Pusheen
Pusheen began as a webcomic strip by Claire Belton and Andrew Duff and became one of the very few properties to build a major licensing business on the back of instant messaging. The character's breakthrough came through Facebook stickers, and the design is built for exactly that context: a grey tabby reduced to a few flat shapes, animated in short loops, expressive at a size where almost nothing else is legible.
About Pusheen
Pusheen began as a webcomic strip by Claire Belton and Andrew Duff and became one of the very few properties to build a major licensing business on the back of instant messaging. The character's breakthrough came through Facebook stickers, and the design is built for exactly that context: a grey tabby reduced to a few flat shapes, animated in short loops, expressive at a size where almost nothing else is legible. There is no story, no conflict and no antagonist — just a cat doing small pleasant things — which places it closer to Sanrio's design-first model than to Western character licensing, and it is one of the few American properties to succeed on those terms.
One of very few licensed characters whose breakthrough came through instant-messaging stickers rather than a book, film or series.
Rights holder: Pusheen Corp.. CharacterTshirts.com is an independent guide. It is not affiliated with, authorized by, endorsed by, or connected to any character rights holder, publisher, studio or network named on this site. All character names and titles are trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only to identify the products described.
Key eras
| Era | Years | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Webcomic | 2010–2013 | A strip on Everyday Cute, then independent. |
| Stickers | 2013–2016 | Facebook stickers make the character globally recognised. |
| Licensing | 2016– | A substantial merchandise and plush business. |