Insights

Korea's fashion and apparel industry is in the middle of structural restructuring. According to Samjong KPMG Economic Research Institute's Business Focus, the simultaneous impact of the post-pandemic shift toward experience-based consumption, climate-driven off-season decline, the penetration of low-priced Chinese platforms (SHEIN, AliExpress, TEMU), and rising operating costs has deepened restructuring from 2024. The report summarizes the industry's major business trends in 11 themes.

11 business trends. ① Portfolio rebalancing (winding down inefficient brands, restructuring around profitability); ② responding to “China fashion” (strengthening competitiveness against low-priced Chinese platforms); ③ direct entry of overseas brands (accelerating direct entry by global Triple-A brands); ④ evolution of licensing strategy (distribution/monetization models using unlisted IP); ⑤ redefining offline channels (from simple space to experience-driven brand hubs); ⑥ the rise of K-Fashion (global expansion linked to K-content); ⑦ SPA's surge (Uniqlo FY25 Korea revenue KRW 3.3524 trillion, +27.6% YoY); ⑧ Athleisure 3.0 (creating new categories fusing functionality and wellness); ⑨ workwear as fashion (from functional focus to expressions of fashion and identity); ⑩ fashion re-commerce (the institutionalization of secondhand and resale); ⑪ AI transformation (using generative AI for design, marketing, and demand forecasting).

Direction of restructuring. Within the SPA market, leaders such as Uniqlo, SPAO, and 8 Seconds are riding consumer polarization to lift competitiveness through high-function materials, high-end collaborations, and platform big-data linkages, while Musinsa Standard is using platform-accumulated data to lift product competitiveness and quality, reaching KRW 451.8 billion in 2025 sales (jersey product basis).

What this means for M&A. Structural restructuring of Korea's fashion industry creates three M&A opportunity lines. First, in K-Fashion's global expansion, acquiring overseas fashion platforms or agencies with local distribution and IP becomes a key tool to accelerate market entry. Second, as more assets emerge from inefficient-brand wind-downs, bolt-on opportunities for strategic buyers with licensing IP, inventory distribution, and re-commerce capabilities will expand. Third, fashion-tech startups with AI- and data-based demand-forecasting and personalized-recommendation solutions are likely to become acquisition targets for major fashion groups.

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Full report: Samjong KPMG Economic Research Institute, Business Focus (April 2026)