Curiosity, first of all. I have never been there and I didn’t know much about the event. I didn’t study fashion. Even though I’m in the fashion industry, I spend most of my time making things in my office. But from what I know, Pitti sounds like a very, very classic [event]. I mean, too classic, especially for someone like me, right? But when I looked into it and saw how historical the fair is and how much heritage it has, I realised that maybe I can learn something from doing this show.
When we did our two shows before in Paris in 2022/2023, it was very small scale. The Pitti show will be much bigger. I’m not sure we can do this kind of scale again, so this is an amazing opportunity. When I checked the guest designer list, there’s so many amazing brands on there that I admire.
Vogue: What’s the plan for Pitti? What can you tell us about the collection?
For Pitti, I’m into a more classic style. For the first time, we are focusing on tailoring. It was missing in our collections, even though we have pattern-makers, designers and the right technicians in my office and atelier.
Vogue: You launched PAF in 2018. In every founder’s journey, there is a milestone or a turning point. What’s yours?
It was definitely the LVMH Prize in 2021. We were semi-finalists. But to be honest, at that time, as it is for many young designers, it was way harder than we thought [running a brand]. We learnt a lot from LVMH. Because even though we were listed on the LVMH Prize semi-final, I just wanted to give up; even though I was the third or fourth Korean designer, which was very meaningful and an honour, I still wanted to give up. But I didn’t, I think that’s why the moment is very special.
Vogue: Why did you want to give up? What challenges were you facing?
We experienced the side effects of Covid until like 2023. Then, from 2023 to 2024, inflation was so bad; economies went crazy and people weren’t spending like they were before. And then wholesale revenue fell. Wholesale used to be half of our business, but last year it was around 35 per cent. Next year, it could be lower. So for the first few years of my journey, I didn’t experience many good moments in terms of the economy. But that said, we’re still growing. We had 20 per cent growth in 2024. And after Covid, our sales grew 39 per cent from 2021 to 2022, and 75 per cent from 2022 to 2023.
