“I started in fashion because I wanted to make some money,” says Dongjoon Lim, co-founder of South Korean fashion label Post Archive Faction (PAF). While on a product design course at Seoul’s Hongik University, with his sights on moving to Europe to study further, Lim started making T-shirts to sell.
He was inspired by Virgil Abloh’s runaway success at Off-White (Abloh started out making T-shirts and simple workwear). Soon, like Abloh, Lim wanted to go beyond simply printing tees to designing his own products — or as he puts it, making something a little more “weird”.
Cut to today, and PAF will make its Pitti Uomo runway debut on Thursday afternoon, as one of three guest designers on the programme alongside Issey Miyake Homme Plissé and Niccolò Pasqualetti. Post Archive Faction (PAF) is the second-ever South Korean brand to occupy the slot (following prominent label Juun J in January 2016). “[South Korea is] a growing market, very important for Italian fashion and for the fair — given the high turnout of journalists and economic operators at Pitti Uomo — but also a fertile territory for scouting the new generations of fashion designers and young creatives who stand out for their versatility and abilities to connect different languages and artistic fields,” said Lapo Cianchi, director of communications and events at the trade show’s organiser Pitti Immagine, in a statement following the announcement.
Known for avant-garde twists on everyday fashion, PAF creates utilitarian daywear featuring disconcerting graphic prints, panelling and contrasting fabric textures (outerwear and accessories made out of chiffon shapes, for example). Popular among young men in big cities from Seoul to New York, the brand chimes with the technical urban outerwear trend we’ve seen bubbling up across menswear in recent years. Since the streetwear boom, these kinds of labels have shown up more frequently on the stands at Pitti, but less so in the guest designer slot.
Lim met co-founder Sookyo Jeong — a trained designer — via a friend, while studying at Hongkik in the late 2010s. They played football together on campus, and Lim told Jeong about the T-shirts. “I said, ‘I don’t know how to [cut] patterns, but I have a vision to start a fashion brand. Can you do it?’” Lim recalls. They co-founded PAF in 2018, with Kim joining as brand director.
And so, what started out as a bid for tuition fees became a fully fledged label. Lim never got around to studying abroad, but today he operates a globally growing fashion brand. PAF’s annual revenues sat at $5 million for 2024, up 20 per cent on the year prior. It has 75 stockists worldwide including Dover Street Market, Slam Jam, Ssense and LN-CC, and has collaborated with brands like Off-White (on an outerwear look for the Autumn/Winter 2022 show) and On.
Ahead of PAF’s Pitti debut, I sat down with Lim to understand his journey. The following answers have been edited for brevity.
Vogue: PAF is a little different from some of the more traditional labels you might see at Pitti Uomo. How would you describe the brand?
I always think what we’re making is a uniform. It is not about mood. It’s not even about fashion. We’re really focused on the product we’ve made. When I look back at my design process, it is really rooted in product design, rather than fashion design. We don’t behave like regular fashion brands. We don’t actually spend much on marketing. I think last year we spent $15,000 on marketing the whole year. And 80 per cent of that was a mistake, we normally spend three or four thousand…
Vogue: A mistake? What happened?
We did a huge Black Friday marketing campaign running Instagram ads on stories and feeds. A lot of people clicked through the link [but didn’t necessarily buy]. So the [cost per click] was high. Now, instead, we’re focusing on runway shows. I think runway shows should be the marketing budget. We need a show to communicate with customers and buyers.
Vogue: Why did you want to be a part of Pitti, if you don’t necessarily align with fashion with a capital ‘F’?
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.
Vogue: Is the decline in wholesale revenue because DTC is growing?
Our flagship store in Seoul is going crazy! We’re getting really good feedback. But sometimes, it’s hard to celebrate when you hear of so many amazing brands closing. Like Y/Project closed. I think, wow, that could be our story. But this is the game, I just need to adapt.
Vogue: You mentioned the Seoul store is thriving. That’s your only monobrand store right now. Any plans to expand to other territories?
We’re trying to expand the Seoul store network and open in the right location. Then, the next one should be in Tokyo, because we have a lot of customers there. After that? I’m thinking, hopefully New York. Even though the fees are crazy.
We have great feedback from the customers who actually see and touch our product in-person. Because, you know, there are so many people who don’t know about Post Archive Faction. I’m sure 90 per cent of people don’t know about us. Stores allow us to present ourselves. That’s where I have confidence that we’re really focusing on the product.
Vogue: Alongside your DTC business, you’ve also done some impressive collaborations, notably with On. How did that come about?
We were contacted by On in 2021. I didn’t necessarily know what it was back then. But when you try on those shoes, they are so comfortable. We created apparel and footwear with them, and 90 per cent of it sold out on the first day. It was great for us. On is trying to do what I’m trying to do, which is focus on product design and break into the fashion industry. That’s Post Archive Faction’s strategy. We’re doing a fashion invasion, in a way.
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