South Korea Kids Wear Market Overview, 2029

Premiumization is changing the landscape of South Korea's childrenswear sector, with a significant tendency toward investing in higher-quality items. As birth rates decline and families have fewer children, parents are more likely to invest in long-lasting items. This trend indicates a desire for value and longevity in children's clothing, with a focus on high quality. Korean fashion trends greatly impact children's wear fashions, which feature a mix of brilliant colours, charming character prints, trendy silhouettes, and traditional designs. The market caters to a wide range of tastes, ensuring that children have access to apparel that reflects both modern and traditional trends. This emphasis on style and diversity enables youngsters to express themselves through their wardrobe selection. Functionality remains a primary emphasis in South Korea's children's clothing sector, with brands emphasising comfort, practicality, and simplicity of care. Breathable materials, easy-care features, and designs that encourage active play are prioritised to fulfil the needs of both parents and children. Millennial parents, who value style and environmentally friendly techniques, are boosting demand for sustainable and attractive children's clothing. Brands are responding to this by incorporating sustainable materials and designs into their offers, which connect with the values of environmentally concerned customers.


According to the research report “ South Korea Kids Wear Market Overview, 2029," published by Bonafide Research, the South Korea Kids Wear market is projected to value at more than USD 150 Million from 2024 to 2029. Social media has a big impact on customer tastes, with Korean outlets emphasising children's fashion heavily. These trends impact parents, resulting in an increase in demand for unusual and trendy children's clothes. However, the business has hurdles due to South Korea's low birth rate, which threatens its long-term growth potential. Despite these hurdles, the kidswear market is evolving as customer tastes, cultural influences, and regulatory standards shift. In terms of legislation and regulations, South Korea sets strong safety standards for children's clothes to assure quality and consumer protection. Most imported clothes must be certified, demonstrating the government's commitment to maintaining industry-wide safety standards. Despite a low birth rate, the children's clothing sector increased by almost 31% between 2020 and 2022, mostly due to the premiumization trend. This trend indicates a shift in consumer preferences for higher quality, innovative patterns, and expensive materials for their children's clothing, regardless of how decreasing birth rates affect the prospective client base. As parents increasingly value quality over quantity, manufacturers have taken the chance to provide premium options in the children's fashion sector.

The kids' wear market segmentation is organised into four main categories: Product Type, Category Type, Demographics, and Sales Channels, each catering to specific preferences and needs of young consumers. In terms of Product Type, kids' apparel, footwear, and accessories stand out as key segments. Apparel encompasses a wide range of clothing options tailored for children, including tops, bottoms, dresses, and more. Footwear offers a variety of shoes designed to suit the active lifestyles of kids, while accessories include items such as hats, belts, and bags to complement their outfits. Moving to Category Type, segmentation is done based on the gender preferences of children, including boys, girls, and unisex categories. This ensures that clothing styles and designs resonate with the diverse tastes of young individuals, whether they prefer traditionally masculine, feminine, or gender-neutral options. Demographics play a crucial role in segmentation, with age brackets dividing the market into 0-4 years, 5-9 years, and 10-14 years. This segmentation recognizes the evolving needs and preferences of children as they grow, allowing for targeted offerings that cater to their developmental stages and interests. Finally, Sales Channels diversify the market further by offering offline and online options for purchasing kids' wear. Offline channels include supermarkets, hypermarkets, specialty stores, and brand outlets, providing convenient access to physical retail spaces where parents can shop for their children's clothing needs. Meanwhile, online channels offer the flexibility of shopping from the comfort of home, with the added convenience of doorstep delivery.


The popularity of Korean fashion, known for its inventive designs and attention to detail, represents a substantial export opportunity for firms that can exceed international safety standards. With worldwide demand for Korean culture and aesthetics increasing, particularly in fashion, Korean kidswear manufacturers can profit on this trend by expanding their reach beyond local borders. Meeting international safety standards not only ensures product quality and safety, but it also increases brand credibility and confidence with overseas consumers. Events like KIDS FASHION SHOW SEOUL and G|FAIR SEOUL are critical outlets for displaying Korean kidswear to overseas shoppers. These trade exhibitions allow firms to network, form collaborations, and present their latest collections to a global audience. Participating in these events allows Korean kidswear brands to boost their awareness, attract international buyers, and expand their distribution channels outside domestic markets, promoting growth and sustainability in the global marketplace. The children's apparel market caters to a wide range of price ranges, from mass-market solutions for everyday wear to premium labels with high-end designs and luxurious materials. This segmentation enables marketers to target certain consumer groups based on their tastes, budget, and lifestyle. While mass-market brands prioritise affordability and accessibility, mid-range brands find a balance between quality and price, appealing to value-conscious shoppers. Premium companies, on the other hand, distinguish themselves with exclusive designs, excellent craftsmanship, and premium materials, catering to affluent clients seeking luxury and exclusivity in children's clothes.


When compared to regional competitors, South Korea exhibits distinct dynamics. China has a larger market size and a wider range of pricing points, which might be a problem for South Korean enterprises looking to compete. However, there are concerns about the quality of Chinese items, which presents a chance for South Korean enterprises to differentiate themselves through higher quality standards. Japan, on the other hand, values high-quality, timeless styles over trendy designs. This poses both obstacles and opportunities for South Korean fashion companies, as they must strike a balance between innovation and timeless appeal to compete effectively in Japan. In terms of raw material availability, South Korea relies heavily on imports of critical components such as cotton and polyester. However, there is a rising trend to use locally sourced, sustainable materials like organic cotton. This transition reflects a larger global trend toward eco-friendly methods in the fashion sector, providing a chance for South Korean producers to differentiate their products and appeal to environmentally concerned customers. The Covid-19 outbreak originally impacted supply chains and consumer spending in South Korea, just as it did worldwide. However, the business has proven resilient, with internet buying gaining pace as customers adjust to new shopping patterns in the face of social distancing tactics. This shift to e-commerce opens up potential for South Korean fashion companies to increase their online presence and reach a larger audience both domestically and abroad. By properly exploiting digital platforms, South Korean businesses can limit the effects of ongoing upheavals and benefit on changing customer behaviours in the post-pandemic period.



Considered in this report
• Historic year: 2018
• Base year: 2023
• Estimated year: 2024
• Forecast year: 2029

Aspects covered in this report
• Kids Wear market Outlook with its value and forecast along with its segments
• Various drivers and challenges
• On-going trends and developments
• Top profiled companies
• Strategic recommendation

By Product Type
• Apparel
• Footwear
• Accessories

By Category Type
• Boys
• Girls
• Unisex

By Demographics
• 0-4 Years
• 5-9 Years
• 10-14 Years

By Sales Channels
• Offline (Supermarket and Hypermarket, Specialty Stores and Brand Outlets)
• Online


The approach of the report:
This report consists of a combined approach of primary and secondary research. Initially, secondary research was used to get an understanding of the market and list the companies that are present in it. The secondary research consists of third-party sources such as press releases, annual reports of companies, and government-generated reports and databases. After gathering the data from secondary sources, primary research was conducted by conducting telephone interviews with the leading players about how the market is functioning and then conducting trade calls with dealers and distributors of the market. Post this; we have started making primary calls to consumers by equally segmenting them in regional aspects, tier aspects, age group, and gender. Once we have primary data with us, we can start verifying the details obtained from secondary sources.

Intended audience
This report can be useful to industry consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, associations, and organizations related to the Kids Wear industry, government bodies, and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing and presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry.