According to Asia House, a non-profit pan-Asian cultural institution based in London, the modern Korean fashion industry was shaped by Western influence, a process that can be traced back to the late 1800s, when the traditional Korean fashion market, dominated by traditional hanbok, began to lose its traditional style and elements with the arrival of Westerners and the influence of Japanese culture.

From 1910 to 1945, when the Japanese colonial government occupied Korea, it vigorously promoted modern Western fashion.

In the 1950s, curly hair, swimwear and more American makeup and fashion were popular in South Korea, and the modern Korean fashion industry took shape. During this period, the first fashion education institution in South Korea, International Western Clothing Company, was officially established in Seoul. Several fashion markets, such as Namdaemun and Dongdaemun in Seoul, have also begun to flourish, with some merchants producing their own clothing.

In 1957, Korea's first fashion designer Nora Noh held the first fashion show in Korean history in Seoul, and since then, fashion design has become a new profession in Korea.

In the 21st century, under the guidance of the "Design Korea" policy, the Korean government has increased its investment in the fashion field: on the one hand, the government encourages various departments to work together to provide support for fashion enterprises, and on the other hand, it focuses on cultivating local designers and supporting them to go abroad.

A set of data from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) shows that there are about 5,000 fashion design graduates in South Korea each year (not including those who study abroad).

The five founders of the brands interviewed this time all graduated from local design schools in Korea, and some of them have both local and foreign design school study experience:

The emergence of young talents has brought a steady stream of vitality to the Korean fashion industry, but it also makes the industry increasingly competitive.

"It's harder to run a brand than it is to build one, and it's very difficult to make a brand popular for a long time," Kye says.

However, the five designers agreed that in such a competitive environment, the brand must maintain its own uniqueness, "create a solid and reliable brand image", "create and display their own things", "build an excellent brand archive" is crucial.

Hong Hyejin also pointed out that brands should not use the same way to present themselves, but should make full use of new technologies and new marketing tools to show brand image from different angles, or through cooperation between different industries to show brand culture and humanistic characteristics, which can keep consumers interested in the brand.