Korea-born fashion brands are making a foray into overseas markets in search of a breakthrough amid the sluggish domestic fashion market

2014-03-10 19:09

Fashion brands look overseas

By Park Ji-won
Korea-born fashion brands are making a foray into overseas markets in search of a breakthrough amid the sluggish domestic fashion market.
Handsome, a fashion company owned by Hyundai Department Store, recently opened a branch of its fashion boutique, Tom Greyhound Downstairs, on Rue de Saintonge in Paris. The branch is Handsome’s first international outpost and part of the company’s global expansion strategy.
“The fashion boutique will be used as a showroom for our fashion brands in the European market,” said Vice President Jeff Jun of Handsome’s overseas fashion division.
“We expect its performance may help expand our business to other countries such as the United States.”
The fashion boutique, launched in May 2008, will sell other fashion brands such as Alexander Wang, Jil Sander and MM6 by Maison Martin Margiela to diversify its portfolio and attract more customers.
SK Networks, an SK Group affiliate focusing on the hotel and fashion businesses, said it partnered with Taiwanese apparel distribution giant Munsin Garment Corp. on Feb. 26 in a bid to promote its women’s fashion brand O’2nd to other East Asian countries.
With the assistance of the Taiwanese distributor, O’2nd will open a branch in the second half of this year in Taiwanese department stores, including Pacific Sogo, the company added.
“We are putting much effort to securing the distribution channels for expansion markets rather than going overseas alone,” SK Networks official Jang Se-chan said.
The brand has already tapped into 18 countries and aims to increase its presence in Asian markets in the long run.
Samsung Everland, an affiliate of Samsung Group, is also trying to capture Chinese customers. It plans to open a large store for its fast fashion brand 8ight Seconds in Beijing and Shanghai at the end of next year, a source who declined to be named said.
The fashion brand aims to earn some 10 trillion won in revenue by 2020 as part of its effort to become a global brand.
Since 2005, Samsung Everland has been operating more than 160 outlets of its casual fashion brand Bean Pole in Shanghai and Beijing, as well as some 30 outlets of its men’s casual fashion brand MVIO in Korea. It plans to increase the number of MVIO outlets to 50 this year.
E-Land Group, a fashion and food retail conglomerate, expanded its fast fashion brand SPAO to Japan and China in July and December last year, respectively. From the beginning, SPAO plans to surpass Japanese fast fashion brand Uniqlo. E-Land also plans to introduce the brand to Europe, in which they have already acquired fashion firms.
“Only large fashion companies can expand their business to overseas markets because doing so requires a significant amount of capital to secure distribution channels overseas,” a market insider, asking for anonymity, said.
“The expansion of brands overseas is an investment to capture future customers at young ages amid the competitive and sluggish Korean fashion market. China will be their first target because it is close to Korea and rapidly growing. Expanding to China can help companies secure capital for expansion to the European or U.S. markets,” the market insider added.