Merino suit promotion flexes its muscle in Korea
The latest marketing campaign of South Korean formal menswear brand Brentwood features national gymnast Kim Jae-ho showcasing the performance benefits of Merino wool by pushing the brand’s Action Suit to the extreme.
The parallel bars, vault, and rings. These are just some of the gymnastic apparatus on which the South Korean national gymnast performed for Brentwood’s latest marketing campaign with Woolmark – all while wearing a Merino wool suit.
The joint marketing campaign, which highlights Brentwood’s signature Action Suit line, features video and images that showcase the amazing flexibility, movement and comfort of the Merino wool suit even when it is put to the ultimate test in the gym.
Imagery from the ‘Action Suit’ joint campaign with Brentwood in South Korea.
Established in 1989, Brentwood has been owned since 2009 by Korea’s fifth largest apparel group Kolon Industries which had annual sales worth A$3.7 billion in 2023. Brentwood’s target consumers are mid to high level income earners in their 30s to 50s.
Although the men’s suit market in Korea has faced downward pressure from the casualisation of apparel for a number of years, net sales in the men’s suiting market increased to about A$5.32 billion in 2023, a rise of 8.4% from the previous year. This renewed interest in men’s suits is a reflection of a recent trend towards men’s grooming, especially among Gen Z.
“The marketing campaign with Brentwood aimed to increase awareness and sales of its Merino wool products by highlighting the fibre’s performance benefits in a visually exciting and eye catching way,” said AWI Regional Manager Japan & Korea, Samuel Cockedey.
“During the past couple years, we have built a strong relationship with Brentwood and its parent company Kolon Industries and we aim to maintain them as long-term partners, encouraging them to develop and sell more Merino wool products.”
Joint marketing campaigns
The joint marketing campaign for the 2024 autumn/winter season comprised a digital and social media promotion as well as point-of-purchase displays (including the playing of the video) in the brand’s 140 physical stores. The digital and social media component focussed on driving traffic to a landing page on the brand’s e-commerce website, which featured the video and imagery from the campaign and, of course, the products available for purchase.
Nearly 60,000 pieces were available to buy, representing an estimated 30 tons of wool.
The new autumn/winter campaign followed on from a marketing campaign run by Brentwood in the 2024 spring/summer season. In this first season, Woolmark provided ‘in kind’ support to Brentwood to ensure that Merino wool – which Brentwood had never actively advertised before – became a core theme of the brand’s marketing going forward.
Core messaging in the spring/summer campaign focussed on the fibre’s excellent breathability and comfort, even in summer, with remarkable wrinkle recovery and freedom of movement. As well as digital and social media marketing, point-of-purchase displays promoting the wool products were on show at Brentwood’s stores across the country.
In the spring/summer season, Brentwood produced more Merino wool products than they initially planned and achieved higher exposure than targeted. More than 72,000 pieces were promoted. The campaign received more than 3.8 million impressions (the number of times the promotion was seen online).
More information: www.kolonmall.com/brentwood
This article appeared in the Autumn 2025 edition of AWI’s Beyond the Bale magazine that was published in March 2025. Reproduction of the article is encouraged.
