Image source: BT21.com
The South Korean pop invasion started in 2012 when Psy rocked the media with his hit ‘Gangnam Style’. Now the world is crazy about everything K-Pop. The new wave of K-pop obsession has swept over a few months ago when a famous boy band BTS announced the launch of their own merch collection produced in partnership with Line Friends, a character-oriented subsidiary of the . BT21, an official BTS merch line was released earlier in December, and has already become the most wanted merch.
Nominated for Best Boy Band at the 2018 iHeartRadio Music Awards, BTS, commonly known as Bangtan Boys, is an extremely popular K-Pop band consisting of 7 members. They have 6 mln subscribers on Youtube, almost 6 mln fans on Facebook, but their biggest fan army is based on Twitter, where guys have almost 9 mln followers. The band was introduced by BigHit Entertainment and reached their success peak when their latest album Love Yourself: Her remained in the top 20 of the Billboard 200 four weeks after its release.
There are literally armies of BTS fans hunting for original BT21 products, and here’s what they say on Twitter:
“...Do u happen to know where international armys can buy bt21 merch? The original BT21 merch. Im seeing fake ones.” Joanna Marie (@aleriajoanna)
“I really love BT21, i hope i can go to korea to buy BT21 merch T_T” ur vtaemin (@btsalienvtae)
“..I want to buy merch BT21 but all got sold out in seconds.” Guardian of BTS (@GuardianBTS)
These three messages demonstrate the common problems that may occur with almost any celebrity merch: abundance of fake products, official store’s shipping limitations, and fast sell-out.
Original BTS Merch
| BT21 by BTS is the eight-character based collection. BTS merch has been introduced in collaboration with the Line Friends company. Bangtan Boys merch features characters that were originally created for the messenger app and used as stickers. Each of the 8 unique BT21 characters was inspired by sketches of the seven BTS members, with seven cartoonish creatures correlating to band members and one representing the band and its fandom, ARMY. The was filmed and consists of 13 short videos demonstrating how band members were sketching their ideas, discussing the unique features of their characters, and watching the final design presentation. |
Image source: BT21.com |
“Even though the characters might look cute, we will develop [the line] into more styles that relate the characters to hip-hop and street fashion,” said Sehoon Chang, the CEO of Line Friends America, who added that, along with in-app features and character-associated goods like plushies and figurines, the most important element of BTS fan merchandize will be its apparel, accessories and shoes. “It’ll be like a walking billboard that’s great for the [BT21] brand, and from the consumer’s point of view it will be a show of identity. Engaging with the fans is really important.”
Even though BT21 is closely connected with BTS, the merch collection creators were aiming at making the products that would appeal not only to BTS fans, but to the whole audience. Chang hopes that people who haven’t heard about BTS but like BT21 products will later find out there’s a band behind these products.
BTS fan merch includes pretty simple consumer items - from plush toys to some stationery and clothes. Some of the products that customers love the most are BT21 plushies and pillows. Original Bangtan Boys merch is made of the highest quality fabric and is suitable for all ages (kids especially love the merch).
Where to buy BT21 BTS merch
Original BT21 products can be found at the . Each product has a ‘Shop info’ section, where you can get detailed information on where the item can be purchased. At the moment, there are five BT21 official stores in South Korea:
- , Seoul
- , Seoul
Apart from Korean locations, the BT21 collection can be found at:
- , USA
BT21 products will also be available in Tokyo, but the store hasn’t been launched yet.
If the original BTS merch available online doesn’t ship to your country and you don’t happen to have a friend in Seoul or Tokyo, you may always use a package forwarding service.
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