Palace Skateboards keeps getting bigger. Two straight years of truly titanic collaborations culminate in the British brand's next major move: Palace is going global. Again. And even more.
Currently, Palace only has physical stores in three countries: Britain, America, and Japan. Next stop, South Korea.
Photos provided to Highsnobiety by Korean streetwear account @le.syndrome show the exterior of the Korean Palace store opening in tandem with the launch of Palace's Spring 2024 collection.
This is all insider info dug up ahead of Palace's official reveal date, accompanying details uncovered by locals and clues left by Palace itself, like the description for a previous season's quarter-zip sweater: "Might go South Korea soon if anyone's up for it."
I mean, this is Palace, so you gotta take this stuff with a grain of salt (its product descriptions are typically quite jokey) but there's more.
In a recent video posted to Palace's Instagram page, an anonymous person wears a hoodie printed with a tiger-patterned Triferg logo laden with Hangul text, captioned with a date: February 3.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to put it all together (tigers have significant cultural weight in Korea).
Thus, Palace is opening a store in Korea on February 3. Yhanks to @le.syndrome, we even have the address: 17 Apgujeong-ro 50-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Ta-da.
Palace confirmed the news on January 29, three days after Highsnobiety broke the news.
The rest of the details are speculation but not unpredictable. Like, did local streetwear label Worksout helped bring Palace to Korea? Possible.
Corporate legality in Korea is a thorny tangle that requires an understanding of not just the Korean language but also business dealings like import and distribution.
It'd certainly help to have a local sherpa the path.
Will Palace drop exclusives at its new Korean store? Likely, considering that hoodie and the fact that most brands in this space commemorate an opening with special product.
It's the streetwear equivalent of smashing champagne on a boat prior to its maiden voyage.
Palace is in good company. Peers like Supreme and NOAH have opened their own Seoul stores within recent years, foretelling a Korean boom that anyone could've seen coming — the city is a living hub of youth culture.
Currently, Palace operates stores in its native London, New York, Los Angeles, and Tokyo plus some shop-in-shop situations at two Dover Street Market locations (both confusingly located in cities where there's already a Palace store).
Its Korean store will be Palace's first venture into the county and could foretell future expansions. Palace already maintains a presence on Chinese multipurpose app WeChat — perhaps a move into China isn't far off.
Either way, Palace's physical growth matches its output upswell.
Over the past few months alone, Palace has hit a constant string of collaborative home runs even as its mainline collections fire on all cylinders.
We're talking team-ups with the likes of CP Company, Carhartt WIP, Salomon (again), Junya Watanabe, and Formula 1. Plus, there was that far-reaching McDonald's situation — more of a co-sign than collab proper but a feather in Palace's five-panel cap regardless.
Likewise, Palace's Korean store isn't as much Palace hitting its peak as much as hitting its stride. It's making arguably the biggest steps in international streetwear right now but Palace's momentum is not slowing.
