Profile: Namwoo Kim

About Namwoo Kim : Drawing from personal memories and cinematic atmospheres, my work blends storytelling with technical construction. Each garment carries emotional weight - rooted in nostalgia, youth, and the liminal space between comfort and new destinations within a journey. My design language merges soft silhouettes with utilitarian details, often exploring themes of identity, belonging, and growth. As a Korean designer who moved to New York to study fashion, which is the epicenter of everything, I approach fashion as a form of slow and poetic storytelling - where fabric becomes memory, and every detail on clothing becomes a container for emotion. Influenced by both Eastern sensibilities and Western sportswear culture, my works often exist in the intersection of softness and strength, subtlety and functionality. Sustainability and emotional longevity are key to my process: garments are designed with intentional materials, details executed with care, and a commitment to slow creation. My aesthetic favors material manipulations, hybrid silhouettes, and nostalgic colors that feel lived-in with love over time. Material sourcing is a deeply considered part of my practice. I gravitate toward dead stock fabrics, organic fibers, and recycled blends, making use of what already exists rather than creating new waste. Textiles are chosen not only for their physical properties, but for their emotional resonance—those that feel sun-worn, softened by time, or imperfect in ways that tell a story. Natural dyeing methods and low-impact finishes are integrated to preserve the integrity of the materials while minimizing environmental harm. Through this process, each garment becomes a reimagined artifact, carrying the quiet beauty of something once lost and now found. I believe that blending poetic storytelling with a commitment to long-term sustainability—for both the environment and the people within it—can gradually offer a fresh perspective to the fashion world and its broader audience.