'21F/W Seoul Fashion Week' Records 4.72 Million Views... 57.4% Overseas Traffic on YouTube

Global Channel YouTube Views Increased 4.8 Times Year-on-Year... 57.4% from Overseas Viewers Including the US, Japan, and Indonesia
784 Business Negotiations Between Overseas Buyers and Domestic Brands, Support for 14 Brands Entering Global B2B Platforms

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Combining K-culture and K-fashion, the non-face-to-face digital ‘2021 F/W Seoul Fashion Week’ recorded 4.72 million views within a month.

According to Seoul City on the 1st, last year’s ‘2021 S/S Seoul Fashion Week,’ which introduced the first digital runway, recorded 1.07 million views (including 460,000 live commerce viewers), while this ‘2021 F/W Seoul Fashion Week,’ infused with K-culture and enhanced with fashion stories of designers and models, reached 4.72 million views (including 160,000 live commerce viewers).

The number of viewers on the global online channel YouTube increased 4.8 times from 48,000 last year to 228,000, with more than half of the viewers, 57.4%, coming from overseas countries such as the United States, Japan, and Indonesia. Additionally, major overseas media outlets including Vogue and Forbes covered the event over 100 times, spreading interest in K-fashion beyond Korea to the global stage.

The characteristics of ‘21 F/W Seoul Fashion Week’ are ▲ scalability through digital methods ▲ runways held in special locations ▲ unprecedented visual quality through 100% pre-production. ‘21 F/W Seoul Fashion Week’ was held over three weeks from March 22 to April 9, featuring digital fashion shows, buyer order consultations, and live commerce.

The digital format eliminated the front row, traditionally seen as a symbol of power in fashion shows, allowing anyone to enjoy the event from the front row online, thus enabling it to be a public event.

In particular, the runways were held for the first time at the National Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, attracting much attention. The event was praised for cohesively capturing ‘Korean culture’ by blending works of Korean contemporary art masters such as Lee Seung-taek and Yang Hye-kyu, national treasures including the Ban-gasa-yu statue No. 83 from the Three Kingdoms period, and traditional Korean arts like pansori and Korean dance with K-fashion.

Moreover, the runway held against the backdrop of the Mapo Oil Tank Culture Park and the Han River showcased outstanding visual quality that captured the urban charm of Seoul, not only promoting the competitiveness of K-fashion globally but also expected to contribute to tourism revitalization in the post-COVID-19 era.

Besides the fashion shows, ‘21 F/W Seoul Fashion Week’ also gained attention for story videos produced to vividly convey the atmosphere of the fashion shows and deepen understanding of K-fashion. A total of six videos were produced, recording 4.18 million views. The videos featured Beyond Closet designer Go Tae-yong, model Kang Seung-hyun, and the band Innalchi, among others.

Interviews were produced featuring Parts Parts designer Lim Sun-ok and Beyond Closet designer Go Tae-yong discussing the designer’s world, model Kang Seung-hyun sharing insights into the modeling world, as well as idol-turned Luna, Innalchi who handled the opening, and Peggy Gou who took charge of the finale. Each video included a brief edited segment of the entire runway shown that day. The videos are available on the YouTube channel ‘tvN D STUDIO.’

As the largest fashion industry event of the year, online order consultations, entry of Seoul designer brands into global platforms, and activities to expand online sales channels were actively conducted. The online order consultations between overseas buyers and designers involved 103 overseas buyers and 71 brands, with an average of 11 consultations per brand.

Additionally, 14 Seoul Collection designer brands were listed on ‘renewblack,’ a leading global B2B platform registered with over 180 buyers from Europe and the Americas, expanding the potential for domestic designers to enter overseas markets.

To provide immediate sales support to designers struggling with decreased sales, live commerce was conducted 10 times for a total of 49 brands, generating sales support of 72 million KRW. The live commerce included 15 Seoul Collection brands, 11 GN brands, and 23 brands participating in trade shows, totaling 49 brands.

Meanwhile, the 2021 Autumn Seoul Fashion Week ('22 S/S Seoul Fashion Week) is scheduled to be held in October. Seoul City will decide on the online and offline format depending on the COVID-19 situation.

Kim Ui-seung, Director of Economic Policy, said, “Seoul Fashion Week is a representative project supported by Seoul City to revitalize the domestic fashion industry. We will strive to raise the status of domestic fashion through Seoul Fashion Week, activate the domestic fashion industry, and thereby enhance Seoul’s urban competitiveness.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.