What Is Wooyoungmi?
Woo Young-mi built Wooyoungmi in Paris in 2002 and became the first Korean designer admitted to the French menswear federation. Her latest collection, shown in June 2026, is built on a Korean idea of collective joy. Here are the story, the prices and where to buy.
There is a particular kind of menswear that looks simple until you try to copy it: a one-tuck trouser that falls exactly right, a coach jacket that is cut like a blazer, a logo tee that belongs in a boardroom. That is Wooyoungmi, the label that proved a Korean designer could win over Paris on tailoring alone.
The story
Woo Young-mi launched the menswear brand Solid Homme in Seoul in 1988 with a single shop and, in 1993, helped start a platform called New Wave for young designers to show their work. She founded Wooyoungmi in Paris in 2002 and has shown on Paris Menswear Week since 2003. In 2011 she became the first Korean designer admitted to the Chambre Syndicale de la Mode Masculine, according to a reference profile.
The French fashion federation’s own listing describes a label of luxurious fabrics, effortless tailoring and wearability, with artistic embroideries, subtle details and a mix of the traditional and the technical. It notes that Wooyoungmi was originally menswear only and expanded to womenswear in 2020, helped by the brand’s neutral, androgynous appeal.
- 1988Solid Homme opens in Seoul with one shop.
- 2002Wooyoungmi is founded in Paris.
- 2003First Paris Menswear Week show.
- 2011Admitted to the Chambre Syndicale de la Mode Masculine, a first for a Korean designer.
- 2014Her daughter Katie Chung joins as joint creative director; a MR PORTER capsule follows.
- 2020Womenswear begins; KED Global says Wooyoungmi had the highest sales in Le Bon Marché’s men’s hall that year.
- October 2021Limited-edition Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 and Flip3 designs.
- June 2026Spring/Summer 2027 shown at Paris Men’s Fashion Week.
Who runs it
Woo Young-mi is founder and artistic director, and Katie Chung is joint creative director; Chung presented her first show in June 2014 for Spring/Summer 2015. Wikipedia says Woo and her family members, including Chung, hold the shares of the company behind the brand, and describes it as part of Solid Corporation. A Korean job site lists Solid Corporation’s representative as Woo Young-mi and its address in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. I could not verify an official Wooyoungmi website, so I do not link one.
The signature look
Tailored trousers
One-tuck wide wool trousers, striped string trousers and barrel-leg track pants with the proportions of a suit.
Sport-tailored outerwear
Nylon coach jackets, layered windbreakers, reversible bombers and tweed zip-ups.
Shirts and tees
Striped shirts, faded denim shirts and slim-fit logo tees.
Denim and shorts
Lightweight banding jeans, semi-wide jeans and cotton shorts.
Style Cartel described the Spring/Summer 2025 collection as the founder’s most artisanal to date, with hand-executed Korean craftsmanship and a woven motif of an ancient Korean landscape painting, plus baseball-uniform references such as laced suede.
The 2026 collections
Spring/Summer 2027 (June 2026). WWD titled its review “Radical Optimism.” The collection is built around heung, the Korean concept of collective joy, with washed-out taupes, pale sea blues, soft salmon pinks and chalky whites on airy shirts, Bermuda shorts, relaxed blazers and whisper-thin pleated skirts. A runway report from Paris adds stripes and checks drawn from cultures around the world, headbands inspired by hot climates, and minhwa motifs of ancient Korean art, including cranes as figures of freedom and lotus flowers for purity and renewal. WWD noted that guests were served coffee, croissants and champagne in the courtyard before the show.
Fall/Winter 2026. The house showed its menswear in Paris earlier in the year, per the French federation’s collections listing. I did not find a review I could cite for it, so I leave it at that.
Price chart: SSENSE sale versus list, in US dollars
Dollar listings on SSENSE’s regional sites, November 2026. Red bar is the sale price, grey bar the original. Full bar equals $1,500.
Source: SSENSE regional men’s Wooyoungmi pages. Prices differ by region and day; the same tee ranged from $84 to about $139 across regions.
Price chart: how deep the discounts run
Share taken off the original price on the same SSENSE listings.
Calculated from the listed sale and original prices. These look like older-season stock, so check the season before buying.
For reference, the original prices on the same pages show where the label sits: jackets at roughly $1,050 to $1,415, trousers at $580 to $775 and shirts at $585 to $645. European sites show the same pattern in euros, for example a coach jacket at about €1,335 to €1,390 before discount.
