What fashion brands in Japan, Korea and Hong Kong can you buy clothes at?
No-one really talks about Black women and where they can buy fashion from in Asia. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of articles, TikTok’s and reels on how people can budget their look and make it look similar to a brand they like, or co-ordinating their style to a celerbity they admire. But having personal advice from someone who has lived in Asia and bought fashion from Japanese, Korean and Chinese brands in this day and age is rarely documented.
What’s my story?
My first experience with fashion was from J-Pop and K-Pop artists that I’ve been very interested in since I was 13 years old — Morning Musume, Kumi Koda, Namie Amuro, 2NE1, Wonder Girls and 4minute. I even bought my first frilly dresses from a department store in Fukuoka, Japan in 2009.
Once I got to travel in my 20s, I went to Shibuya109 and Lumine in Japan, Hongdae and Shinsegae Centum City in Korea, and Langham Place in Hong Kong to get more clothes.
For me, fashion is all about self-expression and comfort. The main worries have always been as a Black woman are the size and material quality of clothing that may not compliment our bodies — and I really hate one-size clothing. As someone who has bought and worn a lot of fashion in the past ten years, here’s my advice for you all on buying fashion from Asia for your future trips! But please see this as an unofficial guide/advice.
Recommended Brands
Among my favourites, there’s S.I2.C. (Ikebukuro only), PUNYUS, Cecil Mcbee (online only), Ingni, MOUSSY, Lowrys Farm, Rodeo Crowns, SLY, MONOGRAM, double-park and initial, Princess, and Stylenanda. For people who prefer bigger size of fashion, PUNYUS is best along with markets such as Namdaemun, UNIQLO’s little sibling, GU and the night markets in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
If you don’t live in Asia, I think it’s an advantage to wear fashion in your hometown as you’ll stand out more. And when it comes to quality, Japanese and Taiwanese fashion is the best but the most popular fashion items come from Japan and Korea.
Second-hand online options
Sometimes there’s the issue with missing a season and the clothes never coming back in style. Thankfully, there’s a number of websites where you can buy used clothing that you missed — mercari, Neokyo, Rakuten Rakuma and Tenso.com. Bare in mind second-hand clothing in Japan is 80% like new condition for us but good over there (e.g. a mark in a top or a small hole).
Now I’ve been buying second-hand clothing since 2018 and although it’s fast delivery (in under two weeks), the shipping costs can be high. So think carefully what you purchase first especially when international shipping is not cheap…
Follow content creators
There are a lot of people looking online who love fashion inside and outside of Asia but don’t advertise what they wear. Influencers, models, content creators…there’s a variety of people to follow online who may wear fashion from these countries. Apart from the models listed above, I can think of creators such as ebunnybee and Megan Bowen.
I would also like to see a variety of black people promoting other fashion brands from Asia to people all over the world especially on Tiktok. I’m not on the app so I can’t recommend anyone unfortuantely.
Write your own reviews!
Lastly, after you’ve bought something, please write a review for others who may want to buy the same jeans or jacket that you have.
Add photos of what the product looks like on you, describe the colours (is it different from the website or your phone’s photos), how the fabric feels and if you are comfortable, add your clothes or shoe size to help others understand. Please do so as you don’t know who could be grateful to hear your honest reviews. I sometimes put photos of myself and write my sizes to make it obvious for other Black women to read and be able to relate to. Because you never know who it can help!
