Musinsa, South Korea’s top online fashion platform, said its annual revenue surpassed the 1 trillion won ($682 million) mark last year. While Korea’s fashion industry continues to struggle amid weak demand and high inflation, Musinsa is defying the odds.
Musinsa’s annual revenue first crossed the 100 billion won mark in 2018, and by last year, it had reached a record high of 1.242 trillion won ($848 million), growing elevenfold in six years. The company has emerged as a rare success story in an industry grappling with a broader slump.
Musinsa began in 2001 as an online fashion community. Musinsa CEO Cho Manho, then a high school senior, launched an online fashion community called “a place with endless pictures of shoes” on the freechal portal site. The community gained traction among people who loved sneakers and expanded into a web magazine and an e-commerce business. Cho officially founded Musinsa in 2012.
In its early days, Musinsa was a popular platform among fashion-loving millennials and Gen Z, collectively known as the MZ generation in Korea. Unlike traditional department stores and major fashion brands, Musinsa focused on spotlighting emerging streetwear and indie brands such as Covernat and thisisneverthat. These up-and-coming designers showcased their unique styles on the platform, attracting loyal and enthusiastic young consumers.
Musinsa’s core audience has grown into adults with greater purchasing power, driving the growth of Musinsa and the brands on its platform. According to company data, Musinsa had around 15 million users as of the end of last year, with 78% under the age of 30. Teens and people in their 20s make up 60% of the total user base. “The MZ generation turned Musinsa into a trillion-won company,” said a retail industry.
The number of brands featured on Musinsa has surged from around 2,000 in 2016 to over 8,000 last year. Global brands like Nike, Patagonia, and Massimo Dutti joined the platform in 2023. “Just as food companies once vied for shelf space at Emart, fashion brands today are eager to join Musinsa,” said a fashion industry insider.
Musinsa stands out in the country’s e-commerce sector, which has recently seen a number of companies, such as TMON and Balaan, file for corporate rehabilitation due to liquidity issues. Musinsa has remained profitable every year since its founding in 2012, except for 2023. China’s Alibaba Group reportedly expressed interest in investing, but Musinsa turned down the offer.
Musinsa has been expanding its reach beyond fashion. The platform operates a dedicated cosmetics section and 29CM, a women’s fashion platform. And while most traditional retailers started offline before moving online, Musinsa has taken the opposite path. It opened its first brick-and-mortar store in 2021 and now runs 23 stores for its private label brand, Musinsa Standard. Musinsa Standard products are also stocked in all five of Korea’s major department stores, including Lotte and Shinsegae. Last year, Musinsa Standard brick-and-mortar stores welcomed 12 million visitors, more than tripling from the previous year.
Musinsa is now considered one of Korea’s must-visit retail destinations, along with CJ Olive Young and Daiso. Last year, Musinsa’s tax-free sales to foreigners exceeded 20 billion won. The company launched the Musinsa Global Store last year. “Over 1,500 local brands are now available to international shoppers through our global platform,” a company representative said.
The company aims to bolster support for domestic brands with marketing, logistics, and distribution, particularly as it seeks to expand into the Japanese market.
