Behind the Scenes: Kyuhee Baik on the Depth for Success in Building a Brand
Last year, sabukaru sent its Editor-in-Chief, Bianco to Seoul to tap into the city’s creative networks and bring more of its voices to our platform. One of the people we met was Kyuhee Baik, a cultural figure deeply tapped into Seoul’s creative scene.
Bianco and Kyuhee first crossed paths back in 2018, working on a cultural research project. Since then, they’ve stayed connected. With her extensive knowledge in the subculture industry and far-reaching network, Kyuhee is one of those people in Seoul you don’t just meet—you learn from. She works less like a traditional agency and more like a one-person creative hitman - collaborating only on projects that fit her taste and values. With a background in anthropology and notable experience with brands like adidas, Stussy, Supreme, and Nike she is central to Asia’s shifting cultural landscape. We’re proud to welcome her to sabukaru. Follow Bianco and sabukaru as we dive into her world:
Brand director, marketing strategist, the plug, trend analyst, a cultural architect—it’s hard to pin her to one title. Able to navigate contexts from commercial to cool, she is always there- observing, taking mental notes on how to understand one culture to the next. Simply put: she is like the ultimate information and mood board for your next important project. Whether you're a global brand, an agency, or an independent creative working in Seoul or around Asia, chances are you are going to need Kyuhee.
When I first met her, I immediately knew she was boss. No bull shit, straightforward thinking, sharp instincts, and always connected to the right people. Back then, she was helping Stussy re-establish its identity in Korea. A few years later, I saw her supporting what HYĒIN SEO was building. Most of her work I probably never saw—because she moves behind the scenes. Until recently, when she played a key role with Supreme helping them launch the Seoul and Shanghai stores.
Whatever Kyuhee touches feels right. Organic, still strategic. There are not many people I respect more and can learn more from than her.
Bringing her to sabukaru has been long overdue. Nearly a year after our initial interview, it’s finally time to share our conversation. Dive in.
Bianco
Can you please introduce yourself to the sabukaru Network?
Kyuhee
My name is Kyuhee. I’m from Los Angeles. I moved to Seoul in 2008 to do my MA in cultural anthropology, and I’ve stayed here for the past 16 years, working, watching.
Bianco
Did you always work in fashion, or how did you get into fashion and street culture? How did this happen?
Kyuhee
I never thought I would be in fashion. I actually looked down on it when I was younger because of the consumption culture. My background is in anthropology and critical theory. When you’re in university, you feel very aware of yourself and your surroundings, and I lived in a co-op, basically a commune. It was quite an insular community, and you kind of end up judging everyone outside of it. You think you're living a better life, and I didn't like that self-righteousness, but you have that when you're in university because you become politicized. Anyway, I never thought I'd be in fashion, but I always loved vintage clothing. I would buy second-hand clothing and re-work my clothes. Once I came to Seoul for my master's, I had to work while studying.
I somehow became this person. I think it was because of my research- I was looking at creative behavior in nightlife, through liminality, how it was a tool for youth. So was very involved, partying all the time, in the club scene. I explored a lot. It turned out I became kind of a bridge for brands into different subcultures. Like early 2010s especially as street culture was becoming more commercial. And for me it’s always music that leads fashion. Always starts underground. Big brands wanted to figure out how to tap into those communities. First formal gig was for a Korean digital marketing agency - they needed someone for Reebok. I was there super short, maybe 8 months but learned a lot about mass marketing, SEO advertising, social reports. Stuff I would not want to spend my time doing again but good to know for sure.
Bianco
Around that time, did brands try to break into the Korean market, or were there already Korean brands emerging?
Kyuhee
Yes and no. This was probably around 2013/14. The big brands were here but marketing was for a mass audience only. There were a lot of random young Korean brands but nothing you could substantially consider contemporary Korean fashion. Korea was still an emerging, second-tier market. After the agency, I went to adidas.
That was when I really figured out big corporate culture—being a small ant in a huge machine, which was cool to see. I went to Herzo for training. I felt quite lucky at the time. It was a new role called Activation Expert created by HQ. Seoul was one of the key cities. It seemed like it was the first time a big brand was investing in Seoul in that way.
