COMEUP 2021 was held successfully from November 17 to 19, 2021. During the three-day festival, many topics relevant to the present time and for the future were discussed. The global startup festival was in its third edition under the futuristic theme of “Meet the Future – Transformation.” World-renowned experts, international startups, successful Korean startup founders, and emerging startups celebrated Korea’s most prominent startup festival. Topics like post-pandemic future, digital healthcare, edutech, entertainment, open innovation, AI & Big Data, e-commerce, and much more were discussed across platforms at the event.
It was an inspiring and insightful 3-day event that displayed businesses’ integrity to overcome challenges in a post-pandemic world. The event showcased to the world that a more robust and brighter future awaits everyone, and the current crisis shall be overcome with new emerging business models and systems. A fireside chat was organized to discuss the future of the Korean Beauty and Fashion industry, and an insightful panel discussion was held to understand the scope and opportunities provided by this industry.
From DDP to the World: K-Fashion Expansion
This fireside chat was about the evolution of the Korean fashion industry. It discussed how the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) symbolizes the domestic fashion industry and what steps are required to put DDP on the global map.
This session was moderated by Woosuk Lee, Founder of SwatchOn. He experienced small but numerous trials, errors and success from a small startup and market-dominating companies. Based on insights gained from these careers, he founded a new startup and created SwatchOn, a fabric sourcing platform for fashion brands around the globe.
The panelist for the session was Hongseok Jang, Co-CEO of Dealicious. The company runs the No.1 wholesale-retail fashion platform ‘Sinsang Market.’ Hongseok focuses on creating a new global fashion ecosystem featuring a platform-fulfillment-based system. While working at NAVER, he organized a new search engine service and many others, including SNS and content services.
The panelists discussed how it is the right time to take K-Fashion to the world and how Korean soft power based on its success of K-Pop and BTS stars would augment the growth. They also discussed the need for rapid digitalization in the fashion market, focusing on improving the connection between the seller and the buyer.
New digital content and commerce strategies for beauty industry 2.0
This fireside chat session was about the fast-evolving fashion industry and how with digitalization, there is a need for the industry to accommodate content creators and fashion influencers as the new standard. The moderator of this session was Hunjoo Lee, CEO of DMIL. He started and managed a lecture-education company ‘StoryStage’ for four years before joining Surprise’s beauty and fashion commerce app as a business development manager. Lee started DMIL in 2017 as an individual business and is still in charge as the CEO. DMIL is now a major beauty MCN in Korea.
The panelist for the session was Youngjin Lee, Senior Vice President of AmorePacific. He joined the company in 2001 as a cosmetic-products researcher and developed various highly functional products, and he has carried out several new growth projects.
The panelist discussed how the Korean Beauty and Fashion Industry is seeing a big rise in the number of beauty brands and how most of these brands have target consumers, making them successful. The status of these brands worldwide is growing, and a big reason behind it is the influencers and content. Hence, as the industry evolves, the need for content will also increase.
I Pay, Therefore I am – Gen Z, the Cult of Consumption
The panel discussion was around Gen-Z consumers of Korean fashion products. The conversation mostly revolved around Japanese Gen-Z consumers of Korean beauty products and how they are influenced by k-pop and BTS. The panelist discussed how the new age Japanese consumers have forgotten the historical differences and are one of the most loyal consumers of Korean beauty products. This session was moderated by Namsuk Kim, CEO and Co-founder of Instant Tattoo.
The panelists for the session were Junyoung Jung, CEO of N.code, and Doojin Lee, CEO of Mediquitous. The panelist also talked about the steps that the Korean fashion and Beauty startups should initiate to succeed in this digital era of transformation.
by 
