Aer Works opens 3rd Japanese workwear store in Korea

CNTUS President Ha Choon-wook, third from left, and CNTUS Vice President Cho Mi-ryang, third from right, pose during a press conference marking a launch of Aer Works' third store in Korea in Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. Courtesy of CNTUS

GUNPO, Gyeonggi Province — Aer Works, a multi-brand fashion platform bringing Japanese workwear to Korea, opened its third store here Thursday. The platform features jackets, pants, jumpsuits, and accessories from leading Japanese brands including Burtle, Xebec, Grace Engineer’s, I’Z Frontier and TS Design, along with hardware tools from Japanese and German makers.

CNTUS, an industrial air and water filter maker that operates the platform, is bringing Japan’s advanced workwear styles to key markets in Korea. Representatives from the leading Japanese workwear brands said Thursday that Korea, like Japan, has a well-developed manufacturing sector, and they hope this market environment will boost consumer interest in workwear designed for physically demanding workplaces.

The Gunpo shop is CNTUS’ third Aer Works location, following openings in Busan in June and in Suwon earlier this month.

Workwear differs from other fashion styles by emphasizing utility features and advanced fabrics alongside designs aimed at broader appeal. Burtle, Japan’s most popular workwear brand, offers “Aircraft,” a small fan built into jackets and vests to help regulate body temperature, developed in partnership with electronics company Kyocera. Grace Engineer’s has introduced a “hip-off” feature in its jumpsuit lineup — a horizontal zipper that allows wearers to use the bathroom without removing the entire suit.

Cho Mi-ryang, vice president of Seoul-based CNTUS, said during a press conference that the Japanese brands all originate from Hiroshima, a region with a long history of cotton farming that helped its local fashion industry flourish. She added that many of the brands are now operated by third-generation owners, with their designs produced by original equipment manufacturers outside Japan.

Models showcase workwear apparel from leading Japanese brands at the Aer Works store in Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Ko Dong-hwan

CNTUS is exclusively importing the Japanese brands for Aer Works after meeting with each company and persuading them of the Korean market’s potential. Cho said bringing the five brands together under Aer Works “was not easy, but they eventually accepted our honest proposal.”

The platform’s first business-to-business client in Korea was hygiene and fumigation firm CESCO, which purchased uniforms for its employees shortly after Aer Works launched.

“Compared to the Japanese workwear market currently worth about 3 trillion won ($2 billion), the Korean market has a short history. However, it has already attracted more than anticipated interests from local consumers here, especially millennials and Gen Zs who are increasingly working in blue-collar workplaces. And they don’t just wear anything,” Cho said.

“Workwear isn’t just a type of clothing now. More than a utility purpose, it now focuses on safety, technology and style. We’ll open next Aer Works store in Gwangju in January and another one in Seoul later next year. We’ll expand the platform’s directly managed stores to 10 by June.”