Super fan profile: Emily Simpson

We got the chance to catch up with Emily Simpson, one of our UK based super fans!

· Can you remember what the first Hello Kitty product you bought was?

I’m really not sure of the first ever Hello Kitty product I’ve owned.. I had a few things when I was little, and I remember my sister had a phone charm which I thought  was so cute! But I only really fell in love with her and started collecting on a large scale when I left school and had my own income, almost my whole pay cheque goes on Hello Kitty and Disney memorabilia haha! I bought so much in the beginning it’s hard to remember the first thing, but it was probably a Beanie Baby! I loved them all so much as soon as I found them, I bought all the ones I could find, now the only ones I’m missing are rare ones and exclusives from other countries!

· What is your favourite Hello Kitty product?

I have so many to choose from but one of my favourites would have to be my giant Hello Kitty TY Beanie Baby! It’s huge! It’s about 5ft tall and 5ft wide and she sits in the corner of my room.. There are only 6 of them in the world and she’s so special! I feel so lucky to have her. The Hello Kitty Beanie Babies are the main items I collect, I have over 250 of them! My goal is to one day own all of the variations. Another one of my favourites is my Hello Kitty x Tokidoki collaboration leather plush, she’s so cute and has a really awesome Tokidoki print on her, she’s very hard to find, but I found her for a bargain price on eBay! Like a lot of pieces my collection. I also love Hello Kitty bags and purses… I have too many!

· What collaboration would you like to see in the future?

Something I would really like to see is a Disney and Sanrio collaboration, as these are my two favourite things to collect. I think a collaboration with Disney would be so cute and very popular bringing two different fanbases together. I also really enjoyed the collaboration at Cutter and Squidge, my boyfriend and I went for the afternoon tea and it was adorable!

· How would you describe your relationship with Hello Kitty and what do you love the most about her?

I love Hello Kitty so much, she’s very close to my heart! I love the friendship side of her the most and how she brings people from all over the world together with her happiness and cuteness, I have many friends in different countries thanks to Hello Kitty, including my best friend Laura (hello_twitchy) who I met on Instagram, she lives in San Diego and I went to visit her last summer for a few weeks and we are so close and so alike, Hello Kitty brought us together! Now we are baes for life :* We both are huge lovers of Hello Kitty and Sanrio, and we also both attended Hello Kitty Con in LA for the 40th anniversary!

Now I think it’s time for Sanrio to launch a European store! Then we can welcome even more people to the Sanrio family.

Discover Emily’s impressive Hello Kitty collection on her Instagram page:  @hellokittylondon