Family Mart’s celebration of the Nintendo series continues with fuzzy, useful, and, most importantly, cute merch.
The villagers of Nintendo’s Animal Crossing video game series recently moved into new dwellings: Family Mart. We recently took a look at the line of Animal Crossing cosmetics that are part of the collaboration, but even if you’re not in the market for moisturizer or an adorable lipstick holder case, there are still ways to get in on the fun with some soft, cozy, and functional merch.
That might look like just a decorative plushie strap of twin tanuki Timmy and Tommy. Undo the snap on the reverse side, though, and you’ll find that there’s a terrycloth towel hidden inside!
Hand towels like this are incredibly, well, handy to have on you when out and about in Japan. It’s rare for public restrooms to be stocked with paper towels, and alternatively, as we get farther from winter the weather is going to get increasingly hot and humid, so having something soft and absorbent to towel yourself off with can be a lifesaver on a sweaty afternoon.
The towel itself attaches to the pouch interior with a snap too, and there’s another snap on the pouch’s strap, so you can completely detach the towel and use the pouch to hold something else, like a pair of sunglasses.
And since the strap has a snap too, you can even attach it to a hook or towel rack and hang the towel up for use at home.
There’s less flexibility in terms of how to use the other crossover creation we’re looking at today, but no shortage of cuteness in Family Mart’s Animal Crossing socks.
In some parts of the world, convenience store socks would fall firmly in the “things you buy because you went out, got drunk, and just now woke up in a storm drain” category (hey, it happens). However, Family Mart has been winning fans by offering surprisingly high-quality, and comfortable, apparel essentials, with their socks in particular becoming a fan favorite, so much so that they even sold socks for ice cream for a while.
Available in both adult and kid sizes, Family Mart’s Animal Crossing socks are a clever mix of aesthetic elements. The stripes feature hues that regularly show up in the games’ color design, acting as a subtle signal to fellow fans while still looking fashionable in their own right to those unfamiliar with the source material. Printed on the lower part of the socks is an illustration of Tom Nook and the series’ in-Japanese title (どうぶつの森/Dobutsu no Mori [“Animal Forest”]. Having the more overt references to the games on the lower part of the socks makes perfect sense from a Japanese cultural perspective. Since you remove your shoes when entering a Japanese home, once you’re among friends you can feel free to unabashedly geek out together over your video game socks.
In addition to being sold inside Family Mart branches, the Animal Crossing socks and towel/pouch, priced at 600 yen (US$3.90) and 2,290 yen, respectively, can be ordered through Family Mart’s online store here (payment in Bells not accepted, however).
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