Korean fashion brands launch retro fashion as trend goes viral

“TIPI COSI” [Image captured from LF homepage]

Fashion companies are busy bringing stylistic trend from the late 1990s and early 2002s styles, known as “Y2K fashion,” to the market as they are going viral in the fashion industry and are looking to release brands that disappeared from the market years ago to evoke a sense of nostalgia from customers.

Multiple fashion industry sources on Monday said that South Korea’s fashion retailer LF Corp. planned to re-launch “TIPI COSI,” a brand made by its former Bando Fashion. The brand is brought into the market again on the back of growing interest in retro fashion items.

“TIPI COSI is working to present a new lineup of items that helps the older generation feel nostalgic for the good old days and gives the young unique and fresh experiences,” said an unnamed official from LF Corp.

Back in the 1990s, TIPI COSI hit the market by casting Seo Taiji and Boys, the country’s-then most popular high-teen boy group, as its model. The brand also hired other famous singers, like Kim Gun-mo, to attract much attention from college students, known as the X generation. The brand grew so fast that it had 210 stores nationwide. However, it lost market dominance in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 1997 and disappeared in 2008.

Denim and cargo pants are a new trend on the rise. According to HAGO, an online platform for small- to mid-sized fashion labels, registrations of denim skirts on the platform surged by 184 percent until mid-March compared with the year before, which suggests that these fashion brands are scrambling to release denim outfits, one of the iconic Y2K fashion items.

The fashion label “FRRW” from W Concept Korea Co., Korea’s fashion e-commerce under retail giant Shinsegae Group, said that the sales of denim outfits on its platform until March surged sixfold from a year ago. The brand has recently presented four new denim pants. LF’s online shopping mall also unveiled eight items, like pants and short skirts, inspired by the trends in the 1990s.