I remember Tiffany Grant , a voice actress  had  hosted a panel at  Kumoricon, the anime convention in Portland, Vancouver area. She gave a history of Hello Kitty and Sanrio noting sales slowed in the in 80’s  after the initial released in 1970,s. While there are other reasons for the decline, resulting in hiring of Yuko Yamaguch.

When  there was an up tick  of sales, founder Shintaro Tsuji did marketing research, and noted young women who were fans as children were buying items for their children. Mr. Tsuji a decision to go after the young women demographic.

The takeaway is if Hello Kitty is only for little girls, then why is Sanrio have so many collections  and collaboration aimed at Juniors and young women?  There are many collaborations I can name off the top of my head,: Mac Cosmetics, Forever 21, Vans.  Now with the Kiss and Street fighter collaboration, Sanrio is signaling they are ready to make a play for the final frontier: The Male market.