K-fashion struts its stuff abroad as global trend leader

Industry

Published: 04 Mar. 2024, 17:54

K-fashion struts its stuff abroad as global trend leader

Visitors line up as they await the opening of Matin Kim's pop-up store at Hankyu Department Store's Osaka branch. The seven-day event was hosted from Feb. 21 to 27. [HUGO HAUS]

Young Korean fashion brands are tapping overseas markets as they find bigger opportunities on the popularity of Korean culture.

K-content as well as Korean makeup and fashion are gaining traction abroad, especially in Japan, enough to catch the attention of the country's major department stores.

Matin Kim is one such brand that is gearing up to launch in Japan after successfully opening pop-up stores in Tokyo and Osaka.

During the weeklong pop-up store hosted at Hankyu Department Store’s Umeda branch from Feb. 21, customers huddled in line even before the store opened, exactly like Korea’s “open run” phenomenon where people wait in line on a first-come-first-served basis to acquire goods with limited availability or capitalize on attractive sales.

Matin Kim’s pop-up store caught the eye of young Japanese consumers when popular influencers visited the store on its opening day.

The idea of the recent pop-up store was initially proposed by Hankyu Department Store, according to the Korean brand's investor and online fashion platform Hago Haus, a brand incubator that supports the offline business of Matin Kim and other labels like Depound, VocaVaca and Uniform Bridge.

Matin Kim’s first pop-up store in Japan, which opened at Tokyo’s Shibuya Parco Mall last October, drew 100 visitors daily and reaped sales of 500 million won ($375,776) over a 12-day period.

Following its recent successes, the brand will launch two more pop-up stores in Nagoya in April and another one in Tokyo in May.

“Starting with the pop-up store in Osaka, we will try to interact with more Japanese consumers from a variety of regions and promote our brand,” said Matin Kim’s vice president, Lee Dong-gyu. “We will also propel expansion to other countries as well.”

Young designer brands such as Matin Kim are looking to pursue overseas markets as domestic demand dwindles amid an economic slowdown.

Matin Kim's pop-up store was hosted at Hankyu Department Store's Osaka branch from Feb. 21 to 27. [HUGO HAUS]

Japan is considered the next go-to region as the market share is twice the size of Korea's, generating 100 trillion won in annual revenue, and is considered to have a relatively low entry barrier as consumer body types and seasonal characteristics are similar to those in Korea.

Musinsa, another major fashion e-commerce company in Korea, opened a showroom in Tokyo for four days, showcasing 2024 Fall/Winter products from seven fashion brands including Glowny, Kijun, Rockfish Weatherwear, Rest&Recreation and Stand Oil. According to Musinsa, over 150 buyers active in Japanese fashion and retailers such as GR8, Beams and United Arrows visited the showroom, as did major department stores Hankyu and Isetan Mitsukoshi.

“We were assured from our experience running the showroom that Korean fashion brands’ distinct charms possess a competitive edge in the Japanese market,” said a Musinsa spokesperson. “We will actively support the expansion of our affiliated brands in Japan through the utilization of a variety of channels.”

Domestic brands have graced Paris Fashion Week, which kicked off on Feb. 26, one of the four major global fashion weeks along with the others in New York, Milan and London.

A local womenswear brand, Time, debuted in the global market through the Paris showcase, holding a solo presentation in the cultural complex Palais de Tokyo on Feb. 29.

Models showcase clothes from Korean designer brands System and System Homme for the 2024 Fall/Winter Collection at Paris's La Gaîté Lyrique on Jan. 21. [HYUNDAI DEPARTMENT STORE]

Established in 1993, Time is one of the brands under the Hyundai Department Store’s The Handsome apparel group. Other fashion labels under The Handsome such as System and System as well as designer brands Homme Songzio and WooYoungMi participated in the Paris Fashion Week as well.

Songzio, which has cut the ribbon on a shop in France’s luxury department store Printemps, simultaneously opened flagship stores in Seoul and Paris.

Some brands have opted to initially enter the overseas market before pivoting back to Korea. One such instance is Kimhekim, which debuted overseas through 2019’s Fall/Winter Paris Fashion Week. Established in 2016 by designer and brand CEO Kim In-tae, it is promoted as a high-end contemporary brand that is popular on global retail platforms such as Farfetch and Ssense.

The brand has opened a pop-up in Lotte Department Store’s Myeongdong branch that runs until March 25, aiming to introduce the K-fashion brand to Korean consumers.

According to Lotte, almost half of the sales at the brand’s flagship store in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul derive from foreign visitors and tourists.

“It’s hardly an exaggeration to say that K-fashion has the new ‘it’ brands that are leading the global fashion industry,” said an industry insider who wished to remain anonymous. “Expansion to the global market is anticipated to be proportionate to sales growth.”

BY KIM KYUNG-MI [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]