This series captures every moment when money and spending touch our lives.
"My sixth-grade daughter sent me screenshots of light down jackets she wants, and every one of them is sold out."
The days when high-priced parkas costing from several hundred thousand won to well over 1 million won swept through schools and strained parents' budgets are over. This year, light down jackets from Spao, the SPA brand, have spread by word of mouth among students at prices that are far easier on the wallet, prompting parents to call them the opposite of the "back breakers" of years past.
Spao's Thin Light series, sold by E-Land World, is drawing attention this fall and winter season, according to the fashion industry on the 27th.
Online communities for parents of elementary and middle school students have been filling with posts such as "How did Spao become a trend among middle schoolers?" and "My daughter said she wants to go to the Spao store and buy one, so it really is a trend." Some parents responded that a Spao trend is a welcome development.
Prices are relatively manageable. Spao's women's sheer hooded jacket sells for 69,900 won and the women's Thin Light hooded jacket for 59,000 won, with none exceeding 100,000 won. That is far cheaper than the parkas priced from several hundred thousand won to more than 1 million won that students favored in the past.
Spao moved up this year's Thin Light launch by about two weeks from last year to capture the demand. Last year the line debuted in the first week of September, but this year online sales began on Aug. 17 and expanded to offline stores from Aug. 29. The jackets use a filling called Thincloud, made of ultrafine fibers about one-42nd the thickness of a human hair arranged at high density, cutting weight while improving insulation.
Light down jackets are also popular among people in their 20s and 30s. Once dismissed as clothing for middle-aged men, the garment has emerged as a fall and winter fashion item for younger consumers.
In the past, most light down jackets came in safe colors such as black, gray and navy, with body-hugging designs. They were closer to insulating layers worn under heavy outerwear. Recently, however, their range of use has widened, serving as standalone outerwear in autumn and as a layer under coats and parkas in winter.
As colors and designs have diversified, more consumers are seeking out light down jackets. Transaction value in the light down category on fashion platform Musinsa rose 718% in August from a year earlier. The increase is attributed to the fashion industry rolling out light down jackets early as a flagship fall and winter product, along with demand from shoppers buying ahead of the first real cold snap.
The race to launch has also accelerated. F&F's Discovery brand moved up its light down release by about two weeks from last year. New product competition that began in earnest in mid-September last year started in August this year.
With younger consumers piling in, brightly colored designs are appearing as well. Unlike the all-achromatic past, distinctive colors such as pink, sky blue and mustard are arriving one after another. Carvisi introduced a pink-toned "Cloud Pink" product, and Openyard unveiled a sky blue light puffer jacket. Leuart is selling a mustard hooded light down jacket, and Musinsa Standard released its "City Leisure Sheer Hooded Light Down Jacket" in nine colors.
Materials and shapes are changing too. Sheer fabrics that faintly reveal the filling and non-quilted designs that minimize stitching lines are leading examples. The aim is to set the garments apart from conventional outdoor products so they pair naturally with everyday clothing.
