South Korean fashion shopping platform Musinsa is ramping up its collaboration with Japanese peer Zozo to build up a global presence ahead of an IPO.
“Through our collaboration with Zozo, we’ll be able to reach a wide range of customers in Japan, a major market,” said Park Jun-young, Musinsa’s chief global officer.
Through this collaboration, Musinsa aims to transform itself from merely an exporter of South Korean fashion and into a global distribution hub for brands from both Japan and South Korea.
Zozo opened its first South Korean pop-up shop at a Musinsa physical store in Seoul on Oct. 16. The pop-up is selling products from 15 popular Japanese brands until the end of the month. Musinsa is also selling popular Zozo products online through mid-November.
Musinsa and Zozo agreed in December 2024 to establish a strategic partnership. In November 2025, a Musinsa shop opened inside Zozo’s Japanese e-commerce platform, Zozotown.
Musinsa began in 2001 as an online community for sneaker enthusiasts. The site entered the e-commerce business in 2009 and incorporated in 2012.
The company expanded its customer base by discovering up-and-coming K-brands. As of 2025, Musinsa had partnered with over 20,000 brands and had more than ten million monthly active users.
Right now, the company’s revenue comes from two main streams: sales of its own label, Musinsa Standard, and commissions from discovering and selling other brands.
Musinsa applied in September for a preliminary review to list on the Korea Exchange. The groundwork is being laid for a listing in the first half of 2027. The enterprise value would be around KRW 8–10 trillion (USD 6.0–7.5 billion), according to South Korean news outlets.
In an October report, South Korea’s IBK Securities said the projected value will depend on future growth potential beyond current profit levels. What will support Musinsa’s enterprise value is whether the company can achieve growth globally, and not just in South Korea’s retail sector, according to the report.
Park told Nikkei that Musinsa can prove the durability of its growth by applying its cultivated expertise to overseas markets, in conjunction with expanding business back home.
“The most important thing is the company’s value and sustainability,” Park said.
Japan is a key piece of Musinsa’s overseas strategy. The company established a Japanese subsidiary in 2021 and began online sales there in 2022. Sales in that market more than quintupled in the three years up to 2025. The company plans to open its first permanent store in Japan in 2027.
Many South Korean brands “are small brands with only a few employees, and they are quick to respond to trends,” Park said.
Musinsa established a Taiwan subsidiary in July, aiming to open 15 stores over the next five years. In China, the company will open two stores simultaneously in Shenzhen on October 31. Musinsa will also add more locations in Southeast Asia.
Although Musinsa’s revenue grew in 2025, net profit fell 41% to KRW 7.7 billion (USD 5.7 million). The company logged a KRW 15.6 billion (USD 11.6 million) net loss for the first half of 2026. Weighing down on earnings are rising procurement costs, investments in artificial intelligence talent and logistics efficiency, and marketing expenses in Japan and China.
This article first appeared on Nikkei Asia. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with Nikkei.
Note: KRW figures are converted to USD at rates of KRW 1340.33 = USD 1 based on estimates as of October 29, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.