Gentle Monster

K-fashion made significant inroads in becoming a part of a global fashion conversation in 2025, with brands like Post Archive Faction and Gentle Monster grabbing attention. But scaling the category to become as big as other cultural exports remains challenging.

With its latest martial arts-inspired collaboration, the brand joins the ranks of Converse, Swarovski and Levi’s as more global players partner with Chinese designers in the hopes of boosting profits. Will it work?

Chinese backers have snapped up distressed European fashion labels hoping to tap the country’s millions of heritage-hungry millennials. But things haven’t always gone to plan.

Despite avoiding advertising, influencers and discount deals, British direct-to-consumer eyewear brand Cubitts has opened seven stores in five years and is in it for the long haul.

Check out this week’s new partners and openings on BoF Careers, the global marketplace for fashion talent.

Private equity firms are steering clear of traditional fashion brands, but those with disruptive models remain prized acquisitions.

The countries have agreed to restore ties after a year-long dispute over the deployment of a US anti-missile system, which has been devastating to some Korean businesses that rely on Chinese consumers.

Brands like France’s Izipizi, South Korea’s Gentle Monster and America’s Warby Parker are shaking up the eyewear market with direct-to-consumer models.

For BoF's first Entrepreneurship Week, we examined the growth trajectories of five successful fashion start-ups and the business-builders behind them.

BoF’s Entrepreneurship Week kicks off with a report on South Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster, which dodged the Warby Parker-clone trap with a design-led approach.