(image: Ralph Lauren)
SEOUL, Mar. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Major foreign fashion brands are employing the Korean alphabet “hangeul” to make bags, t-shirts, scarves and uniforms amid “hallyu,” the growing global popularity of Korean pop culture.
Belgian designer Raf Simons has used fabric bearing the words “Gotgam,” meaning dried persimmon, and “Beopseongpo Gulbi,” or dried yellow corvina fish, to make Eastpak bags for sale in Europe for the spring and summer season this year.
Two models of the bag cost 220 euros and 190 euros each.
Simons has also introduced t-shirts and scarves bearing Korean characters.
Ralph Lauren, meanwhile, released the uniforms for U.S. athletes participating in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics bearing PyeongChang in the Korean alphabet.
Opening Ceremony, a U.S. fashion portal, has also introduced baseball jumpers with “Opening Ceremony” and “the Republic of Korea” written in the Korean alphabet while displaying the Korean national flag “taegeukki” and the Korean national flower “mugunghwa,” or Rose of Sharon.
The French fashion brand Zadig & Voltaire also introduced t-shirts bearing an address in Seoul — “82 Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul City” — in the Korean alphabet.
“They may be utilizing the beauty of hangeul’s design,” an industry source said. “The global popularity of South Korea helped by hallyu has also contributed to the spread of hangeul design.”
(Yonhap)
