By Alejandra Hernandez
The fashion industry is having a new major influence. With hundreds of thousands of global searches for retro-inspired tracksuits, white sneakers, red boiler suits and Vans, according to Lyst, Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ came to remind us the immense influence the streaming industry has, positioning itself as a clear example of the way a show can impact fashion and trends.
Though we are now a year and a half past the first Covid-19 lockdown, people are still working from home, giving as a result potential more viewers focused on digital content than ever. And we’ve all been witness of the way brands are facing this, from recruiting TikTok and Instagram influencers as their ambassadors, presence in new streaming platforms, to fashion shows being streamed live, it’s clear how digital content moves the world. But how can a series affect fashion so much?
How it all started
We are living on a K-drama and K-pop era. Where Gen-Z and Millennials look forward to watching Korean content and investing their time learning K-pop song lyrics. Though Korean content requires a fair amount of time because of the language barrier, teenagers started leaning towards it, creating a new trend that’s not going anywhere.
The way it’s affecting the fashion industry
As you may know, having a top-level influencer is key to reach a big potential market for luxury brands. It’s no surprise Korean top actors and singers are on the spotlight at the moment, creating new chapters on fashion and immersing us into a new different perspective of K-pop and K-drama.
But what’s even more interesting is the way Squid Game’s now creating an aesthetic. As listed before: tracksuits, vans and white numbered shirts are a must, according to Lyst. Giving as a result an “experience” trend, and that is exactly what brands need at the moment to create engagement. Plus, it involves Korean culture, so it’s the whole package. It’s basically a perfect match, and consumers are loving it.
Ho Yeon Jung, (Kang Sae-byeok on Squid Game) is now LV’s global ambassador, Lee Yoo-Mi’s (Ji-yeong) followers are increasing immensely, with 6.8M up to date. Brands like Adidas are doing collaborations with Squid Game’s main characters, Vans is having major sales peaks thanks to the series and retail platforms like Amazon are already selling the serie’s costumes online.
Since we’ll start seeing Squid Game inspired designs on the runways these next months, it will be interesting to analyze how much it grows. Keep an eye out and subscribe to our YouTube channel to know as soon as the trend hits the runway!
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