WE11DONE: Express Eastern Fashion Using a Globally Design Language

After its global ventures, WE11DONE chose to return to its origins.

 

From September 6th to 9th, the Frieze Seoul and Kiaf Seoul were held concurrently, drawing the global art world's attention to Seoul. Over 120 top galleries from Asia and around the world, collectors, and art enthusiasts came, making those few days the peak of Seoul's art concentration.

 

Such a lively scene is just what WE11DONE was thrilled to see. Both brand founders, Jessica Jung and Dami Kwon, are passionate about contemporary art and frequently incorporate artistic elements into their designs. Importantly, with these two international art events, WE11DONE had the chance to directly interact with the international art scene. This explains why WE11DONE chose to hold its Spring/Summer 2024 show in Seoul on September 7th.

 

The show was broadcasted live on a massive 3D LED screen above the plaza. Pedestrians around the plaza stopped to watch, democratizing fashion and turning the show into a "promo video" showcasing Seoul's culture diversity to foreign tourists.

 

On the day of the show, Asian fashion idols and brand friends like G-Dragon, Edison Chen, Lee Soo Hyuk, Lee Jae Wook, JUYEON, Han Ji-hyun, and LOCO graced the event. Thanks to these high-profile stars, the WE11DONE Seoul show's related hashtag #WE11DONESS24 had over 9 million reads on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, and #WE11DONE surpassed 1.8 million reads. For a fashion show not held in China, the social media impact WE11DONE made is considered top-tier.

 

 

The fashion show, titled "Remnants of Home", like the two art fairs, was held at the COEX K-POP Plaza, seen as the birthplace and landmark of K-pop culture. The brand set up a pure white gallery-like stage in the plaza, featuring several white panels as a tribute to Korean installation artist Do Ho Suh. The simplistic setup allowed the audience to focus on WE11DONE's evolving style.

 

 

In their show notes, WE11DONE said, "Imagine waking from a dream to see a white canvas unfolding before you, reminiscent of an empty gallery, slowly transforming into a tapestry pieced together from fragments of memories. These fragments coalesce, giving rise to forms that are both familiar and surreal."

 

Rather than detailed design and sources of inspiration, the brand's statement is clearly more imaginative. Though one can still see the brand's iconic black silhouette suits, WE11DONE has adopted more diverse integrative design techniques, emphasizing decorative pockets, textures, and more.

 

 

Thus, it's understandable why the brand described the entire collection as "seeking balance and breakthrough amidst strong collisions". Even though it was the brand's first time returning to Seoul for a fashion show, co-founders and co-creative directors Jessica Jung and Dami Kwon displayed restraint toward the infectious and youth-attracting K-Pop culture. Both the atmosphere and setup of the show reflected the brand's art-inspired design language.

 

In fact, it was the inspiration drawn from global culture and artistic works, combined with the inherent Asian aesthetics and Seoul street fashion atmosphere in the brand's DNA, that enabled WE11DONE to develop into one of the representative brands of Asian fashion today.

 

In 2015, Dami Kwon and her close friend Jessica Jung decided to launch a fashion brand named WE11DONE after they opened their boutique Rare Market for a year. The brand aimed to integrate various fashion cultures and constantly break boundaries.

 

It's worth mentioning that the Asian fashion icon and K-Pop leader, G-Dragon, is Dami Kwon's younger brother. Although he didn't participate in the operation of the brand, his support and frequent wearing of WE11DONE clothing greatly promoted the brand's initial market recognition. With G-Dragon's influence, WE11DONE quickly gained popularity among young consumers in Asia and even Europe and America. These consumers are all attracted by K-Pop culture.

 

 

Thus, in its early days, WE11DONE greatly benefited from the global success of K-Pop culture. Compared to traditional brand-building methods such as participating in fashion weeks or leveraging social media for brand influence, G-Dragon's endorsement had a more significant impact. Furthermore, hoodies, T-shirts, and printed patterns, the three essentials of streetwear, constituted the early product style of WE11DONE.

 

However, the show demonstrated a more innovative representation of WE11DONE's street style and K-Pop cultural characteristics. They no longer replicate simple symbolic designs but emphasize tailoring, material, and design concepts.

 

In an interview with ConCall after the show, Jessica Jung talked about how the K-Pop wave influenced WE11DONE's design style: "What global consumers see of K-Pop culture is just a part of it. K-Pop encompasses both the celebrity idols themselves and their TV show, music, and fashion styles. Therefore, the connection between WE11DONE and K-Pop is presented in different ways. Our design isn't restricted by the K-Pop element; on the contrary, like K-Pop, we continuously integrate various cultures and fashion trends, presenting different aspects of K-Pop culture to global consumers."

 

For those who are familiar with WE11DONE, the design style of the Spring/Summer 2024 collection has become more mature. They can find evidence in the tailoring, silhouette, also accessories, shoes, and bags within the collection. For a brand poised for global expansion, this marks WE11DONE's journey towards balancing design innovation with commercial objectives.

 

 

Jessica Jung commented: "We hope to become a representative brand in the fashion industry of a country, just like many Japanese brands do. However, currently, we want to convey to consumers the story behind the brand, such as our inspiration and the various aspects of K-Pop culture."

 

Jessica Jung's explanation gives us a clearer understanding of WE11DONE's brand style, which focuses on "integration" based on K-Pop culture, ensuring high recognizability in the ever-changing fashion world. For instance, nowadays, simplistic and well-designed clothing attracts the attention of many young consumers. This trend has led many flamboyant emerging brands to be sidelined. As a result, WE11DONE incorporated visually stimulating silhouette designs in their new collection to ensure they present their diverse meanings to consumers.

