Seoul City and Musinsa Sign MOU, Addressing Sewing Industry Challenges
Building a Work-Matching Platform, Pilot Project Shows Results
Discovering and Supporting 30 Promising Brands for Growth
The Seoul Metropolitan Government is partnering with Musinsa, Korea's leading fashion platform, to address the shortage of work in the sewing industry. In the mid- to long-term, the two sides have agreed to collaborate on nurturing the next generation of K-fashion brands.
To this end, the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Musinsa signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the morning of December 5 at Musinsa's headquarters in Seongsu-dong. Musinsa is a fashion platform that hosts around 10,000 fashion brands and has recorded a cumulative transaction volume approaching 1 trillion won this year. The company has a proven track record in expanding sales channels and facilitating global expansion for emerging brands.
Seoul Metropolitan Government and Musinsa signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the morning of the 5th at Musinsa's headquarters in Seongsu-dong to address the shortage of work in the sewing industry. Photo by Yonhap News
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has noted that as K-fashion's main sales channels are rapidly shifting to online platforms, many emerging brands are facing growth limitations due to a lack of branding and marketing capabilities. Additionally, as apparel production has moved to low-wage countries such as China and Vietnam, sewing companies in Seoul are struggling with a decline in available work.
Through this agreement, the two parties will jointly promote various collaborative projects to support the entire Seoul fashion sewing industry, including: activating a work-matching platform between Musinsa's 10,000 brands and Seoul-based sewing companies, and jointly nurturing 30 "Seoul Metropolitan Government X Musinsa Next-Generation Promising K-Fashion Brands."
As a top priority, they will address the sewing industry's biggest challenge: the shortage of work. To this end, they plan to establish a one-stop work-matching system to efficiently connect designers and sewing companies by the first half of next year.
Previously, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has operated a "work-matching project," collecting and verifying data from 1,015 outstanding sample, pattern, and sewing companies across Seoul to lay the groundwork for connecting designers and sewing companies. This information will be released on the Seoul Fashion Hub website within the year.
Additionally, coordinators with over 30 years of experience in the sewing industry have been assigned to strengthen customized consulting for designers, including sample production, pattern recommendations, and matching with suitable sewing companies, thereby responding to on-site demand. Next year, a one-stop work-matching system will be established, enabling any designer to easily search for sewing companies, consult, and request work. Musinsa will promote this system to its 10,000 partner brands to accelerate the expansion of the work-matching platform.
As a pilot project, Musinsa requested the Seoul Metropolitan Government to recommend domestic manufacturers for the production of some of its own brand products. The Seoul Metropolitan Government connected Musinsa with capable sewing companies in Dongdaemun, resulting in orders for seven product types and approximately 7,000 units, thereby confirming the potential success of the system. Building on this, the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Musinsa plan to continue collaborating to gradually expand the connection between Musinsa's own brand product production and Seoul-based sewing companies.
In addition, 30 emerging brands with outstanding design capabilities and growth potential will be selected through a public contest early next year and systematically supported through a full-cycle brand growth program encompassing production, branding, and sales. Furthermore, the "Mobile Apparel Manufacturing Coordinator" program will be operated to provide domestic manufacturing consulting for emerging brands located in Musinsa Studios (six locations), and connect them with the most suitable pattern, sample experts, and sewing companies for each design.
Musinsa CEO Park Junmo stated, "If domestic brands can work with skilled manufacturing artisans to produce high-quality products, the quality of K-fashion will be further enhanced, and trust in the industry, both domestically and internationally, will increase."
Joo Yongtae, Director General of Economic Policy at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, also commented, "The competitiveness of K-fashion is achieved when the creativity of designers is combined with the sophisticated skills of sewing artisans. I hope this will solidify a sustainable fashion ecosystem and serve as an opportunity for Seoul's fashion industry to take a significant leap in the global market."
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