In 1962, Shintaro Tsuji, founder of Sanrio, began selling rubber sandals with flowers painted on them. Tsuji noted the profits gained by adding a cute design to the shoes and hired … See more

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 … See more

Animated series
There have been several different animated series starring Hello Kitty. The first was Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater, an animated television series with 13 22-minute episodes that premiered in 1987. The next, an See more

In 1994, artist Tom Sachs was invited to create a scene for Barneys New York Christmas displays and titled it Hello Kitty Nativity. In the scene, the Virgin Mary was replaced by Madonna with an open Chanel bra, the three Kings were all Bart Simpson, … See more

Hello Kitty is a gijinka, an anthropomorphism or personification of a Japanese Bobtail cat. Official character profiles list her full … See more

Originally aimed at the pre-adolescent female market, the Hello Kitty product range has expanded from dolls, stickers, greeting cards, board games, clothes, backpacks, lunch boxes, piggy banks, pencils, erasers, accessories, school supplies and … See more

• Official website
• Hello Kitty at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. See more