Korean Cachet

Celebrities, designers, and other properties from Korea are increasingly influential in U.S. pop culture, and several are making their mark in consumer products as well:

• K-pop. Last month, Hot Topic announced it would carry a collection of t-shirts for BTS’s Wings Tour, the latest addition to its roster of K-pop merchandise. In addition to BTS, the retailer offers products tied to acts such as Big Bang, Lovelyz, iKon, and Infinite. Meanwhile, G-Dragon is one K-pop artist that has expanded beyond traditional music merchandise into lifestyle collaborations. He has worked with brands such as Stampd, Giuseppe Zanotti, and 8 Seconds, as well as founding his own fashion label with Gee Eun (Big Bang’s stylist), called PeaceMinusOne.
• K-beauty. Irene Kim, a model and K-beauty influencer, is launching her own fashion collection, IreneisGood, after collaborations of various types with Calvin Klein, Chanel, Estée Lauder, and Max Mara. Last year, influencer Alicia Yoon and her Peach & Lily brand collaborated with both CVS and Target, and she has her own line of Peach Slices sheet masks as well. Hye Min Park, known online as Pony Makeup, has teamed with Memebox for cosmetics and accessories.
• Fashion designers. JuunJ paired with Opening Ceremony in New York on a pop-up capsule collection. Jessica Jung, a model, former K-pop star, and now designer, launched her own fashion brand, Blanc & Eclare, which has a store in the Soho neighborhood of New York. In 2017, Nordstrom offered a K-fashion boutique as part of its Pop-In series that featured eight designers: Hyein Seo, J Koo, Kuho, Kye, Neul, SJYP, Suecomma Bonnie, and Yume Ho.
• Instant messaging. The LINE Friends brand, which originated as a collection of digital stickers in a messaging app, launched a store in Times Square and has been featured in collaborations with Uniqlo’s UT private label. Molang, which started in instant messaging before being transformed into a preschool TV series that airs on Disney Junior, is licensed by LicensingWorks in the U.S., with licensees including Jazwares and Scholastic.
• E-sports. Korea is one of the top markets for e-sports, and merchandise based on its leading teams—such as CJ Entus, Jin Air, KT Rolster, and Longzhu Gaming—is available in the U.S. on e-commerce sites such as the ESL professional gaming league’s online shop.
• Preschool TV series. Super Wings (a Korean/Chinese/U.S. co-production), is on Universal Kids (which replaced Sprout) in the U.S. and is represented for licensing by Nelvana, while it and other Korean shows, including Robocar Poli and Pororo, are distributed through Netflix. Another Korean program, Larva, is available in the U.S. as a Netflix Original. For the most part, licensing is limited in the U.S. market to date; Super Wings does have a number of licensees, including Alpha Group for toys.

Although some of these properties are better known than others, most remain familiar primarily to a relatively narrow fan base in the U.S. market. In many cases, however, that fan base is a desirable consumer group: fashion-forward and pop culture-savvy millennials.