Louis Vuitton Taps Ahead With K-Pop Buzz Band RIIZE 

Earlier this week, Louis Vuitton surprised us by enlisting new K-pop boy band RIIZE as its latest celebrity endorsers. 

The French luxury giant is banking on the fast emerging popularity of RIIZE’s sextet of Shotaro, Eunseok, Sungchan, Wonbin, Sohee and Anton, who only debuted this September. 

Following the deal, Louis Vuitton stated, “The group has garnered significant attention for their trendsetting and confident fashion senses.”

“Their liberating fashion choices have already generated immense interest within the fashion world. We look forward to embarking on this creative journey together with RIIZE.”

The trend of luxury brands taking the plunge with youthful pop idols and actors in Asia, particularly from South Korea, China and India, is obvious as the global appeal of such stars enables the brands to reach fans across languages, cultures and continents.  

The global appeal of pop culture as well as the impressive million copies sales of RIIZE’s debut album Get A Guitar are reasons why the deal is a no-brainer. Despite these reasons, the speedy nature of the deal does surprise us and it could fall flat if RIIZE turns out to be a mere one-hit wonder or if any of the members is mired in controversy.  

According to ASN data, Louis Vuitton (10.5%, ~US$12.9m) is the biggest spender for its category in the Asian sponsorship market since Q121. Unlike luxury label rival Prada, which has ventured into the trend of collaborating with athletes in Asia, Louis Vuitton moves in a more conservative manner in this market; sealing endorsements from celebrities in music, film and television landscape.