The boys are back: BTS’ comeback year is a fashion bonanza

SINGAPORE – After a four-year hiatus for compulsory military service, the seven-member K-pop boy band BTS are once more in the thick of comeback action. 

The March release of their latest album, Arirang, was followed in April by the launch of a world tour that will stretch into 2027, taking them from their Seoul headquarters to Buenos Aires in October to Singapore in December. The septet also headlined the starry World Cup half-time show in mid-July. 

With members RM, Jin, V, Jimin, J-Hope, Suga and Jungkook back in the saddle, the question of who will outfit them is one that heavyweight fashion brands are eager to answer. 

The group’s return to activities has been accompanied by a quake of brand deals, tie-ups and custom performance garb by some of the biggest names in luxury apparel – Balenciaga, Celine and Gucci. 

Sportswear giant Nike is supplying tour merchandise and BTS-inspired customisation for selected bags and clothes. The May drop of a Calvin Klein capsule collection co-designed by youngest member Jungkook sold out in days, becoming the American brand’s most successful collaboration to date, according to parent company PVH. 

A decade since veteran idol G-Dragon broke into global luxury fashion with his 2016 Chanel appointment, the rag trade’s love affair with K-pop has only deepened. 

In 2023 alone, more than 30 K-pop idols were named new ambassadors for luxury brands. That same year, Riize, a rookie male group under SM Entertainment, signed with Louis Vuitton 98 days into their debut, setting a record for the fastest deal inked. 

Open-handed K-pop fan culture is at the crux of this trend, says Pat Law, founder of local social marketing agency Goodstuph. 

“Fans do not behave like ordinary consumers. Buying the product can be an act of support for the artiste. You are not merely purchasing a bag, lipstick or jacket because you like it. You are helping your idol’s campaign succeed, proving his or her commercial power and, in some cases, competing with other fandoms. Consumption becomes participation,” she says.

“That is enormously valuable to brands because it collapses the distance between admiration and action.” 

Alongside girl group Blackpink, BTS are the apex players. The boy band are the best-selling Asian act of all time, moving more than 500 million units – encompassing album sales, streams and downloads – worldwide, according to The Guardian. 

Says Law: “With BTS, it is almost a ‘buy one, get six free’ situation. A brand may appoint one member, but it still benefits from the halo of the entire group. Each member has his own personality, aesthetic and following, yet all seven remain connected to the larger BTS mythology.”

BTS’ “emotional relationship” with their fans, known as Army, also means fans are more likely to support their campaigns, she adds. 

But at luxury price points, brand investment in top-tier idol endorsements – which, in the case of Blackpink’s Jisoo for Dior, reportedly costs between US$10 million (S$12.9 million) and US$20 million annually – might pay off more in engagement than sales. 

Ang Swee Hoon, associate professor of marketing at the National University of Singapore, says: “I would think that social media engagement is higher than sales as it is unlikely that the young fan base has the earning capacity to afford such big fashion brands. But the fashion houses are looking at such investment for long-term benefits. 

“In the short term, they derive engagement that gives the brand recognition as well as favourable vibes when worn by the hottest group(s). This drives interest in the brand. This may not culminate in sales as yet, but when the fan base grows and gains earning power, the impression it has of the fashion brand is positive.”

Law has a criticism of the Hallyu bandwagon. “I find it lazy when hiring the idol becomes the entire idea,” she says. “Brands have never had more ways to market themselves. They can create products, films, performances, experiences, communities and entire new worlds. Against all those possibilities, putting a famous face beside a handbag can feel like very expensive autopilot.” 

Some idols have proven they can contribute creatively, like Jungkook providing the biker-inspired storytelling for his Calvin Klein collection and G-Dragon’s original footwear for Nike. 

Law says: “If they can do that, then brands can ask for more than paying for an idol to be a ‘vase’. That does not mean every idol needs to become a fashion designer overnight. There are other ways to involve them meaningfully through music, choreography, performance, styling, cultural insight or storytelling.”

The point is to use what is specific and interesting about the person, not simply the size of the crowd following him or her, she adds. 

Ahead of BTS’ December stop in Singapore, The Straits Times rounds up each member’s recent brand endorsements. 

Jungkook

The 28-year-old hunk has a sprawl of big-brand appointments, for ranges that include watches, jewellery, fashion and beauty.

In December 2025, he became the face of Chanel Fragrance & Beauty.

He was inducted into horology in February when he became an ambassador for luxury Swiss watchmaker Hublot, joining a high-profile roster including Jamaican sprinting legend Usain Bolt and Chinese classical pianist Lang Lang. The brand spent about 18 months wooing Jungkook, chief executive Julien Tornare told ST in March. 

In early July, the artiste added high-end British jeweller Graff to his raft of ambassadorships. To celebrate the launch of the partnership, he fronted a new Laurence Graff Signature collection campaign, shot by acclaimed Norwegian photographer Solve Sundsbo.

In fashion, he has become synonymous with American provocateur and casual-wear brand Calvin Klein since being named a global ambassador in 2023.

On the stage front, Paris-based high-fashion brand Balenciaga dressed Jungkook for BTS’ two Arirang tour shows in Paris on July 17 and 18. 

Performing for a record-breaking audience of 92,000 people each day, Jungkook wore black leather-heavy looks, including an ensemble of multi-belted pants, buckled moto gloves and a studded high-collared jacket, as well as a hooded T-shirt paired with leather opera gloves. 

