South Korea news and archive

Debut in Seoul: Arket opens first pop-up in South Korea

Fashion retailer Arket, part of the H&M Group, is opening its first pop-up shop in South Korea. The temporary store will open its doors from September 6 to 14 in Seoul, Arket announced on Thursday. The pop-up is located in the Musinsa Empty Seongsu, a concept store that offers brands a platform. The brand will present its autumn/winter 2025...

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Business

South Korea's Handsome accelerates expansion in France, plots UK growth

South Korean group Handsome, a subsidiary of Hyundai Department Store Group, is considering continued expansion in Europe, with discussions underway for regular entry into several major French department stores and wholesale contracts with global distributors, including Harrods in the UK. A Handsome official stated: "Paris serves as a...

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Podcast

Newtro and Inclusive for all- key apparel and footwear trends in South Korea

Podcast - This month’s Fashion Friday podcast series by Euromonitor International explores the South Korean apparel and footwear industry and two key trends that have emerged in this market. Considered a matured industry that has stagnated, the South Korean apparel and footwear market has shown less than 2 percent growth in 2019, reaching 29...

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Podcast

Podcast: The Popularity of Athleisure and Leggings in South Korea

Athleisure, which blurs the bounds between casual and sportswear, has been a well-known trend in the fashion world for some time. South Korea is one of the countries leading this trend, boosted by the sales of leggings. Leggings in South Korea posted a retail value of 0.6 Billion US dollars in 2018, ranking third below the USA and Japan. Global...

Fashion

Vintage fashion: senior models bridge S. Korea's age divide

Aged 70 she was working 20 hours a day in a hospital just to make ends meet. Now at 75, Choi Soon-hwa is an unlikely fashion star and model in South Korea, one of a handful of seniors who have become social media and fashion celebrities in a country where intergenerational conflict is mounting as the population ages. "I think of having this job...

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Fashion |INTERVIEW

Münn founder discusses SS20 menswear inspiration

Korean fashion label Münn, founded by Hyun-min Han, made its debut at London Fashion Week Men’s with an impressive spring/summer 2020 collection of modern streetwear twist, as the brand continues to evolve the definitions of masculinity with its tailoring. Traditional male archetypes were transformed with pinstripe tailoring elegantly feminised...

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Business

Safilo signs JV with Parma to expand distribution in South Korea

Safilo Group has entered into a joint venture agreement in South Korea with Parma International, an experienced local player active in the eyewear and sporting goods sectors, which Safilo said, will favour the development of new distribution channels in the market together with marketing and digital communication services. The company added that...

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Fashion

S. Korean cosmetics lay foundation to seduce Europe

South Korean cosmetics brands, wildly successful at home and across Asia, now have their eye on the European beauty market where their penetration is, for now, only skin-deep. Picking luxury goods powerhouse France as its bridgehead to seduce European consumers, South Korea's leading cosmetics firm Amore Pacific launched its top brand Sulwhasoo...

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Fashion

Korean K-fashion dreams of emulating K-pop at PFW

With insults being traded almost daily between Washington and Pyongyang, Koreans could be forgiven for feeling they are dancing on the edge of a geo-political volcano these days. Yet South Korea could not be more hip. The political tension on the peninsula has done nothing to dull the huge international success of South Korean K-pop singers who...

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Fashion

A plus-size challenge to South Korea's beauty 'norm'

In a country with beauty ideals that pre-makeover Barbie would struggle to meet, South Korean plus-size model Vivian Geeyang Kim is facing down online trolls in her defiant campaign to persuade curvy women they have nothing to be ashamed of. Kim has modelled for US firms, but at 165 centimetres (5.4 ft) tall and weighing 70 kilograms, she was...

Fashion

Burberry launches on Korean social platform Kakao

Heritage fashion house Burberry has become the first British luxury brand to launch on Korea’s largest social platform, Kakao, which has more than 190 million followers. Burberry has signed a global partnership with the social network, which will see the luxury fashion house sharing the showcase of its recent spring/summer 2016 womenswear...