MILAN — It was only a matter of time before Prada’s endorsem*nt of K-pop would inch up a notch: The seven members of South Korean music sensation Enhypen have been named the luxury brand’s latest ambassadors.
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Jungwon, Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo and Ni-Ki attended their first Prada runway show together last January in Milan. Outside Fondazione Prada, the venue for themen’s fall 2023 fashion show, crowds erupted as the seven members stepped out to greet fans, wearing head-to-toe Prada looks from the men’s spring 2023 collection, which was heavy on denim sets and boxy blazers.
The group, which boasts more than 12.5 million fans on Instagram alone, helped the Italian label secure $40.4 million in media impact value, according to tallies of January fashion weeks compiled by data firm Launchmetrics.
Driven by their attendance, 61 percent of Prada’s MIV last January was generated by celebrities and roughly half of it originated from the Asia Pacific region, with other Korean stars including Jaehyun, The Boyz and Twice also drawing attention.
“We’re delighted and honored to be a part of this partnership as new brand ambassadors of Prada. The synergy Prada and Enhypen will create is something we’re very excited to witness and greatly looking forward to,” the boy band said in a statement.
Enhypen was formed in 2020 through the survival competition show “I-Land” and debuted their first extended play, titled “Border: Day One,” on Nov. 30 that year, having already amassed more than 1 million followers on social media platforms TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and V Live.
The lead single, “Given-Taken,” turned into a hit and propelled the EP’s success, which became the highest-selling album by a K-pop group introduced in 2020. In 2021, the boy band released its first studio album, “Dimension: Dilemma,” with preorders surpassing 600,000 copies in six days. Enhypen embarked on their first world tour, called “Manifesto,” in September 2022, starting in Seoul and ending in the Philippines in February. It touched down in the U.S. ,Thailand and Japan. Their second studio album and first Japanese album, titled “Sadame,” bowed last October.
The band’s second world tour kicks off at the end of July in Seoul and is poised to stop by Tokyo and the U.S., with more dates to be announced.
The K-pop stars join other Prada ambassadors including Scarlett Johansson, Hunter Schafer, Letitia Wright, Amanda Gorman, Cai Xukun, Jaehyun and Louis Partridge, among other talents.
In recent years, the influence of K-pop has become more visible in the global luxury market.
On the men’s front, earlier this year Dior signedBTS member Jiminas a global ambassador; Valentino named BTS memberSugaas a brand ambassador, andGivenchy unveiled Taeyang, a member of Big Bang and a solo artist, as its newest brand ambassador.
After the pandemic, the local luxury market has registered upbeat growth. According to Euromonitor, luxury retail value sales in South Korea is projected to grow 8 percent year-on-year to 19.4 trillion South Korean won, or $15 billion, in 2022.
According to a Morgan Stanley report, with a vibrant middle-class and upper-middle-class demographic, South Korean nationals are now the world’s biggest spenders per capita on personal luxury goods. At $325 per capita, it is higher than $280 in the U.S., $210 in Japan and $55 in China.
Morgan Stanley estimates that South Korean nationals now account for “10 percent or more” of the brand’s total retail sales for Prada, Bottega Veneta, Burberry and Moncler.
