The K-Beauty and Fashion industry has set its sights on expanding into Europe, beyond the US, Asia, and the Middle East, by making its debut in Milan, Italy—the heartland of fashion. The industry is formalizing global collaborations to support emerging designers in their European market entry and directly engaging with Milanese citizens to showcase the charm of K-Beauty and Fashion.

 

After completing his schedule in Vienna, Austria, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon arrived in Milan and visited the headquarters of the Italian National Fashion Chamber (Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, CNMI) at 11 a.m. local time on the 4th. There, he expressed his commitment to strengthening the global partnership between the two cities through fashion. Additionally, he discussed plans to expand mutual exchanges and cooperation between Seoul Fashion Week and Milan Fashion Week.

 

CNMI is the organizer of Milan Fashion Week, one of the world's four major fashion weeks, and contributes to enhancing the global status of Italian fashion through sustainability, digitalization, diversity and inclusivity, and the promotion of emerging brands.

 

Seoul City and CNMI, which signed a business agreement in February last year, promised to engage in closer and more continuous exchanges in the fields of fashion and beauty through this meeting.

 

The two organizations signed an agreement with the following main contents: to promote innovation in the fashion industry by establishing a system to utilize the Milan Fashion Week platform for mutual cooperation between Seoul Fashion Week and Milan Fashion Week and for the international promotion of Korean brands; and to enhance exchange and cooperation between relevant organizations and groups in each city related to fashion and beauty, including fashion material supply, product design, and marketing communication.

 

At the event, Mayor Oh proposed that brands participating in Milan Fashion Week join Seoul Fashion Week. This initiative aims to establish a platform for Milan's representative brands to participate directly in Seoul Fashion Week, thereby elevating Seoul Fashion Week to a globally recognized top-five fashion week.

 

At 6 p.m. local time on the same day, Mayor Oh visited the pop-up exhibition hall “K-Vibe from Seoul,” which was decorated with Seoul's beauty and fashion and K-pop, at Milan's representative boutique “10 Corso Como,” and directly introduced the charm of Seoul as a “Fun City” where beauty and style blend together to the citizens of Milan.

In addition, he listened to the voices of domestic beauty and fashion brands participating in the event and sought practical ways to expand overseas.

 

The two-day event, held on the 4th and 5th, featured eight promising domestic beauty brands (▴Villa Erbatio ▴Bihop ▴Eden ▴Pikam

▴Nola Hour ▴Round Lab ▴Bentone ▴Van Cleo) and six fashion brands (▴Triple Flute ▴Valoren ▴Duck Dive ▴BS Rabbit ▴Joseph & Stacy ▴Numbering) participated directly to meet Milanese citizens.

 

(K-Beauty & Fashion Product Exhibition) Promising Seoul-based beauty and fashion brands targeting the European market shared popular skincare methods and fashion styling tips directly with attendees.

(Experience K-Lifestyle) Products such as rice makgeolli and dalgona latte, which incorporate Korean F&B elements into fragrance, were unveiled, along with an experiential event featuring dalgona from the globally popular “Squid Game.”

(Meetings with local influencers) Active local beauty and fashion influencers networked with participating brands and shared the event atmosphere and product reviews through their social media channels, enhancing the global recognition of Seoul brands.

 

Currently, South Korea has risen to the third-largest cosmetics exporter globally (10.2 billion dollars) as of 2024, but Europe remains outside the top 10 major export destinations. This indicates that the European market holds significant potential as a promising market for the K-Beauty industry. The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to use this Milan event as a starting point for its European market expansion efforts.

 

Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is providing multifaceted support to upgrade the K-beauty and fashion industries from mere consumer goods to cultural content that grows alongside K-culture, including overseas market development, global marketing support, human resource development, and participation in overseas fashion weeks.

 

First, with the goal of becoming a “global beauty industry hub,” Seoul hosts the “Seoul Beauty Week” every year as a global business platform. “Seoul Beauty Week” is an event aimed at strengthening the competitiveness of the K-Beauty industry, which is gaining global attention thanks to the popularity of K-pop content. Last year, the three-day event attracted a total of 50,000 visitors, including citizens, tourists, and beauty industry professionals.

 

Notably, over 200 buyers from 39 countries, including Japan's ARATA, participated in the event, conducting 1,049 one-on-one export consultations with 207 promising small and medium-sized beauty companies, resulting in approximately $39 million (about 53.3 billion won) in order contracts.

 

In addition, the Seoul Beauty Hub, which provides comprehensive support for the entire process of design, distribution, and export for beauty companies, opened in June. This year, it will support 100 companies in entering overseas markets and help with online and offline marketing and training specialized personnel for the beauty industry.

 

It also helps competitive K-fashion brands enter overseas markets. In addition to supporting participation in Milan Fashion Week, the city will connect promising buyers through the Seoul Fashion Week Trade Show held every February and September and provide consulting services to increase orders. It will also support the global expansion of promising small and medium-sized brands participating in the “Hi Seoul Showroom.”

 

In addition, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is currently developing a plan to revive Dongdaemun as a fashion and beauty mecca in South Korea. First, the DDP area will be transformed from a simple visitor space into a stay-and-enjoy consumption space by integrating various contents such as beauty, fashion, and K-culture, and expanding the brand value derived from citizen-participatory festivals to the surrounding commercial areas, thereby developing it into a complex consumption hub where fashion and culture converge.

 

At 7 p.m. local time, the final event of the day, a roundtable discussion with Milan-based Korean companies, took place. At the roundtable, which was attended by the director of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) Milan Trade Office and local business leaders, Mayor Oh listened attentively to the participants' opinions and stated, “We will continue to provide steadfast support to help Seoul's brands gain a stronger presence on the global stage.” He emphasized, “Seoul's competitiveness is the nation's competitiveness. With the belief that Seoul's success will enable Korean companies to grow further, we will serve as a strong foundation.”

 

[News Source: Seoul City]