KEY POINTS

  • BTS collaborated with Korea-based fashion retailer Handsome Corporation to launch their new line of apparel
  • The K-pop band's clothing line will be available soon on the WeVerse Shop and on The Handsome's special collaboration site
  • The products are inspired by BTS’ hit title track “Blood, Sweat & Tears” 

BTS is launching their own clothing line in collaboration with Hyundai Shopping Mall’s casual fashion brand.

The K-pop septet is teaming with South Korea-based fashion retailer The Handsome for their stylish and trendy clothing line BTS|SYSTEM. The products draw inspiration from BTS’ hit title track “Blood, Sweat & Tears” and features a total of 25 unique items that include t-shirts, dresses, hoodies, caps and other accessories.

Fans are surely in for a treat as the K-pop group’s clothing line will soon be made available via the Weverse Shop, as well as the manufacturing company’s special website Handsome Corporation x BTS|SYSTEM.

Clearly, this isn’t the first business venture that BTS, aka the Bangtan boys, have engaged in. As the world’s biggest boy band and K-pop group that paved the way for South Korean acts in the Western market, the astounding success of the septet ensemble came under the tutelage of music industry veteran Bang Si-hyuk.

Both the founder and co-CEO of Big Hit Entertainment, Bang Si-hyuk is known to fans as the BTS mastermind and has worked as a producer, executive and entrepreneur. According to a report by Time, Bang started out as a composer for JYP, the K-pop industry’s so-called “Big Three” entertainment groups that dominates the multi-billion-dollar market of the South Korean music service.

Bang’s company, Big Hit, is currently expanding its reach into e-commerce, gaming and tech, per Variety. WeVerse, the business guru’s largest tech platform, follows a social networking model that allows artists and fans to forge a virtual interaction. It is through this app that artists can send out updates for their fans, and in turn, fanbases can also create desired content for their idols.

In an interview with Time, the entertainment industry mogul revealed his thoughts behind BTS' success and how they shot to superstardom.

“It’s difficult for me to say things like A led to B,” Bang said. “But what I can say is that BTS’ success in the U.S. market was achieved by a formula different from the American mainstream formula. Loyalty built through direct contact with fans had a lot to do with that.”

BTS|SYSTEM merchandise will be released via the Weverse Shop starting May 15, and on The Handsome's special collaboration website on May 18.

The BTS concerts are the latest events to be cancelled or postponed as the outbreak has spread in the world's 12th-largest economy
The boy group BTS is pictured. AFP/Jung Yeon-je
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