Class Divisions by Brand: New Spine Breakers
Elementary Students Asking Parents for Luxury Short Padding Jackets
Short and puffy short padding jackets have emerged as the trendiest fashion this winter. While trends come and go throughout the year, there has always been a push for new items. Especially in winter, clothing prices are high, which increases the burden. This winter, it’s all about short padding jackets.
Parent A recently went to a department store with their child to buy winter clothes and was surprised. All the short padding jackets they intended to buy for their child were sold out with no stock left. They were also told that even if they placed an order, it was uncertain when the items would arrive.
As short padded jackets have emerged as a trend this winter, short padded jackets and other items are displayed in a store on Myeongdong Street in Seoul on the 3rd. [Image source=Yonhap News]
A said, "The winter clothes we bought last year are still wearable, but my child wanted to buy a short padding jacket to keep up with the trend." They added, "It’s hard to compare products online, so I’ve been visiting stores in person, but they say there’s so little stock that it’s difficult to actually see the products."
Another parent recently asked their husband to buy an expensive luxury padding jacket while returning from an overseas business trip. Nowadays, even children and elementary school students own one or two pricey padding jackets, but buying them domestically is not cheap. The parent bitterly remarked, "At elementary school entrance ceremonies in the Gangnam area of Seoul, it seems like certain brand clothes are worn almost like uniforms."
At department stores in Gangnam and supermarkets, it has become common to see people from adults to children wearing padding jackets with the M company’s brand mark on the left arm, showing the recent popularity of this brand’s padding jackets. In adult stores, even if you register for a waiting list as soon as the store opens, you have to wait at least three hours to see the clothes.
According to Zigzag, a fashion platform popular among people in their teens and twenties, sales of short padding jackets increased by 145% compared to a year ago as of last month. This is a notably higher increase compared to the overall padding sales, which rose by 75% during the same period.
Until last year, long padding jackets seemed to remain popular, but this year, short padding jackets have started gaining popularity among teenagers and people in their twenties, causing more parents to worry about whether they should buy their children padding jackets costing hundreds of thousands of won. The most popular overseas brand short padding jackets among children cost between 380,000 and 400,000 won, while luxury brand short padding jackets range from 1 million to as much as 3 million won.
As short padding jackets have become essential winter wear among teenagers, expressions that divide social classes based on brands or types of padding, or disparage out-of-fashion padding jackets, are spreading like trends. Following long padding jackets, short padding jackets have become the new "deunggol breaker" (a high-priced product that burdens parents financially). Experts warn that this phenomenon may foster hatred and discrimination, creating a sense of alienation among teenagers. Experts urge, "Since some children may feel a sense of inferiority, appropriate guidance is needed at schools and homes."
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