The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The seven-man K-pop sensation and Louis Vuitton ambassadors are at the heart of a burgeoning fashion business — their own. Following successful runs in countries like South Korea, the US and Thailand, BTS will launch three more offline stores in Asia from May to October, an arm of the band’s entertainment company, HYBE, announced this week.
The pop-ups, which will be centred around BTS’ fourth studio album, Map of the Soul, will sell merchandise spanning fashion and lifestyle goods. In Singapore, the space will open in partnership with Korea’s Lotte Department Store.
According to Manilla Bulletin, the Seoul pop-up, which was held from October 2020 to January 2021, welcomed 70,000 shoppers in four months. An earlier Singapore store drew around 30,000 visitors in four months and extended its run for two months due to strong demand.
Local streetwear brands, festivals and stores selling major global labels remain relatively small but the country’s community of hypebeasts and sneakerheads is growing fast.
This week’s round-up of global markets fashion business news also features Senegalese investors, an Indian menswear giant and workers’ rights in Myanmar.
Though e-commerce reshaped retailing in the US and Europe even before the pandemic, a confluence of economic, financial and logistical circumstances kept the South American nation insulated from the trend until later.
This week’s round-up of global markets fashion business news also features Korean shopping app Ably, Kenya’s second-hand clothing trade and the EU’s bid to curb forced labour in Chinese cotton.