From the official store
Prices as listed on the official Wooyoungmi online store (wooyoungmi.com) on November 8. The store lists names in Korean; the English names here are my translations.
White Knitted Goose Down
A goose-down piece from the same listing page.
₩1,580,000
Wooyoungmi official online store · Image: Wooyoungmi official online store
Navy Fur Mule
A fur mule.
₩480,000
Wooyoungmi official online store · Image: Wooyoungmi official online store
Navy Unbalanced High-Neck Sweater
A high-neck sweater.
₩520,000
Wooyoungmi official online store · Image: Wooyoungmi official online store
Grey Hairy Half-Zip Hooded T-shirt
A half-zip hooded top.
₩680,000
Wooyoungmi official online store · Image: Wooyoungmi official online store
Where to buy
| Channel | What you get | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SSENSE | Menswear in regional currencies | Heavy markdowns on older seasons; prices vary by region |
| Le Bon Marché (Paris) | Department-store men’s hall | Top seller there in 2020 (KED Global) |
| Selfridges (London) | Department-store stockist | Per a trade blog; not re-verified |
| Italist | Shirts and accessories | Dollar prices; stock varies |
| Wooyoungmi stores and site | Full collections | I could not verify an official website or current store list |
Wooyoungmi has not published an authentication guide, and I did not collect resale data, so I give no resale figures. Buy from the retailers above, check the season and tag details against the product page, and treat prices far below SSENSE’s already deep sale levels with suspicion.
How it compares
| Label | Base | Signature | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wooyoungmi | Seoul and Paris | Tailoring that borrows from sportswear; first Korean in the federation | This guide |
| Yohji Yamamoto | Tokyo | Avant-garde black tailoring | Yohji Yamamoto guide |
| Wales Bonner | London | Heritage tailoring and adidas collaborations | Wales Bonner guide |
| Who Decides War | New York | Hand-distressed designer denim | Who Decides War guide |
What the numbers say
Wooyoungmi publishes no company accounts. The only business figure I found is an old, undated Forbes Korea interview in which the founder gave a sales guideline of roughly ₩50 billion for one year in the late 2010s, along with a goal of 100 stores in major cities by 2025. Those were targets, not results, and I could not verify the store count today, so I do not chart them. A Korean job site tags Solid Corporation as a company in a high-revenue band, but gives no figure.
Questions
What is Wooyoungmi?
A Korean luxury menswear label founded in Paris in 2002 by Woo Young-mi, which added womenswear in 2020.
Who owns Wooyoungmi?
Wikipedia says the founder and her family members, including her daughter Katie Chung, hold the company’s shares, and links it to Solid Corporation.
Is Wooyoungmi Japanese?
No. It is Korean, with its collections shown in Paris.
How much does Wooyoungmi cost?
Original prices on SSENSE run roughly $580 to $775 for trousers and $1,050 to $1,415 for jackets, though sale prices of $84 to $481 were common for older seasons.
What was the latest collection?
Spring/Summer 2027, shown at Paris Men’s Fashion Week in June 2026 and built around the idea of heung.
Is there financial data?
No public accounts. Only an old sales target from an interview exists.
Janet Arklis
Janet Arklis is a fashion writer at Street Iconic. She covers streetwear brands, designer collaborations, sneaker culture and Japanese fashion, with a focus on how a label’s history, ownership and design choices shape what ends up on the rack. Her guides trace where a brand came from, what it sells and what it costs, and she flags anything she could not verify.
Research support: AI tools working from public sources. Sources are listed at the end of every guide.
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Sources
- Wooyoungmi official online store
- WWD: Wooyoungmi Spring 2027, “Radical Optimism”
- JT Dapper: Wooyoungmi Spring/Summer 2027
- NOWFASHION: Spring/Summer 2027 menswear
- Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode: Wooyoungmi
- Wikipedia: Wooyoungmi
- KED Global: Wooyoungmi as ‘new luxury’
- Forbes Korea: Woo Young-mi interview
- Style Cartel: Spring/Summer 2025
- SSENSE: Wooyoungmi clothing
Street Iconic is independent and not affiliated with Wooyoungmi. Prices change and vary by region; figures are from SSENSE listings seen in November 2026. Product images are from Wooyoungmi official online store. See our Disclaimer and Affiliate Disclosure.
