Musinsa opens Shanghai pop-up to expand K-fashion's reach in China

Musinsa announced Monday it has opened the "Musinsa Shanghai Pop-up Store 2026" in China through a public-private partnership, aiming to support Korean fashion brands entering the Chinese market.

The pop-up was backed by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA's overseas retail expansion support program, with a focus on lowering the barriers individual brands face when entering China. Musinsa plans to assist brands throughout the entire process — from product certification to offline sales — and to use data gathered at the pop-up to help them refine their China business strategies.

The pop-up runs from Aug. 21 through Nov. 30 at Jing'an Kerry Centre on Nanjing West Road in Shanghai, featuring 15 fashion brands — including Lookcast, Lerve and Till I Die — selected by Musinsa based on local demand and consumer preferences. The event drew more than 10,000 visitors in its first month, as of Wednesday.

The pop-up is particularly significant in that it gives domestic small and midsize brands a direct customer touchpoint and a tangible sales channel in one of China's premier shopping districts. Nanjing West Road is home to flagship stores of numerous global companies and is widely known as Shanghai's top retail corridor — often called the "world's showcase."

Musinsa is also reinforcing its role as a testing ground for K-fashion through Musinsa Store Shanghai Anfu Road, which opened in December last year. Since its launch, the store has hosted pop-ups for multiple brands, including Ronron, Sculptor and Stand Oil. Find Kapoor is set to run a month-long pop-up there starting Oct. 30.

"China is a market where interest in K-fashion is high, but at the same time, entering it individually — navigating product certification, securing local distribution networks and so on — requires considerable investment in capital and personnel," a Musinsa official said. "We will work to lower the barriers to entering China through public-private cooperation and translate that into real expansion of sales channels."