reason #999 why i’m staying in korea
Each and every day that passes here in Korea makes me want to come back to Los Angeles less and less.
One of the issues I originally had with Korea was the lack of reseller luxury goods sites like Depop or Grailed. I felt I had to go to Gwanjang Market or one of those overpriced independent places in Hongdae. Only recently had I found out about Carrot Market or Danggeun Market (당근마켓).
Until finally, my Instagram ads showed me exactly what I wanted:
A place where I can finally find the hard-to-find. For example, look at this Hyein Seo pin from seasons ago.
Or this cute Stussy nylon beret for only 35,000won (roughly $31, a steal!).
FruitsFamily (후루츠패밀리) was founded a year after I transplanted myself in Korea. More often than not, I felt forced to go to local donations spots to let go of some high name labels I found for myself as I was trying to figure out my own style. Or I had to lug them in a suitcase, visiting stalls of twentysomethings obsessed only with Burberry coats from the 80’s. Now, a place exists for some of the Uniqlo U items that I’ve hoarded and grown out of.
The interface and design language is very similar to that of Grailed with a heavier social media influence similar to Instagram where you follow people to keep up with what’s relevant, trending, and up for grabs in sustainable consumerism.
As a capitalistic society, this is something I’ve always thought Korea would be interested in. But as the start-up culture is slowly blossoming here, it’s great to see the youths take initiative in combining tech and art and culture in a way that pushes the economy in the right direction during a time of political and economic instability with crushing housing prices and minute job markets. Always, the youth revolt will find ways to make an extra dollar here or there to spring themselves forward into a world they make real for themselves.
