Japanese street fashion brand "Human Made" (HUMANMADE) is pushing to open a new store at Lotte World Mall in Jamsil, Seoul. In recent years, it has expanded stores to key commercial districts following Seongsu-dong and Apgujeong, strengthening its push into the domestic market.
Human Made is a brand that drew attention under Nigo (Tomoaoki Nagao), the founder of the Japanese street fashion brand "Bape" (BAPE) famous for its monkey character. Nigo is well known as the first Japanese head designer since Kenzo Takada, the founder of the luxury brand Kenzo.
According to related industry sources on the 21st, Human Made is preparing to open its third store in Korea at Lotte World Mall in Jamsil, Seoul. The existing Seongsu and Apgujeong stores are both road shop formats, and this is the first time it will open in a large shopping mall.
Human Made entered Korea in 2024 by unveiling its first flagship store in Seongsu-dong and opened a second store on Dosan-daero in Apgujeong last year. It has built its brand image in trend-driven retail districts, and the strategy is to expand channels into mixed-use shopping malls with heavy foot traffic to secure new customer segments.
In Korea, it is building a fandom mainly among people in their 20s and 30s. Every limited release is popular enough to draw an open run and lines of people waiting. With demand for travel to Japan rising on a weak yen, the expansion of offline stores and a collaborative collection with BTS member J-Hope are seen as having lifted brand awareness.
The move into Lotte World Mall is also part of the brand's global expansion strategy. Human Made is establishing local subsidiaries in China and the United States this year and ramping up business infrastructure while expanding stores in major cities such as Shanghai, China, and Bangkok, Thailand.
In November last year, Human Made went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, an unusual step for a Japanese street fashion brand, and its share price has been on a tear since. As top-line growth is backed by profitability, interest inside and outside the market is growing.
Human Made closed at 5,490 yen the previous day. Recently, the stock has been fluctuating in the mid-5,000 yen range, up about 70% to 80% from the offering price (3,130 yen) at the time of the listing in November last year. During the same period, market capitalization swelled from about 70 billion yen (about 650 billion won) to the 130 billion yen range (about 1.2 trillion won).
Strong earnings are behind the share price surge. Last year, Human Made's revenue was 14.3 billion yen (about 132.3 billion won), up about 27% from a year earlier, and operating profit rose more than 42% to 4.5 billion yen (about 41.6 billion won). It is a high-profit structure with an operating margin exceeding 30%.
In addition to its single-brand-centered structure, an analysis says its D2C (direct-to-consumer) strategy through its own mall and directly managed stores is boosting profitability. Selling most products at list price without discounts while releasing limited quantities in a "drop" format is also seen as maximizing scarcity and margins.
Human Made's mid- to long-term strategy is to sustain average annual growth of 30% in both revenue and operating profit and to keep its operating margin around 30%. However, this year, due to concentrated global investment, revenue is expected to rise about 30% to 18.5 billion yen (about 171 billion won), while operating profit is projected to increase about 6% to 4.8 billion yen (about 44.4 billion won).