Korean fashion brands have recently been entering the Japanese market, which has long led Asia's fashion trends. In the past, Korea's fashion industry often benchmarked Japanese fashion, but over the past few years, K-fashion has built recognition and is expanding its presence by moving directly into core commercial districts in Tokyo.
According to the fashion industry on the 26th, Dunst, a casual brand run by LF Corp.'s subsidiary Citydots, opened its first pop-up store (temporary store) in Japan this month at the Parco department store, a flagship mall representing Shibuya in Tokyo. Shibuya Parco is an iconic retail hub where global street and designer brands converge, regarded not just as a shopping mall but as a mecca for subculture and high-end fashion. Dunst plans to review whether to convert to a permanent store after checking local consumer response through the pop-up.
ADER ERROR, a brand popular mainly among the domestic MZ generation (born in the early 1980s to early 2000s), opened its first overseas flagship store in Omotesando, Tokyo, in Aug. last year. Omotesando is a premier luxury and designer retail district in Japan, considered a luxury shopping hub dense with global luxury brand stores and high-end select shops.
Matin Kim, which has established itself as a leading K-fashion brand, also opened its first flagship store in Shibuya, Tokyo, in Apr. last year. Shibuya is one of Japan's largest downtown areas, with an average daily foot traffic of 3 million people, and is regarded as the area where the latest trends among younger generations turn over the fastest.
The Korean women's contemporary brand Rest&Recreation also opened a standalone pop-up store at Shibuya Parco in Tokyo in Oct. last year. Rest&Recreation has operated pop-up stores in Japan more than four times so far and is reportedly considering opening offline stores in the country.
Beyond individual brands, there are also cases where fashion distributors are setting foot in Japan directly. The Hyundai Department Store's The Hyundai Global, which sources competitive Korean brands and operates stores through overseas distribution channels, opened its first regular store in Sep. last year at Parco Shibuya in Tokyo.
Before opening this regular store, The Hyundai Global verified local demand and sales potential by operating pop-up stores for a total of 43 brands in Japan, then shifted to a permanent store format based on the results. Hyundai Department Store plans to open an additional large-scale flagship store on a Tokyo shopping street in the first half of this year. The goal is to open a total of five retail shops in Japan over the next five years.
Online fashion platforms are also actively expanding their business in Japan. Musinsa recorded $240 billion won in gross transaction value in its global business last year, with more than half generated in Japan.
Since 2024, Musinsa has served as Matin Kim's exclusive distributor in Japan and supports local pop-ups and offline entries for promising brands. In Nov. last year, it launched a "Musinsa Shop" page on the Japanese fashion platform Zozotown, showcasing K-fashion brands. It is also pushing to open offline stores in Japan in the future.
W Concept, Shinsegae Group's women-focused fashion platform, also opened its first pop-up store in Shibuya, Tokyo, in Dec. last year and introduced 15 K-fashion brands. W Concept has increased accessibility by adding Japanese language support in the app since Aug. last year, and in Sep. last year it strengthened its overseas business by creating a global organization through executive appointments.
ably has operated amood (formerly Pastel), a shopping platform targeting Japanese women aged 18 to 35, since 2020. As K-fashion's popularity has risen recently, amood's cumulative downloads in Japan have surpassed 6.5 million, and its users among women in their teens and 20s number about 4.25 million. ably also plans to build a fulfillment center in Japan to strengthen delivery competitiveness.
Meanwhile, according to Japan's shopping mall site Rakuten Rakuma, Korea was selected as the foreign country Japanese female consumers reference most for fashion. The shares choosing Korea were ▲ under 20s 59.3% ▲ 30s 42.9% ▲ 40s 27.1% ▲ 50s 24.9%. Among those under 20, Korea has ranked No. 1 for nine consecutive years.
A representative at KOTRA's Tokyo Trade Center said, "As content-based information consumption through Instagram, YouTube, and drama increases, high familiarity with and preference for Korean-style looks are naturally expanding, raising interest in K-fashion."