Thirty Years of 'Time'... "Quantum Leap to a 'Global Luxury' Brand"

Hansome Celebrates 30th Anniversary with Launch of 'The Time'
New Line Targeting Global Fashion Market Entry
Fashion Show for Overseas Industry Professionals on 6th

‘Time,’ the No.1 domestic women's clothing brand operated by Handsome, has declared its entry into the global fashion market and its leap to becoming a ‘luxury brand’ on the occasion of its 30th anniversary.

Handsome announced on the 5th that it will launch a new line targeting the global market called ‘The Time’ and hold a fashion show titled ‘Playtime’ on the 6th at the Seoul Wave Art Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul, inviting domestic and international distributors, overseas fashion officials, and top customers. This is the first time since Handsome’s founding in 1987 that it is holding a fashion show for its own brand.

Hansome's representative product for 2023 F/W from the new line 'The Time,' scheduled to be unveiled at the 'Time' brand's 30th anniversary fashion show on the 6th.
Photo by Hansome

A Handsome official explained, “The Time is a new line planned since 2020 targeting the global fashion market,” adding, “Starting with the formation of a task force (TF) three years ago, we established ‘The Time Design Office’ separately last year and are launching it after thorough market research and product planning.”

At this fashion show, about 50 out of more than 100 fall and winter season products, including Time’s signature tailoring jackets reinterpreted, will be unveiled. Handsome plans to closely observe the reactions of attendees at this event and actively reflect them in the next season’s product planning, and aims to participate in Paris Fashion Week next year to fully accelerate its entry into the global market.

Time’s entry into the global fashion market aligns with the ‘optimal value discovery through reframing’ announced by Chung Ji-sun, Chairman of Hyundai Department Store Group, in his New Year’s address earlier this year. Reframing means reorganizing business with new perspectives and methods, breaking away from existing frameworks and fixed ideas to adapt to the changed management environment.

The Time has changed the patterns, which were previously tailored to Korean body types, into more versatile wide fits targeting the global market, and the sleeve lengths were made about 0.5 to 1 cm longer than existing products. Shirts expanded the use of silk materials to suit the preferences of North American and European customers who favor soft fabrics.

Through this global market entry, Handsome plans to expand Time’s sales scale to around 500 billion KRW within the next five years and develop it into a top-tier brand comparable to ‘global luxury.’ Despite the fashion industry downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Time achieved its highest-ever sales of about 370 billion KRW last year.

Handsome has devoted considerable effort to preparing for Time’s global expansion. Since 2014, it has collected global fashion trends and built networks with local buyers mainly in Europe through its own select shop ‘Tom Greyhound Paris,’ opened in the Marais district, the heart of Paris fashion. Handsome’s casual brands System and System Homme have also participated in Paris Fashion Week since 2019, signing supply contracts annually with about 50 wholesale companies from 20 countries.

A Handsome official emphasized, “Based on Time’s 30 years of leading the domestic women’s fashion market and Handsome’s decade-long efforts to enter the global market, we will make a ‘quantum jump’ to elevate Time into a global luxury brand.”

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