Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) has started supporting offline sales channels for Korean small fashion brands seeking to enter Japan, pairing a runway showcase at a major Tokyo-area fashion event with a pop-up store in Omotesando.

KOSME said on the 21st that it backed companies selected for the "K-fashion joint overseas distribution network entry project" at the "43rd Mynavi Tokyo Girls Collection 2026 Fashion Show (TGC)", held on the 19th at Yokohama Arena in Japan. Beginning on the 20th, it also started operating a pop-up store in Omotesando, Tokyo.

At the TGC event, four companies - Milo Archive, hieta, INSILENCE WOMEN, and NOT4NERD - presented their 2026 fall/winter collections. KOSME said its support for the show covered participation overall, including entry fees, video production, and stage design consulting.

Launched in 2005, TGC is described by KOSME as a leading Japanese fashion event that connects in-person runway shows with live online streaming and has strong influence among young consumers in Japan. This edition drew about 18,000 in-person attendees and roughly 4.7 million cumulative online viewers.

Separately, KOSME is working with NUGU, an online fashion distribution platform targeting Japan's Millennials and Gen Z, to run the "K-CLOSET by KOSME X NUGU" pop-up store in Omotesando, Tokyo, through Oct. 1.

The pop-up features 12 Korean fashion brands and is designed to let visitors experience products offline before purchasing them online through NUGU. KOSME said the effort is intended to expand points of contact between participating brands and local consumers and to gauge market response to the products.

For the 16 corporations selected for the project, the agency also plans joint online special exhibitions within NUGU and promotions tied to local influencers to build brand awareness and help turn that into sales.

Park Jang-hyeok, executive director for global growth at Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME), said, "By linking the TGC fashion show and the Omotesando pop-up store, we created opportunities for domestic fashion brands to meet Japanese consumers directly", and added, "Through integrated online and offline support, we will actively help our small fashion companies expand their sales channels beyond Japan to markets worldwide."

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