2024 F/W Seoul Fashion Week Secures $5.63 Million in Order Consultations

Last month, large-scale order consultations for K-fashion brands took place at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) and Seongsu E-Factory during the 2024 F/W Seoul Fashion Week, setting the stage for their expansion into foreign markets.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that this year's F/W Seoul Fashion Week (February 1 (Thursday) to February 5 (Monday)) saw 1,179 cases of order consultations amounting to $5.63 million. Compared to the previous season, there was a 9.5% increase in scale. The city attributes this growth to three key changes: potential for global outreach, success rate of overseas orders, and diversity of locations.

The ‘2024 F/W Seoul Fashion Week’ offered a sneak peek into the autumn and winter fashion trends with 87 South Korean fashion designer brands participating.

This Seoul Fashion Week emphasized the 'global outreach status and potential' of brands by incorporating foreign judges in the selection of participating brands and increasing the score for overseas sales performance evaluation (from 10 to 20 points). The 21 selected brands showcased the trends of K-fashion with high-quality runways.

In addition, three other brands (Caruso, Slingstone, and John&321) participated in off-show events (fashion shows held at external locations by designers themselves), greatly enhancing the festive atmosphere of the fashion event.

Just as much care was taken in selecting the participating brands, the selection of buyers was also rigorous. The verification process for overseas buyers’ purchasing histories of Korean fashion brands was strengthened, and a visit-based order consultation program, ‘Fashion Showroom Tour’, was introduced for buyers to attend showrooms.

This season, buyers with a high purchasing history of Korean fashion brands, including global department store chains such as Harvey Nichols, Lane Crawford, and select shops like 3NY in New York, Andrea Murkdis in Berlin, and Nihow in Taipei, participated.

During the Seoul Fashion Week, order consultations amounting to $5.63 million were held between 84 domestic fashion brands (clothing, shoes, bags, jewelry) and 101 overseas buyers from 23 countries, with the United States leading in average consultation size at $250,000, followed by Taiwan, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and the UK. The city plans to conduct thorough follow-up actions to ensure that these consultations lead to actual contracts.

During the fashion week, a ‘Seongsu Fashion Map’ highlighting about 30 fashion and beauty spots based in Seongsu, the 'fashion sanctuary', was published and provided to domestic and foreign visitors, including overseas buyer showroom tours. The fashion map is available on the Seoul Fashion Week website (www.seoulfashionweek.org), and the city plans to continue the 'Fashion Map' project linking fashion with different areas for the next season.

This year, as part of the Seoul Fashion Week, various companies participated in programs that allowed visitors to enjoy fashion, technology, and lifestyle. Among them, fashion platform ‘Musinsa’ and global coffee brand ‘Blue Bottle’ participated (offering special discounts, fish-shaped bun giveaways, and canned coffee) and received great response from the visitors.

Amidst high expectations and potential for the K-fashion market in the Americas, the city of Seoul participated in the Coterie New York, a leading women's fashion fair in the Americas, from February 20 (Tuesday) to February 22 (Thursday) as 'Seoul Fashion Week Pavilion (total 6 companies)', pulling in an additional $1.92 million (47 cases) in order consultations.

Six companies (Greedeous, MaisonNivea, Second Armour, Hana Shin, The Room, Triple Lut) among the 2024 F/W Seoul Fashion Week participating brands joined the ‘Seoul Fashion Week Pavilion’.

The 2025 S/S Seoul Fashion Week will be held from September 3 (Tuesday) to September 7 (Saturday). The city is planning to prepare for the latter half of the fashion week based on a thorough analysis of last month's changes, attempts, and outcomes, to provide more valuable sales opportunities to 'K-fashion brands' wishing to enter the global market.

Lee Hae-woo, the Director of Economic Policy for the City of Seoul, said, “Seoul Fashion Week is solidifying its position as a robust business platform that aids the overseas expansion of domestic fashion designer brands, and it continues to evolve. We ask for great interest and participation from fashion designers, companies, and citizens alike for the upcoming 2025 S/S Seoul Fashion Week in September,” he stated.