W Concept, Emerging Brands' Sales Up 30% This Year
Support Programs Including Live Broadcasts Prove Effective
Green Butter Achieves 29-Fold Sales Growth This Year
As domestic fashion companies face poor performance due to weakened consumer sentiment in the local market, the fashion platform W Concept is tackling the recession by promoting emerging designer brands.
According to the fashion industry on the 27th, sales of 150 emerging brands within W Concept, acquired by SSG.com in 2021, increased by 30% as of November this year compared to the same period last year. Considering that the clothing category's transaction growth rate in online shopping malls was around 2% this year, according to the online shopping trend survey released by Statistics Korea, this figure significantly exceeds the market transaction growth.
The brand with the highest growth rate during this period was 'Green Butter,' whose sales increased 29 times compared to last year. Founded in 2022 by co-CEOs Seo Yun-mi and Hong Se-hee, Green Butter offers knitwear such as cardigans and vests as its signature products.
The green butter knit cardigan worn by Shin Hyun-bin, the female lead in the ENA drama 'Say I Love You'
The 'Green Butter' fashion pictorial featuring Oh My Girl's Arin, presented by W Concept this year to support newly joined brands.
'Sienne,' meaning 'hers' in French, also saw aggressive marketing efforts by collaborating with overseas artists to launch exclusive products both online and offline, resulting in a 154% increase in sales compared to the previous year. Sienne is a brand that pursues a classic atmosphere by focusing on sophisticated materials and natural silhouettes, with padded bags, knitwear, and cardigans as its representative products.
'Ploum,' which emphasizes vintage designs and a feminine mood, also recorded an 80% increase in sales this year. Starting as an accessory brand, Ploum gained fame as a guest outfit brand after CEO Jo Yu-ri expanded into apparel in 2019, offering dresses targeting women in their 20s and 30s as its signature products.
W Concept is evaluating that its strategy to pioneer sales channels for domestic emerging designer brands launched less than five years ago and to grow the platform based on this is proving effective. Earlier this year, W Concept announced a plan to strengthen its support programs for tenant brands by selecting strategic brands with high growth potential, analyzing factors of popularity and product competitiveness, and providing customized consulting for each brand. W Concept aims to help emerging brands grow based on differentiated curation and product competitiveness, creating a foundation for the growth of K-fashion and ultimately supporting them to become global brands.
In particular, the strategy focused on raising the awareness of emerging brands appears to have been effective. Large corporate brands often invest huge capital to hire celebrity models and quickly increase brand awareness to establish themselves in the market. However, emerging designer brands, which mostly start small with 2-3 people and limited capital investment, find it difficult to use the same strategy.
To overcome these practical difficulties, W Concept supports brands and products to be effectively exposed to customers within the platform through various content. Currently, W Concept operates its own live broadcast 'W Live,' introducing brands' key products and styling tips, and produces fashion styling pictorials featuring each brand’s core products by combining W Concept’s styling know-how and recent trends. Additionally, it runs various support programs such as consulting at different stages of brand growth and launching exclusive planned products.
W Concept plans to further strengthen its tenant brand support programs next year to pursue mutual growth with emerging brands. A W Concept official stated, “We will discover brands like uncut gems with potential in the fashion market to enhance their market competitiveness and grow the platform together. We will discuss and support each brand’s shortcomings in marketing and product planning, allowing brands to focus more on design and product development and establish a foundation for further growth within the platform.”
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