written by Eddie Roche February 16, 2021 

More and more designers are seeing the global impact of aligning their collections with New York Fashion Week. The Korea Creative Content Agency’s team director  Lee Hye Eun tells The Daily about The Selects.  This week we’ll be meeting a talented pool of Korean designers, who are bringing their brands to the global fashion stage. Hye Eun fills us in on what’s ahead!  

Tell us a little bit about the history of The Selects.  
The Selects is a showroom specializing in Korean fashion brands that started in Soho, New York in 2018. There are many talented designers in Korea. The Korean Government, — the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, — and the Korea Creative Content Agency operate The Selects to introduce Korean brands to the global fashion stage. They promote and sell the brands in New York and Paris, which are the centers of global fashion.

How do you select the designers that are featured?
The Selects brands are selected through a screening process not only by Koreans but also by  global experts. Evaluation criteria include growth potential, the quality of the collection and whether a brand is prepared for overseas expansion. At opening in 2018, 10 designers joined, and this year, 9 new designers are also joining. As reflected in the name of our showroom, we are confident in our curation because we carefully select our brands.

How will you be launching digitally this season?
The Selects designers’ 21FW collection will be presented in a digital showroom this season. The Selects Showroom was opened on the sales platform Le New Black and on our own platform at theselectsmarket.com. Starting from the New York market on February 15th, our launch will continue to Paris and international sales, and we are also preparing for one in
Seoul.

What are the advantages of digital showcasing for brands and buyers?
We work hard to provide buyers to with more information than when they visited the site. We set up an environment where designers’ exclusive collections could be examined in detail, making them easy to order, as if customers were shopping.
Who are some of the brands featured? Will the designers be making films?

How will the collections be displayed?
All nine of The Selects brands are ready to meet buyers through the main collection. Our featured brands this year include WNDERKAMMER, EENK, YOUSER, EYEYE, NEUL, THE STUDIO K, C-ZANN E, VERSO, and HANKIM. The seasonal collections of these nine brands, each with their own personality, are provided as look book images and videos. Those
interested can check them out via a buyer authentication system on the two platforms previously mentioned.

What have been the biggest challenges for the designers?
The biggest challenge is that the season goes on without a break. In particular, it is not easy for Korean designers to prepare for the schedule of global fashion weeks, which are held more than a month earlier than the Seoul Fashion Week.

How will people be able to check this out?
After you are verified as a buyer, you can browse the collection and place an order. The digital collection will be released to the public through promotional events in the future.