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Next Lab Isn’t a New Shopping App
Hearing the name “Next Lab,” you might picture a new online mall where you place orders directly. But Lotte Department Store’s Next Lab is actually a business platform that scouts high-potential Korean fashion brands and supports their overseas expansion. It connects the parts a brand would struggle to handle alone — export customs, store interiors, local marketing and operations — to Lotte’s existing infrastructure abroad.
As a shopper, you won’t order from Next Lab itself — you’ll encounter the participating brands at the overseas pop-ups or permanent stores that Next Lab arranges. For a brand, it means testing local reaction with a short pop-up first, then moving into a longer-term store once sales potential is confirmed. That’s a somewhat different structure from an event agency that just runs a single pop-up and calls it done.
The First Stop Was Hanoi, Vietnam
Next Lab’s first destination was Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi in Vietnam, and the first participating brand was Korean streetwear label Musinth. Musinth ran a 12-day pop-up from July 24 to August 4, showcasing signature items like ball caps, bags, and casual wear. It was the brand’s first time meeting Vietnamese customers offline.
That pop-up has already ended, so double-check the dates before you plan a visit. Following Musinth, Lotte Department Store plans to run pop-ups for a total of five Korean fashion brands in Hanoi through the end of 2026, including Setter and Nomanual. Exact operating periods, product lineups, and prices for the upcoming brands will need to be confirmed through each individual event announcement.
Vietnam was chosen as the first market largely because of Lotte’s existing distribution network. Since Lotte Department Store already operates department stores and malls overseas directly, it can lean on that local store-running experience rather than simply renting a temporary space. That lets a brand test local customers’ response to sizing, color, and price with far less risk than opening a standalone store from scratch.
Two Tracks: Pop-Up and Permanent Entry
Next Lab operates in two main tracks. One is running a short pop-up in partnership with a local retailer or complex mall. The other is supporting a permanent entry at one of the overseas stores Lotte runs directly. Lotte Department Store describes this as a virtuous cycle running from “pop-up, to incubating, to store entry.”
The “incubating” step here isn’t just about promoting a brand. It’s the stage where product lineup, pricing, marketing approach, and store operations get adjusted based on local sales data and customer feedback. A piece of clothing that’s popular in Korea doesn’t automatically succeed abroad with the same sizing and seasonal lineup — you have to factor in climate, body shapes, and shopping habits too, and that’s what actually raises the odds of it turning into a long-term store.
Expanding to Tokyo and Osaka
Lotte Department Store is also pushing to run Next Lab pop-ups at major complex malls in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, in the second half of 2026. Japan shows strong interest in Korean designer brands, but signing a lease for a local store and setting up customs and inventory management from scratch isn’t cheap. Next Lab is structured so multiple brands can share Lotte’s operational base, lowering the burden of that initial entry.
There’s also a plan for 2027 to open permanent Korean-fashion pop-up halls in Vietnam, Japan, and elsewhere. Despite the word “pop-up” in the name, the space itself stays open continuously, with participating brands and products rotating periodically. That means you can discover multiple Korean brands in one place, while brands get to gather long-term sales data before committing to their own standalone store.
What Shoppers Should Check Is Different From What Brands Should Check
If you’re a shopper looking for Korean fashion overseas, what matters isn’t the Next Lab name itself — it’s which mall, which brand, and when the pop-up is running. Products, prices, stock, and event periods all vary by participating brand. Rather than assuming Korean and local prices match, it’s better to check the price for each event, since it reflects customs and local operating costs.
For a brand hoping to expand overseas, Next Lab can be a channel that reduces the distribution and operational burden. That said, the launch materials Lotte Department Store has released so far don’t spell out an open application process or selection criteria that any brand can freely apply through. If you’re a brand interested in joining, you’ll need to wait for a separate recruitment announcement and official guidance from Next Contents Lab, the team overseeing the program.
Judging Next Lab’s success by pop-up foot traffic alone isn’t really enough. It’s worth watching whether brands that finish a pop-up actually move into permanent stores, which markets see repeat purchases, and whether locally tailored products get developed. Once the next Hanoi brand and the Japan pop-up schedule are announced, exactly how this platform operates should come into sharper focus.
Source: Cho Min-jung, Yonhap News, July 21, 2026; Kim Hyun-yi, Seoul Shinmun, July 22, 2026.