That’s where I really learned about retail marketing, event production, handling budgets, flipping decks. The projects I pushed for made Seoul a benchmark city for the initiative. Headquarters presented Seoul as the model they were hoping for which felt of course extremely rewarding.
Bianco
What’s a good brand activation, and what was a successful way for a brand to do this back then?
Kyuhee
The experience needs to be memorable. One activation that stands out was for the Superstar shoes. They came in all these vibrant colors, so we took over a floor of the store and covered the walls like a white canvas. We invited customers to come in and leave their mark. They came in and graffitied everything floor to ceiling with Krink pens. It ended up looking pretty fucking cool. It was a unique experience because when can you go into an Adidas store and just scribble everywhere?
Bianco
That’s funny. That was also around the time I had my first agency job with Adidas, and we did the Supercolor campaign in Berlin.
Kyuhee
I only stayed for a year and a half though. It was the best learning experience but the politics sucked. That’s when Stussy reached out. Perfect timing right?. Towards the end of 2015.
Bianco
What was the difference between working in a multilayered corporate environment like Adidas versus Stussy?
Kyuhee
Going from a huge corporation to a medium-sized company, I got to see a lot more. Very hands-on. It was almost like a crash course for an MBA. I came in as their country manager, established the business entity. At the time, the brand had already existed in the region for 8 years or so with a distributor. But the brand image was completely diluted. They flooded the market with wholesale accounts.
I remember going into this one store called Wonder Place. The window displays featured hip-hop style girl makeup from a reality TV show. Inside, there were athleisure yoga pants next to Stussy tshirts alongside Alpha and Champion. The store had weird EDM blasting and just chaos. Cleaned up all of that, took back the distribution, launched e-commerce, helped oversee the buy in the shop. That’s where you can completely control the brand experience—the store.
Bianco
You know that so many young people always want to work in streetwear, fashion, and sports. I actually don’t want to ask the question. What do you think they need to realize about the real world versus how they think it is, especially when working in these industries?
Kyuhee
Patience. It takes time. I was at Stussy for 7 years… It was only towards the end like year 5 that I was able to say “Cool… we look good now.” For sure the brand has been around more than 40 years. You can’t buy that time. And I had been in Seoul for more than 10 years at that point which was substantial to understanding the city, the people. You have to go deep, real deep to make a history and be a part of it. These days—I have so many younger brothers and sisters now. I’m the older one now, you know?
Bianco
And what do you think they have to learn?
Kyuhee
Everything- as much as they can. Deep dive and try all of it in your twenties. Try a big company, try a small company, try a medium company, try your own company if you have that kind of ambition and capital. If you work at a big corporation- you learn how to speak that language and then you have more cards to play. Try it all and see what you can and cannot do. Knowledge is power. Then, in your thirties, you’ll feel a lot more confident and comfortable with what you're capable of and what type of people you can get along with.
Bianco
When you were working at Stussy, did you see any changes during that time?
Kyuhee
Yes. Completely. It was basically the comeback. Korea was the first test for cutting back wholesale, shifting to DTC direct to consumer. It took a while. The brand was very saturated, and it wasn’t a brand that any of my friends wanted to wear at the time because it was just kind of like…too youth! Black and white T-shirts, hoodies big logos. And you can’t just cut all of the wholesale accounts out of nowhere; you have to stagger it. It probably took a solid two years for all of that to go away.
Biggest change was the community. The way I connected. It was very warm. Tea time at my house, fruit, then shop. I wanted to show the broader spectrum away from hip-hop streetwear vibes you know? It was stuck for a bit like in breakdancer New Era caps, tank tops. Which isn’t wrong but there's so much more. So many good scenes. Alternative music, weirdos, skaters, fashion models, club kids... When I took on the local Instagram account and 90s aesthetic really came on there was a group called Dadaism Club, a female photographer named Dasom Han, and a videographer named Dawoon Jung.
