The elegant Hôtel Mona Bismarck, a cultural foundation in Paris’s 16th arrondissement, was the venue for Rokh’s autumn/winter 2024 show. It was an intimate but grand setting — one that you might not necessarily imagine for an independent designer, but for founder Rok Hwang it marked the next stage of his brand journey.
His latest collection, inspired by the high Renaissance and Romanticism, offered lace bodices tucked into long deconstructed skirts, formal coats with floral appliqués, vintage denims, devoré velvets and printed tapestry. There were also asymmetric skirts, belted outerwear and cut-out separates — these act almost like a teaser for the more commercial versions that will soon be available at H&M.
As the next guest designer label for the Swedish retailer, Rokh’s collection — almost two years in the making — will arrive in stores and online globally on April 18. Expect deconstructed clothes designed for the working man or woman, such as double-layer trenchcoats, cocooning blazers and a corset dress with a detachable, irregularly pleated hem. Adjustable button fastenings and hook-and-eye trims — a key Rokh signature — also feature across multiple styles.
The H&M collection is priced from €34.99 for a baby tee to €399 for outerwear such as the stud blazer or double-layer trench coat. Accessories, including socks, bags, jewellery, footwear and belts, range from €7.99 to €199. It’s a fraction of the price for Rokh’s own-brand designs (a wool and polyester blend gabardine blazer is currently being sold online for €853).
“I always want to find the balance between perfection and imperfection,” Hwang told the Financial Times in his studio the morning after the show. “In the language of Rokh, we start with something sharp and well cut, such as tailoring or a trench coat, and then we mash it up. I like to be very hands-on when it comes to structuring garments and manipulating them.”
The result is often something of a tasteful mix of old traditions with new twists. He laughs when I remark that it looks like an organized mess. “I am a very organized person, but this season especially I’m enjoying the uncontrolled look as well.”
The H&M partnership is an unexpected win for the budding label, which has been entirely self-funded and remains independent. Hwang joins a long history of creative guests — Giambattista Valli, Stella McCartney and Isabel Marant, to name but a few — that tend to be bigger, more established names. H&M’s head of design Ann-Sofie Johansson explains why Rokh attracted the chain’s interest, saying: “We have been keeping an eye on the brand for several years now. Rok Hwang has such an interesting, clever way of reworking tailoring templates, creating pieces that are very distinctive but easy to wear, which is a combination our customers love.”
Hwang’s sensibility for fusing east and west — another attraction for a global business like H&M, says Johansson — stems from his own diverse background. The designer was born in Seoul, South Korea, and raised in Austin, Texas, before moving to London. His father is an economist and his mother a retired school teacher — both now live in Kyrgyzstan for his father’s work. Hwang studied on both the BA and MA womenswear courses at Central Saint Martins and graduated in 2010 as part of a generation that had been taught by the late Louise Wilson.
The MA led to his first job as a designer at Celine under Phoebe Philo, who was creative director from 2008 to 2017. “I was very blessed in a way,” Hwang recalls. “This was at the very beginning of her time at Celine so I was able to see it bloom after it had been restructured and saw how she approached setting up the DNA of the brand. Witnessing that led me to aspire to launch my own business.”
Hwang went on to work in a freelance capacity for the Chloé and Louis Vuitton design team before founding his label in 2016. It was no easy feat, he asserts, and the climate has only become tougher. Today, consumers are cautious and several luxury multi-brand retailers are in a precarious situation, resulting in slower payments for their brand partners. For independent designers like Hwang, without deep pockets, it’s a challenge to navigate.
While Rokh surpassed €1mn in sales in its first year, it wasn’t until its third year in business that it broke even, says Hwang. Receiving the 2018 LVMH Prize Special Prize played a pivotal role in igniting interest among the press and the wider public, he says. “Before, my brand was more known among buyers. I probably had less than a thousand followers on Instagram.” Today, Rokh counts more than 220,000 on the social platform and is sold in 133 doors globally, as Hwang works towards his €10mn sales goal in the short to medium term.
Japan is Rokh’s largest market, with some 30 stockists including Restir, Dover Street Market Ginza and Isetan. Some special looks from the H&M collaboration, such as a cut-out blazer with a matching bra or a cropped trench jacket intended to be paired with a pair of wide-legged trousers, were developed exclusively for customers in the region, as well as neighbors Korean market.
“In this current situation what we have built as a 100 per cent self-funded, independent business is rare. We built everything from ground zero,” emphasizes Hwang. The designer, who is based between London, Paris, Tokyo and Seoul, employs a small team — fewer than 10 people — managed by his wife Stella, who has been a fundamental part of his business since the start, he says. The brand works with factories across Portugal, Italy, Spain, Korea, Japan and Malaysia.
While many labels now prioritize direct-to-consumer ecommerce, wholesale remains Rokh’s primary retail channel. Going DTC requires a lot of expertise in production, shipping, returns and other logistics, says Hwang, who is determined to take a slow and steady approach, despite the fast but organic pace of growth the brand has achieved. (In its early years, sales growth topped 200 per cent annually; the business has since stabilized and is growing around 35 per cent year-on-year.)
“Maintaining quality of life” is important for Hwang and his employees. “We are not such a huge company that we can delegate the work, and I didn’t want a situation where we would have to work overtime everyday,” he says. Growing the brand’s retail footprint would require Hwang to expand his role beyond creative director, something he is not yet willing to do, or eventually appoint an external CEO to steer the business.
“My central focus is presenting a beautiful collection because I am fundamentally a designer. To create beautiful things, you need to have good balance and control,” he says. Word of mouth remains Rokh’s most effective arsenal (the brand does not spend on any traditional marketing except for the occasional celebrity dressing, as its pieces are difficult to appreciate via a digital screen, he says). “Finding ways to tell my story to the customer [in a physical way] is next in my plans.”
Is Hwang hinting at a future store? He doesn’t share more but says: “It feels like everybody is running but I’m going a bit more slowly. For me, it’s about spending time in the atelier, developing the garments . . . and being able to give a really good customer experience.”
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