South Korea's fashion industry is already deep into its winter selling season, well before the first cold snap. Because high-priced fall-winter outerwear — from puffer jackets and down coats to shearling-style "mustang" and fur pieces — largely determines winter earnings, brands are pulling launch dates forward and widening their product ranges to capture demand early.
Hazzys, operated by LF (093050.KS), this year introduced Nova, its first premium lightweight down line, and said it plans to build the label into its flagship premium outerwear product. The line emphasizes premium materials, refined silhouettes and soft, bright colors alongside its light, warm performance. In an online preorder that ran for about two weeks early last month, roughly 75% of visitors to product pages for all new outerwear in the first week went to Nova.
Teton Bros, LF's outdoor brand, expanded the number of styles in its ultralight goose down collection Alive Down by 4.5 times from a year earlier for this fall-winter season and raised total volume by about 300%. The collection sold out early last year. "As shoppers buy winter products earlier and earlier, before the cold arrives, strategies such as diversifying product lines and increasing volume for items with proven demand are becoming more important," an industry official said. "Supply and sales strategies are becoming more finely tuned to demand for each type of winter outerwear."
Musinsa began selling lightweight down jackets from about 20 brands on its platform in August, roughly three weeks earlier than last year. August transaction volume for lightweight down jackets jumped more than eightfold from a year earlier. At Musinsa Store, transaction volume for the category rose about 7.5 times between July 31 and Aug. 13 from the same period a year earlier, while searches increased 122%. From the 9th to the 19th of last month, the company held its first "26 FW Lightweight Down Festival," gathering new arrivals in the category. The aim is to convert early interest in winter outerwear into actual purchases and carry that momentum into the peak season.
Musinsa Standard, the company's private brand, moved its puffer jacket launch to late July this year from early September last year, about five weeks earlier. The brand also secured more than twice as much lightweight down inventory as a year earlier, reflecting repeated sellouts of popular colors and sizes in key items such as the City Leisure Light Down Jacket. In addition to women's and kids' products, the brand this year added puffer jackets for pets.
At 29CM, the fashion and lifestyle platform operated by Musinsa, a two-week preorder promotion for women's fall-winter outerwear in mid-August drove transaction volume up more than twofold from a year earlier. Puffer jacket volume rose 130%, while fur jackets and mustang coats increased more than fourfold and threefold, respectively. "Customer response to winter outerwear, including lightweight down, has been unusually strong from the very start of the fall-winter season," a Musinsa official said. "As we move into the season proper, puffer jacket volume has also been climbing steadily."
High-priced premium outerwear has also gone on sale from the summer as brands work to lock in early demand. Daks, LF's women's wear brand, opened preorders for its premium fur collection in July. The lineup was broadened beyond mink jackets to include lambskin shackets, weasel jumpers, shearling mustang jackets and sable jackets. Mustang sales for the 26 fall-winter season are up about 20% from a year earlier so far, and strong demand for the Racoon Curly Mustang and the half-length Weasel Coat has prompted additional production. Dellarana, a fashion brand owned by Shinsegae International (031430.KS), has seen sales rise 66% from the same period a year earlier after rolling out natural fur items including mustang, mink and weasel pieces in July and August.
"Winter is the peak season, when sales concentrate in outerwear with high average transaction values, so how much demand you secure early on can shape revenue for the entire season," a fashion industry official said.