It was a collective of four to five people, mainly girls, and Hyuk from the band. They were very gracious to work with, and I was able to harness that super indie, lo-fi look they were doing. They were shooting with camcorders shooting with film and using a soft lens. They were the main visual directors for the band Hyukoh and blew up huge all over Asia. Changed the industry pretty much not just aesthetically but it opened the way for a whole generation of young talent.
Bianco
Were you still at Stussy when you started to work at Hyein Seo?
Kyuhee
Yes, I asked the founders, Hyein and Jino, if I could work with them. It’s hard to run a brand when the founders are designers and they’re so focused on everything at once design, production, logistics that they can’t see the bigger picture right? Just get lost sometimes. Like having a proper calendar, sticking to deadlines, and overseeing your wholesale strategy—I asked if I could come in to help with business development. It was so cool because they are small, so I could see everything. It’s a beautiful brand. I still think Hyein Seo is the best brand coming from Seoul, and they’re very passionate people.
Bianco
Do you think Hyein was one of the, you know, when I came, everything was still in the full streetwear era for me? And now, looking at Seoul, I mean, obviously streetwear will always exist, but there are so many functional, almost even high-end brands. Was Hyein the first one to kind of put a stamp on the city, or when did that happen that we now have full-force brands?
Kyuhee
I would say Hyein was one of the first to show contemporary Korean fashion could be relevant on a global scale. The older industry of fashion designers is very conservative, like Juun.J and Wooyoungmi- established but also quite stiff, right? Some of them are backed by corporations like Samsung, but there wasn’t anything that really spoke to a younger generation at the time.
Fashion in that earlier generation, their markers of success were the West or Japan. It was this hustle of, “Let's do it like that because that's successful.” So, copy, paste, copy, paste, copy, paste, and that’s what you were seeing at Seoul Fashion Week. It was really cheesy. I don’t want to say that too harshly because maybe that generation couldn’t help themselves. You have to consider Korea was dirt poor in the 60s after the war. Shit only started to really happen from like the 80s. The modern leisure to be creative and expressive.
Bianco
But you know, if I now look at Japan, which I find super interesting—I know there are young, interesting brands and obviously some really good ones—but I now see so many energetic young Korean brands that have kind of that very early look, like developed brands, compared to what I see in Japan. There are 5 or 6 brands here I’ve just heard about in the last four years, and they’re still here, still doing great things. Sometimes I feel Japan is more like an authenticator and Korea is pushing the needle more.
Kyuhee
Because Japan has been running for years. And now it’s a bit too domestic and analog. The younger generation is more technologically savvy, but it’s just how do you influence a market that’s so well-established and run by such an older conservative generation? It’s also very ageist, you know. Korea is very ageist as well and hierarchical, but we were less established before so now it’s in the hands of people born in the midlate 80s, 90s powered by the internet, social media, real-time updates and sharing. The momentum is insane - just can’t stop.
The kids in Korea are fucking fast, and they also don’t care about authority now. Independent and more individualism which is incredible for such a conformist Confucian foundation here. The Japanese are a bit more reserved, you know, and Koreans are louder and more emotional.
Bianco
I think it’s really important. Like, some time ago I met first designers in Tokyo that couldn’t care less, in a respectful way, about Undercover or WTAPS. They don’t wear any of that and don’t even try to knock on doors. I think that’s what’s needed, right? I do believe that at one point, you just need to not care at a certain level about whoever is above you.
Kyuhee
It’s no longer above really. Now it’s next to- more horizontal. Also Koreans are very hungry. There’s a hustle to it that’s fun here, and there’s almost an anxiety to it because you feel the energy. Koreans didn’t grow up thinking, "Oh, we’re the shit. We’re the best. Everyone loves us." Japan has had that forever, you know? Maybe they’re just too used to it now.
Yeah, I’m not saying everyone isn’t hungry, but it’s also about being educated in a certain way. China is kind of the same; for them, they’re the center of the world. They’re playing their own game. This is a generalization, but Koreans always had to catch up, and now, I don’t want to say we’ve already caught up, but we’re seeing Korea as a very prominent player in pop culture and commerce. Which is rad… Korea was the underdog for such a long time.
