On the 1st, we visited Big City, a representative shopping mall in Hsinchu (), Taiwan. Amid global brands like Lululemon, Adidas, and Eco, a familiar Hangul logo caught our eye: Map Kim, a leading K-fashion brand. The influence of K-fashion has now expanded beyond Taipei's tourist districts to industrial cities like Hsinchu, home to the world's largest foundry company TSMC, often called "Taiwan's Pangyo."
On its opening day, the store saw a steady stream of local consumers. Visitors ranged from those browsing products inside the store to others taking photos with friends. Many customers visited specifically because they knew Map Kim was a Korean brand.
Rin (23), who attached a NewJeans "Bunnies" keychain to her bag, said, "I've been to Korea four times, and each time I visited a Map Kim store." She added, "I often see Map Kim on Instagram and Xiaohongshu (a Chinese-language social media platform)." This highlights a trend where consumers discover the brand through K-pop and social media, experience it during trips to Korea, and then make purchases locally.
Map Kim's operator, Hagohouse, chose Hsinchu as its new base after considering the region's consumption environment. With global IT companies like TSMC located there, Hsinchu boasts strong industrial competitiveness and high resident income levels. As a distinct living area separate from Taipei, it offers an environment conducive to building brand value among local consumers over the medium to long term rather than relying on temporary tourist demand.
Taiwan's business growth has been steep. Cumulative sales in Taiwan from January to August this year rose 163% compared to the same period last year. Offline sales during the same period increased by 131%. Since opening its first store in November 2024, Map Kim added five stores last May and two more this year. Including the Hsinchu location, the number of local stores has reached eight.
Taiwan also exhibits consumption characteristics different from Korea. According to Map Kim, Taiwanese consumers tend to prioritize brand logos and designs over seasonal product changes. This explains why hoodies and jumpers sell well even in Taiwan's hot weather. In fact, sales of items such as vintage washed graffiti hoodie zip-ups, white logo essential hoodie zip-ups, and logo-coated jumpers surged significantly over the past three months.
Accessories are also a highly popular category in Taiwan. Accessories account for more than 50% of total sales across Taiwan. Preference is particularly high for bag products featuring prominent brand logos. For local consumers, Map Kim has established itself not merely as a clothing brand but as one that expresses personal taste through logos and designs.
Map Kim plans to expand its business into overseas markets in the future. In existing markets such as Osaka and Nagoya in Japan, Hong Kong, and Thailand, it will expand its offline business while also entering new markets like China and Vietnam. In Europe, it is expanding distribution networks to Eastern European countries including Bulgaria. In North America, it is increasing touchpoints with local customers through official entry into Amazon US. It also plans to enter Senegal in Africa during the second half of the year.
A Hagohouse representative stated, "We will strengthen competitiveness for each market based on product configurations and localization strategies that reflect each country's climate, consumption characteristics, and customer responses. At the same time, we aim to solidify our business foundations in existing markets while continuously seeking opportunities to enter new ones."
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