SPA brand SPAO is leading domestic kidult fashion through various collaborative marketing. The photo shows a model wearing a collaboration product that SPAO has launched with (clockwise from left) Choosim, Janmang Luffy, Dino Tang, and Mujik Tiger. / Provided by E-Land
Kidult fashion has recently become popular as it combines with the funsumer (fun + consumer) trend. Meanwhile, SPAO is leading domestic kidult fashion with unrivaled collaboration.
SPAO is a local SPA (directly operated from planning to production and distribution) brand launched by E-Land in 2009. Starting with the collaboration with Coca-Cola in 2015, we are carrying out unique and fun collaborative collections every season. It is gaining great popularity through collaborations with various brands such as Sanrio Characters, Pokemon, Zangmang Luffy, Crayon Shin-chan, Gogosim, Damgom, Stranger Things, Demotjuk, Century Green Apple, and Kungya Restaurants.
The Pokémon collaboration collection released last year is a representative success example. The ‘Mewtwo’ limited edition T-shirt was sold out within a minute of its launch on SPAO.com, and all five items in the collection were sold out on the same day.
Korea’s first emoticon collaboration collection, launched last year in collaboration with artist Choi Go-shim, was sold out within 5 minutes of launch. In 2023, after launching Sanrio Characters Family Pajamas that can be enjoyed by all ages, from kids to adults, cumulative sales exceeded KRW 10 billion. The Damgom collection attracted tremendous attention with related posts being retweeted more than 10,000 times on social media, and the collaboration short-sleeved T-shirts led to 100,000 reorders and annual sales of 3 billion won.
The secret to SPAO’s ability to achieve results through diverse collaboration is its young team structure. The SPAO collaboration team is made up of people who are passionate about collaboration, from a 28-year-old team member to a 35-year-old team leader. Prior to launching the collaborative collection, a ‘public survey’ is conducted. This year, interest was so strong that 110,000 people participated in the survey, the largest number ever. Recently, we are focusing on collaborations that can coexist with domestic artists and characters. The collaboration with Pengsoo in 2018 became a good precedent. In addition, the ‘Dark Moon’ collection, launched last September, achieved a new daily sales record at Spao Hongdae AK branch along with the open run. As this was the first offline pop-up event held since the coronavirus pandemic, the response from customers was explosive. Kakao Entertainment’s ‘Demotjuk’ collaboration collection, which was introduced on the 3rd, is receiving a good response by setting up an offline mini pop-up store where you can directly experience the collaboration products along with a photo zone.