Bianco
Yeah, how do you feel about that? Do you remember when you suddenly realized it was really happening?
Kyuhee
COVID, everyone was on Netflix watching Squid Game at the same fucking time. The whole world was watching and consuming the same content. K-pop too… New Jeans really shifted that audience wider. The visual direction and styling was much more relatable. Like people around me that don’t listen to Kpop- they were down for New Jeans.
Bianco
Do you remember discovering a brand or creative from Seoul or Korea that blew you away? Was there a noticeable shift in quality or communication that seemed new to you?
Kyuhee
I need to think about that. I’m always watching, so if I think of something, I’ll let you know.
Bianco
For now, what are your favorite brands coming from here?
Kyuhee
I like what XLIM is doing right now. I appreciate the slow build; he’s aiming for the long run. These kids are fucking smart—XLIM has his own atelier and opened a mini factory for in-house production.
Bianco
Yeah, I’m really impressed. I like when people take their time and approach things thoughtfully, as opposed to rushing. It’s like letting the enzyme undergo a slow treatment before it fully develops.
Kyuhee
Exactly, let it ride a little and enjoy the process. Remember your surroundings.
Bianco
If you were to take on the same role you did at Adidas a few years ago, like a city activation manager, what would you change now? How have things evolved in the city?
Kyuhee
I’d say less is more. Learn to relax. It’s better to create a sense of mystery to at least seem comfortable with yourself rather than trying too hard or forcing something to happen. Back then - we didn’t have much for inspiration. But now… Seoul is run by young adults this generation born in the early 90s is killing it. Inspiring to watch. Brands, F and B, nightlife, all of it. They drive the narrative. Now all I can do is really support what my younger brothers and sisters are doing - grow together.
Bianco
Did you ever think about doing your own brand?
Kyuhee
No, everybody asks. Maybe a flower shop eventually? I want to do something quiet. People have asked a lot. For now, I like having retainers. I like using the bigger company’s money to pay my friends and do cool things. I like to make use of budgets that are in need of good use.
Bianco
Nice. Yeah, I would love a fucking retainer.
Kyuhee 30:46
That’s my life, man.
Yeah, and then I mean your first question of how did I get into streetwear? I really think I was in the right place at the right time. My background in anthropology, the way I build a brand, I think is very on the ground and genuine. I’ll never do anything I don’t believe in. And even more, being a woman in boys' world. That is my power.
If I was a Korean American male, that never would have happened with Stussy here. To be considered a man in Korea, you have to do your military service, play by these rules, speak a certain way. I saw a lot of that during my research- especially in hip hop. It’s easier for me to navigate boys' world because, you know, they think “cute, she parties, but then she went to Seoul National, so she’s smart, so we kind of respect her.”
They didn’t necessarily consider me as competition right? So in a sense it was easier for me to navigate to my advantage. I was easy to trust and they would tell me their secrets. Secrets in streetwear. And that was my power you know? For sure, things have changed now and I think I proved a point with Stussy back then.
Bianco
Amazing. And now you work with Supreme!
Kyuhee
Yes, it’s been a little over a year.
Bianco
I tried to explain it to Shirin [photographer on set] on the way here. It’s like, what could be on top of that? Congratulations.
Kyuhee
Cool, yeah. I’m very grateful. The timing was great because I was ready for a change, to take on something beyond Seoul, beyond Korea. Brand direction, bringing the right vibes really that’s what I do—build brands. Especially for our shops, curating the right crew. Asia is a part of their future and it’s cool to be a part of that. I get to grow with them, make our family out here. And the kids these days, the energy is nuts they’re going all over Asia now. It’s spreading.
Bianco
Well, it’s very similar to what I feel with sabukaru right now. Japan, Korea, and I think it’s now going to trickle down to all the other places. It is going to take some time, but yeah. How do you feel about the importance of Asia and the other countries?
