[23] Beginning in 2007, following trends in Japan, Sanrio began using darker designs for Hello Kitty with more black and less pink and pulled away from kawaii styles.

A court in Amsterdam ruled in favour of Mercis in November 2010 and ordered Sanrio to stop the production and sale of merchandise featuring Cathy in the Benelux countries.

[44] Sharon Kinsella, a lecturer at Oxford University on Japanese sociology, called the selection of Hello Kitty "a bit farcical ... as if a dumbed-down cultural icon ... can somehow do something significant to alter the gnarly and difficult state of China–Japan relations.

[48][11][49] Official character profiles list her full name as Kitty White (キティ・ホワイト, Kiti Howaito), born in the suburbs of London, England, on November 1.

She likes to play the piano and collect cute things, and her favorite subjects in school are English, music, and art.

[50][12] In addition to family, Hello Kitty is also depicted with several animal friends, including the mice Joey and Judy, the bears Tippy and Thomas, the raccoon Tracy and the squirrel Rorry.

In January 2011, the show's creators mutually agreed to end the series after twelve seasons, with the final episode being broadcast on 29 March 2011.

[59] In March 2016, Sanrio launched a webcomic featuring Hello Kitty as a strawberry-themed superhero called Ichigoman (ichigo meaning strawberry).

Yoshiki, who was the first celebrity to have his own Hello Kitty doll, "Yoshikitty", was approached by Yamaguchi to compose the song seven years prior.

Hello Kitty and My Melody (another Sanrio character) appeared together in Super Mario Maker as unlockable Mystery Mushroom costumes.

[81] In early 2019, it was revealed that New Line Cinema would be teaming up alongside Sanrio and Flynn Picture Company for an "English language film based on the venerable kid brand.

"[82] In 2021, it was reported that Jennifer Coyle and Leo Matsuda had been hired to direct the film with Lindsey Beer set to pen the script.

[83] Originally aimed at the pre-adolescent female market, the Hello Kitty product range has expanded from dolls, stickers, greeting cards, board games,[84] clothes, backpacks, lunch boxes, piggy banks, pencils, erasers, accessories, school supplies and stationery to purses, toasters, televisions, other home appliances, massagers, motor oil[85] and computer equipment.

This venture marked a strategic move to expand the product lines targeted at older audiences, combining the iconic character's charm with the sophistication of wine.

[94][95][96] In 2014, Sanrio partnered with the Indonesian theme park Dufan to introduce Hello Kitty Adventure, a cinema based attraction.

Hello Kitty is featured on the receiving blankets, room decor, bed linens, birth certificate covers, and nurses' uniforms.

[113] Also in 2018, Converse collaborated with Sanrio to create a collection which includes shoes ranging from kids' to adult sizes as well as clothing and bags.

[118] In 1994, artist Tom Sachs was invited to create a scene for Barneys New York Christmas displays and titled it Hello Kitty Nativity.

This contemporary revision of the nativity scene[119] demonstrated Sachs' interest in the phenomena of consumerism, branding, and the cultural fetishization of products.

In 2009, Tom Sachs' Bronze Collection was shown at the Public art space in Manhattan's Lever House, as well as in the Baldwin Gallery in Aspen, Colorado, and the Trocadéro in Paris.

The collection featured white bronze casts of a foam core Hello Kitty sculpture – a style distinctive to the artist.

[120] Although Sachs did not seek permission to use the character in his work, a brand marketing manager for Sanrio was quoted as saying "You know, there was Marilyn Monroe and Andy Warhol, and then Michael Jackson and Jeff Koons.

The Hello Kitty Stratocaster guitar, originally released in 2005, was initially aimed at pre-teen girls,[88] but has since been used by notable guitarists including Krist Novoselic, Courtney Love, Dave Navarro, and Lisa Loeb.

[129] The Atlantic described the sketch as both "a skewering of the ever-expanding Hello Kitty commercial universe" and as capturing the gaslighting and manipulation of truth of the time.