Kyndof's 2000Archives Now Distributed in Around 20 Countries

Kyndof (CEO Kim Seon-bin) is drawing attention among MZ-generation shoppers with its women's designer brand 2000Archives. The football T-shirt worn by NewJeans' Minji and the geek-chic rimless glasses worn by aespa's Karina became explosively popular once they were identified as the label's products.

Launched in September 2020, 2000Archives pursues an image of an independent, self-assured woman who reveals her sensuality with confidence. Its customers are mostly women in their 20s and 30s, largely shoppers with strong individuality and a clearly defined personal style.

In the 2024 F/W collection, the TEAMARCHIVES JACQUARD CAP, TEAMARCHIVES BEANIE, NATIONAL RACING HOOD ZIP UP and TEAMARCHIVES OVERSIZED T are leading sales.

The print tights range is also worth watching. On November 11 the brand ran a ‘Tights Day’ event on its own online store. In its early days few brands offered print tights, so many customers regarded 2000Archives as a ‘stockings specialist’. Judging that the stereotype was holding it back as a fashion brand, the company went through a period of not releasing print tights at all.

The November ‘Tights Day’ was arranged now that the brand has established itself as a fashion label: it gave early customers another chance to buy tights, while internally it carried the message of ‘getting back to the founding spirit’. The company has also set out plans to build print tights up as a core signature item.

Online, distribution centres on its own store along with Musinsa, 29CM, W Concept and EQL. Offline, it operates as a shop-in-shop at EMPTY in Seongsu, Seoul, and at the Visual Aid store in Yeonnam-dong. Overseas it is carried by the Japanese select shops Royal Flash, Nubian, Beams and GR8, and is distributed in some 20 countries including the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia and China.

On the goals for 2025, CEO Kim Seon-bin said, “Next year we will strengthen offline while focusing more on domestic consumers with online at the centre. Until now we made the products we wanted to make, but from next year we will plan mainly the products consumers want.”

Kyndof is also preparing an integrated infrastructure service to support growth in the fashion industry. Kim pointed to the problem of most fashion brands devoting excessive time to work outside actual product development, such as financial management, logistics, customer service, production management and marketing. The company is therefore developing an IT platform for brand operations that would let brands handle design, production, marketing and distribution on a single platform and concentrate on product development.

From November through December the company also held the 2000Archives Fashion Design Contest & Awards, a programme to nurture up-and-coming fashion designers. It was run to help create an environment where designers can raise their profile and attract attention, and from the next edition it will also cover students and graduates of universities outside Korea.