 

"As a fashion brand, it's impossible to ignore trends, which will more or less influence our designs. However, whether it's minimalism or quiet luxury, they're just expressions of fashion styles. We won't try to chase trends, but rather, we'll integrate elements that align with WE11DONE's brand DNA, presenting the diverse essence of WE11DONE to consumers," Jessica Jung stated.

 

By establishing a clear brand image and maintaining a fresh product design, WE11DONE aims for continuous upward growth, requires strong commercial support. Therefore, apart from expanding to the global market, WE11DONE also needs to solidify its market in Korea. The show's return to Seoul is also for this reason. Jessica Jung mentioned: "Returning to Seoul for a show is of great significance to the entire brand team. We have been showcasing in Paris, coming back to Seoul feels like reconnecting with the brand's origins, because our foundation is here. Moreover, these days also coincide with the hosting of Frieze Seoul, so it’s a good opportunity to reintroduce ourselves to Korean consumers. Although WE11DONE has achieved good results in the Korean market, since the brand previously focused more on the international market, there's still significant growth opportunity in Korea. So this year, we will shift part of our development back to the Korean market."

 

 

In fact, the Korean market is now the third market in the luxury goods consumption market in Asia, other than China and Japan. According to a report released by Morgan Stanley earlier this year, Korean consumers' total spending on personal luxury goods surged by 24% to $16.8 billion last year, averaging $325 per person, about six times of Chinese consumers and even higher than American consumers ($280 per capita). From the macroeconomic perspective, issues like the declining birthrate and housing crisis haven't affected Korean consumers' spending on luxury goods. On the contrary, the "live in the moment" attitude is more widely accepted, and the recognition of fashion and luxury consumption in Korean society provides a solid foundation for the continued growth of luxury goods consumption.

 

Therefore, WE11DONE's decision to return to Korea is not only about reconnecting with the brand's origin but also to strengthen its influence in the Korean market. However, Dami Kwon stated that returning to Seoul does not mean they'll slow down WE11DONE's rapid expansion in the Chinese market. "We will soon visit China for the first time, collaborating with our Chinese team to visit stores and explore more opportunities for continuous growth in the Chinese market. In addition, WE11DONE has received positive feedback in the US market, so we will also accelerate our plans there."

 

It's clear that China, Korea, and the US will be WE11DONE's key strategic markets. However, the Chinese market holds unique significance for WE11DONE, as in January 2022, Sequoia China announced its acquisition of a majority stake in WE11DONE, becoming its controlling shareholder. If the Korean market is the base for WE11DONE on the global stage, then the Chinese market is fertile ground for the brand’s rapid growth.

 

With the resource advantages and innovative retail experience that Sequoia China offers both domestically and globally, WE11DONE can accelerate its global, especially Chinese, market development. Jessica Jung told ConCall: "WE11DONE and Sequoia China have aligned brand development goals. With the global influence of Sequoia China and the support of its investment partner Angelica Cheung in decision-making and resources, WE11DONE can navigate global expansion with a clear strategy, and also respond quickly and flexibly to the Chinese market."

 

In the past year, WE11DONE has opened 11 direct-operated stores in first and second-tier cities in China. Such as Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, and Wuhan. This number will reach 14 by the end of the year, and a new store in Shanghai's Xintiandi Fashion Center is under construction. Online sales channels have expanded from Tmall to JD.com, Douyin, and Poizon.

 

Jessica Jung said: "Achieving such large-scale channel deployment in a very short time is not easy for any brand, but with the support of Sequoia China, we did it. Moving forward, we will have closer communication with Chinese consumers through these DTC channels. While sharing our designs and products, we hope to gain new inspirations from consumer feedback, allowing us to continuously optimize product design and launch collections more suitable for Chinese consumers."

 

Compared to Korean and American consumers, Jessica Jung believes that Chinese consumers are more open to new brands. Their diverse individual needs make them willing to try different brands and styles, providing ample momentum for WE11DONE's continuous development in the Chinese market.

 

Regarding future development focus in the Chinese market, Dami Kwon said: "Chinese consumers share a similar cultural aesthetic background with us. So our focus is to engage more with Chinese consumers, allowing all aspects, design, product development, retail experience, and community operations, to have a distinct WE11DONE style."

 

From diverse design aesthetics, integrating styles, and various plans for different markets, WE11DONE is gradually approaching its goal of becoming a representative fashion brand for the new generation in Korea. For the Chinese market, digitalization, the large consumer base, and the potential of lower-tier cities are opportunities for WE11DONE. In Korea, the continuous export of K-Pop culture and mature consumption habits of Korean consumers will be the important base for the brand. In the US, considered the birthplace of streetwear culture, WE11DONE can leverage the influence of K-pop fashion idols to expand East Asian fashion's global influence."

 

As Jessica Jung said in the interview: "From the very beginning, WE11DONE hoped to express our Eastern perspective through a design language that can be understood by global consumers. Through WE11DONE's designs, we integrate various fashion cultures, breaking boundaries of culture, gender, style, and more. The emphasis we place on breaking boundaries in our designs is to connect with consumers from all over the world, to pique their curiosity, and after experiencing WE11DONE's designs, to further understand the uniqueness of us as an Asian brand."

 

In this content, WE11DONE has already broken out of the framework of the Asian market, responding to the demands of different consumers with an understanding of different markets, different culture trends, and different design styles.