Young shoppers revive Dongdaemun fashion scene online

Dongdaemun’s wholesale fashion district, which had languished after the Covid-19 pandemic, is making a comeback through social media. A growing number of young customers are entering the online wholesale scene, similar to how consumers once flocked to Dongdaemun’s early morning markets for affordable bonded factory fashion.

According to the fashion industry on Sunday, the so-called “domae tag” brands - referring to Dongdaemun’s wholesale brands - are actively marketing through social media and gaining a strong following among individual consumers. Leading domae tag brands such as “Bergamot,” “Pretty Young Thing,” and “Ounce” have amassed between 70,000 and 100,000 Instagram followers. These brands are promoting themselves much like regular online retailers, posting model and styling photos on social platforms and engaging directly with customers.

However, most domae tag brands still operate on a business-to-business (B2B) basis, meaning individual consumers must purchase through a separate platform. For example, even if a consumer discovers a domae tag brand they like, they must search for the brand on women’s fashion platforms like Zigzag or Ably to make a purchase. When brands are featured on YouTube or other social media, their search volume and sales on major fashion platforms often surge.

According to Zigzag, a style commerce platform operated by Kakao Style, Pretty Young Thing’s transaction volume in the first quarter of 2025 rose by 166 percent year-on-year, while search volume jumped more than 358 percent. Other brands like “Basket” (up 940 percent), “Ounce” (up 597 percent), and “Founders” (up 479 percent) also saw rapid increases.

At Ably, searches for domae tag brands rose by 242 percent during the same period. Major domae tag brands such as “Ounce” (up 62 percent), “And You Brown” (up 30 percent), and “Pretty Young Thing” (up 113 percent) all recorded significant growth in search volume.

This domae tag boom is seen as a revival of the early 2000s “value-for-money” shopping culture at Dongdaemun’s wholesale and retail markets, which are now evolving online. In the past, consumers physically visited the early morning markets to hunt for deals, but today they explore brands on social media and compare prices on shopping platforms.

While Dongdaemun’s wholesale markets once generated a “midnight shopping” frenzy, they saw a steep decline during the Covid-19 pandemic. Recently, however, wholesalers have turned to social media to engage with consumers directly, reviving the district’s energy.

Individual shoppers often search by combining brand names and product keywords, such as “Deondo cashmere cardigan” or “Pretty Young Thing blouse,” before making purchases. As domae tag brands build brand recognition, their offerings have expanded beyond T-shirts priced around 10,000 to 20,000 won ($7-$14) to include premium products like 20,,000-won coats.

Denim brand “OOTJ” recently gained wider recognition after Karina of aespa wore its jeans. OOTJ opened its own store in Seongbuk District, Seoul, in February 2024, expanding into direct-to-consumer (B2C) sales. “Ounce” also opened its first pop-up store in Itaewon, Seoul in mid-April 2025, which not only attracted local fans but tourists from overseas as well.