S. Korea's SPA brands ascend to recover domestic market from foreign brands

South Korea’s homegrown fast fashion brands have rapidly recovered domestic market once dominated by foreign brands including SPA business model pioneer Uniqlo.

Topten announced on Sunday that it has set a sale target at 720 billion won ($600 million) for this year, higher than 585 billion won of last year that set it in the comfortable lead in the fast fashion market.

Japanese SPA giant Uniqlo earned 582.4 billion won in Korea in the fiscal year ended in August 2021.

Topten saw sales jump from 334 billion won in 2019 to 430 billion won in 2020 as it benefited from boycott against anything from Japan as diplomatic strife over past issues spilled over to trade front.

While Uniqlo was forced to shutter stores across the country, Topten has rapidly expanded its presence by adding outlets from 320 in 2019 to 483 in 2021. It aims to increase the number of its outlets to 553 this year.

As part of efforts to lead the market, Topten plans to add more athleisure clothing lines, a type of hybrid clothing for athletic activities, to meet consumers’ growing interest in health amid the pandemic.

Other Korean native SPA brands are also set to eat away Uniqlo’s market share. Spao, a fashion brand owned by the E-Land Group, will be entering the spacious location at Shinsegae’s shopping mall in Seocho, southern Seoul, after exit by Uniqlo.

Spao’s shops increased from 92 in 2019 to current 110. Its sales last month surged 70 percent from the same period a year ago. Its online sales also jumped, recording 80 billion won last year. It set a goal of 130 billion won in online sales and 500 billion won in total sales.

Uniqlo is meanwhile enhancing online and collabo identity to win back Korean consumers.

The Korean unit managed to eke out a profit of 52.9 billion won from a deficit of 88.4 billion won in the previous fiscal year ended in August 2020. It has created new clothing lines in cooperation with brand designers, succeeding in bringing back Korean consumers who have lined up for its brand-new padding jumpers and outers in the price range of 100,000 to 200,000 won.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]