Kyuhee
I’m so happy I stayed. I have said this for a long time now… Asia is future. COVID was this magnifying glass into seeing how nations organize themselves, the US… wow… so gross.
Bianco 3
It’s insane. I mean, where I grew up, everybody, when we were young, the US was the leading pop culture. I mean, it still is. Hip-hop still is mainly from the US, but everybody wanted to go to the US. And now, who really wants to go to the US except maybe LA and New York? But I don’t even know how particularly American you can consider them in the bigger picture.
Kyuhee
Yeah, they’re coastal. No, they’re still very American.
Bianco
But everybody wants to go to Asia, which I find very interesting.
Kyuhee
It’s where it’s at. Asia is culturally influential on a bigger scale now, more people want more of it.
Bianco
I also see how people perceive countries differently. You mentioned Bangkok. I go to Bangkok a lot, and it used to be a country where some white tourists in weird pants made pictures next to elephants. That was the perception. Now I see new kids going there and finding connections.
Kyuhee
For sure. I watch the Asia club circuit a lot. What kids are going where to play with who. Party city man. For my work, I go out a lot- figuring out the right places, people for Supreme, I judge a city by its night life. Gotta hang the right way.
Bianco
How important do you think it is to get out to do your job? You know, we deal with a lot of brands. Sometimes when brands come over and we show them the nightclubs, the bars, the stores, it feels like I’m bringing my parents to a club. Sometimes people at brands are so far removed from whatever is actually happening in the scene.
But they’re actually in positions where they make decisions. It’s a weird thing, but sometimes I feel like, why don’t more cool people work in brands?
Kyuhee
First off, I would never bring a suit to a club. Bad look. They can have a coffee with me. But yeah you have to go out. It’s a part of the job. You need to be a part of the culture you’re speaking to you know. And they need to trust you. It’s just those bigger companies—it’s this ladder of politics, and you keep staying and staying and staying. People are there for years to get to that top position, and then to be able to handle that sort of corporate environment, you’re not really the person cut out to dance till 8 in the morning and do drugs, you know?
It’s just so funny. When I started at Adidas, they had an agency to tell them who their target audience was and how to understand them. Consumers divided into tiers like first tier, streetwear hounds, and then second tier—I forgot what it was, but probably like fashionistas. It’s just the decision makers, they’re so far away from everything.
Bianco
It’s like trying to understand boxing through a manual in an airplane.
Kyuhee
Yeah, with someone else’s research. They never even touched foot in there. That’s kind of how I work. I go in. I don’t really like PR agencies because they won’t do it the way I want or the way I think it should be done. I have a good hand shake. You have to shake my hand to trust me. I don’t want to pass my friend over through an agency. I want to take care of them. I like to work by myself. Yeah, I kind of have to work alone.
Bianco
So Supreme is maybe the biggest it can get for you? Like, you don’t want anything bigger?
Kyuhee
What’s bigger? What does that mean? What I do may seem small but with time the results are big. I don’t want to work in such a big corporate environment, you know? Definitely can’t do luxury. And subculture is what shapes popular culture anyway. It always starts underground - I prefer the discovery.
Bigger companies take too long. And if they don’t give me the budget and let me do what I want, it’s never going to be how I intended, you know? It will never be true to what I think it should be. Bigger the budget, the more people involved, lesser control. You have to get it approved, approved, approved, you know? It takes forever. You lose the moment.
Bianco
No, the moment the idea is with the right person, three months have passed already, and then maybe the idea doesn’t even work anymore.
Kyuhee
I’m all about if you do it small, that ripple still goes across the whole lake, you know what I mean?
Bianco
I like that.
Kyuhee 50:10
Yeah, you don’t have to throw a huge rock into the lake and make a lot of noise. It only splashes people, you know what I mean? You don’t have to make everyone wet. The people who get wet, will get wet.
Supreme works that way too. I love the way they work. They respect and honor people being true to themselves. Support a group of friends for a skate trip or an exhibition. We flew over like 30 shop staff, skaters, friends from around the world for the Shanghai opening. They invest into their people. They’re not trying to do a quick cash grab with celebrities. I never did that with Stussy. That was important to me because in Korea it’s all celebrity, paid for presence. I wanted to prove you didn’t need that. It’s a quick win that doesn’t last. I think I was able to do Supreme because of this.
