Shintaro Tsuji founded Sanrio on August 10, 1960, then known as the Yamanashi Silk Company using ¥1,000,000 in capital. In 2006, Sanrio launched Sanrio Digital together with Typhoon Games to expand to the Internet, online games, and mobile services.

Sanrio is the global lifestyle brand best known for Hello Kitty who was created in 1974, and home to many other beloved character brands such as My Melody, Kuromi, LittleTwinStars, Cinnamoroll, Pompompurin, gudetama, Aggretsuko, Chococat, Bad Badtz-Maru and Kerokerokeroppi. Hello Kitty was added to the lineup of early Sanrio characters in 1974 and the first related merchandise was released the following year.

Aggretsuko also get three animated adaptations by Fanworks, one aired on TBS and the later two were released officially on Netflix.

In 2006, Sanrio announced they're going to do feature-length films again when they announced they were making 2 new movies: Nezumi Monogatari: George To Gerald no Bouken ( Mouse Story: George and Gerald's Adventure), about mice living together, and Cinnamoroll: The Movie, about the character Cinnamoroll. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. For a time, Osamu Tezuka's baby unicorn character Unico, who starred in two feature-length anime movies in the early 1980s, was also part of the Sanrio empire; however, the rights to Unico shifted to Tezuka's own company after Tezuka's death in 1989. In the late 1960s the company began producing goods with the dog character Snoopy, from the American comic strip Peanuts, after acquiring the Japanese licensing rights. Sanrio Digital produces and publishes digital content based on Sanrio intellectual property assets like Hello Kitty, My Melody, Badtz Maru and many others.Sanrio characters have been among the most wanted content requested by mobile content providers and telecom operators, as Sanriowave ended up as a good business opportunity. The first season with 26 episodes premiered on select networks in Europe and Asia, including Hong Kong, beginning in the first quarter of 2008. And here's the exciting part for our UK friends: we ship everything straight from our kawaii headquaters in the UK, so you can say goodbye to surprise import fees. I hereby agree that Sanrio GmbH, Zwischen den Toren 9, 21465 Wentorf bei Hamburg (Germany) processes my e-mail address for the purpose of sending a newsletter via e-mail and that Sanrio informs me regarding its products, offers and company news via e-mail.

The popular feline whose mouth is usually invisible has had both peaks and drops in sales over the years but always has been the highest contributor to Sanrio's sales. The word Sanrio comes from the Spanish words " san" (a shortened form of " santo"—"saint", "saintly", "sacred"—used in giving saints' names) and " río"("river"). Jewelpet was also adapted into an anime metaseries in 2009, which was also produced by Studio Comet, spanning 6 official seasons and one theatrical movie, making it the longest-running anime adaptation of a Sanrio franchise in history. Following the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Sanrio and Mercis reached an out-of-court settlement on June 7, 2011, for Sanrio to halt production worldwide of merchandise that feature Cathy. Igloo’s limited-edition Hello Kitty 50 th Anniversary Cooler Collection includes a personal-sized 7-quart Little Playmate cooler and a stainless steel 16-ounce can with advanced temperature retention — both showcasing specially designed pastel-gradient artwork and 50 th anniversary marks commemorating Hello Kitty and this momentous occasion in Sanrio’s history.The all-new Hello Kitty 50 th Anniversary Cooler Collection, featuring a Little Playmate cooler and stainless steel 16-ounce can, are available now. They claimed that one of Hello Kitty's companion characters, a rabbit named Cathy, infringes on the copyright and trademark of Miffy. Get ready to do a little happy dance when you feast your eyes on our hand-picked selection of official Sanrio merchandise. Sanrio constantly adds new characters to its lineup (up to three a year), so some of the older characters go into retirement.