Bianco
It’s still true to the truth. I fully understand, and I noted when you mentioned the small stone in the river. I remember discovering a small art brand from New York and then Supreme did a collab with them.
Kyuhee
Digging.
Bianco
So now you move between Seoul, probably Shanghai…
Kyuhee
Yeah, I am hopping around Asia, seeing what’s going on. Shanghai was a big one, which was super cool to be a part of and help with. More to come.
Bianco
How would you describe your job description to your parents?
Kyuhee
I don’t really. I get frustrated sometimes when they ask, like, “What are you doing? Why are you so busy?” I’m like, “It’s just work.” It can literally be anything from bringing a friend visiting from wherever and going to dance, or sitting here doing emails, or building a budget for a party, or hanging out to see if this kid should work at the shop. Kind of nonstop.
Bianco
Yeah. How do you take care of yourself? Can you stop working?
Kyuhee
No, I get anxious. I can justify everything as work, you know what I mean? Like, anything I’m doing is work.
Bianco
Anything you consume somehow relates back to work.
Kyuhee
Yeah how do you avoid culture? If I go to an exhibition, that’s work because I want to know what’s going on, who’s pulling up and how and why. I want to see how this kid’s doing it, where he’s from, what she’s done so far. Community breeds culture. My personal life and professional life are not separated at all. I joke that I’ve never really taken a vacation in 10 years, but I also haven’t worked in an office for the past 10 years. I work my own hours and work from wherever. Obviously, my base is Seoul. I have to be very present in Asia, but I’m really lucky with that.
Bianco
Can you imagine ever not working in this culture or in this fashion world?
Kyuhee
I would want to get away eventually. Not completely, because all my friends are in it, but I think eventually if I’m able to settle down and have a family that would be a life project. That would be my brand.
Bianco
Most of our readers, I think almost everybody, would die for a life like yours. On paper, it sounds amazing. What advice would you give to young people who are reading this? What are the baby steps to slowly get into the industry?
Kyuhee
Trust your instincts. Work with good people. Take your time. But honestly, I don’t think you should rush into doing your own thing right away. It’s easy to get stuck and in a lot of debt if it doesn’t kick off. A lot of younger people get hung up on wanting to do their own thing now, but I’m like, you don’t even know how to do your own thing yet. Learn how to do it first, get a job so you get paid to learn how to do it first and then do it the way you think it should be done.
Bianco
I think that’s super important. I just met the head team of DSM in Ginza, and literally, everyone started in the shop. I think that’s so important. Sometimes people don’t understand that you need to start at the beginning and do the most basic things. Even retail is crucial for understanding. But young people sometimes don’t see that.
Kyuhee
They also grew up differently. A lot of younger people have had the internet in their hands their whole lives. I’m glad I didn’t grow up with that pressure. There’s this illusion of success or what work should be, or how they should look and consume. It’s hard to separate from reality. But It is the new reality now.
Bianco
Working with you or knowing what you do, it’s clear that while the online world is important, many of your skills and how you help brands come from real-life connections.
Kyuhee
Yeah. I need to touch you, see you, and smell you. I need to know what worries you, what makes you happy. We need to respect each other. It’s a real connection you know. I want to maximize every single thing I do to be meaningful. Otherwise it’s a waste of energy and it takes a lot of energy to hang, for real. I don’t want to use too much online, on excel sheets, reports… You can’t quantify trust. And Supreme is a company that recognizes that.
Bianco
What does success mean for you?
Kyuhee
Making sure the team, my people are happy and in a nurturing environment. Having a means to support the generation coming up. Making sure our youngest at the shop my dude is getting paid well to buy his vinyl so he can DJ and chase his dream, pay his rent and save some money. If my team is happy, then the brand is happy right? You have to feel sexy. If you are able to nurture an aura of aspiration - that’s success for me.