He also went casual with a Le City-studded denim jacket featuring a patchwork logo, layered over a tie-dye logo T-shirt and baggy jeans. 

V 

V, whose real name is Kim Tae-hyung, is an ambassador for fashion and lifestyle brands that run the gamut from luxury to coffee. His biggest partnerships are with French luxury fashion house Celine and luxury jeweller Cartier. 

For the band’s Stade de France show in Paris, the 29-year-old wore a custom Celine lambskin jacket and studded skate trousers, as well as an embroidered T-shirt with wool jazz trousers, capping the look with custom V charms made of wire in brass with rhodium finish. 

He has been an ambassador for Celine since 2023 and sat in the front row for creative director Michael Rider’s first Celine menswear show in June, reportedly accruing 21.8 million engagements for the brand in 24 hours. 

V has also been the face of Cartier since 2023. In early 2026, he appeared in a magazine spread for the February edition of GQ Korea, decked out in Cartier’s Love Diamond Pave Bracelet and Panthere de Cartier ring. 

His other endorsements since his discharge from military service in 2025 are Coca-Cola Korea, South Korean beauty brand TirTir, Japanese outdoor lifestyle brand Snow Peak, Japanese beauty brand Yunth and South Korea’s Paradise City resort. Busy man. 

Jin

The oldest member of BTS has been collecting ambassadorships since his military service ended in 2024. Since then, he has become – most famously – a brand ambassador for Italian fashion house Gucci and LVMH-owned Fred Jewelry. 

For the Arirang tour’s Paris leg, Gucci dressed the 33-year-old in a custom blue washed denim biker jacket with all-over transparent crystals, matching denim trousers and white T-shirt with GG detail. He also wore a custom Gucci black sequin-embroidered long-sleeved T-shirt, black denim trousers with all-over crystals, Gucci jewellery and sunglasses.

In June, he fronted Fred’s Force 10 campaign. 

Trendy American athleisure brand Alo, beloved by the likes of American celebrities Kylie Jenner and Hailey Bieber, also partnered Jin in late 2024 to support its expansion into South Korea.

That same year, he became South Korean beauty brand Laneige’s first male ambassador. In 2025, he was tapped by canned tuna brand Dongwon Tuna and Japanese beauty brand Lucido-L.

He also partnered the Singapore Tourism Board for his music video Don’t Say You Love Me. Released on May 16, 2025, it was filmed at a host of local venues, including the National Gallery Singapore, Gardens by the Bay and Goldhill Plaza. 

RM 

BTS leader Kim Nam-joon – whose stage name is RM – is known for his smarts, which might explain why his appointments lean more towards culture than fashion. 

In June, the 31-year-old was named the first global ambassador of the National Museum of Korea, the country’s largest museum housing national artefacts and art. You Hong-june, director of the museum, expressed hope that RM would help raise the museum’s global profile.

In October, art from RM’s personal collection will go on show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for the first time. 

On the fashion front, RM has been linked to stealth wealth Italian luxury brand Bottega Veneta since 2023, though not officially named as a global brand ambassador. He attended the Bottega Veneta show for Milan Fashion Week in September 2025. 

For BTS’ Paris dates, Gucci dressed RM in a custom black leather bomber jacket and cargo pants, gloves, black silk jersey hoodie, Gucci sunglasses and bracelets.

A second custom look comprised a Gucci green plaid cotton shirt with crystal details, white crystal-studded tank top, brown trousers and Gucci jewellery.

Best not to count RM out of the fashion game, though. He was a guest on Bella Freud’s Fashion Neurosis podcast in late July. The show by the fashion designer, who is psychoanalysis founder Sigmund Freud’s great-granddaughter, is a hit among fashion cognoscenti and has featured high-powered industry figures like Dior creative director Jonathan Anderson. 

J-Hope

BTS’ main dancer J-Hope has been French fashion house Louis Vuitton’s global brand ambassador since 2023. 

Naturally, the brand dressed him in Paris. He wore several custom looks over two performances, including a black crocodile-pattern hand-embroidered jacket with black leather pants and combat boots.  

He also wore a champagne varsity jacket embellished with Swarovski crystals and jeans, as well as a knee-length black leather coat with crocodile-pattern hand-embroidered gloves. 

In April, he collaborated with the brand’s menswear creative director Pharrell Williams on the launch of the reimagined LV Buttersoft Sneaker. The springy-soled shoe was originally designed for J-Hope himself, custom-made for touring.

It features wide, woven laces strung with a decorative monogram cloche-cle (a stitched key bell) and the words, “Your, My Hope”, in reference to the artiste’s stage name and hopeful attitude. 

Since 2025, the 32-year-old has also been linked to luxury Swiss watch brand Audemars Piguet, appearing at the opening of the AP House Seoul flagship. In November 2025, he launched a capsule collection with Japanese fashion brand Human Made, called “Human Hope”. 

In July, he became the face of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 campaign. 

Jimin

The dancing and singing double-threat idol has been a global brand ambassador for French fashion house Dior since 2023. At Paris Fashion Week in June, his long-haired appearance at the brand’s Spring/Summer 2026 show went viral. 

The military Dior look he wore in Paris for the BTS concerts has also gone viral, inspiring adoring copycats. He paired the black wool notch lapel brandebourg embroidered jacket with a matching vest, black leather pants and a black silk scarf. 

A more casual mid-performance outfit change saw him in a Dior off-white wool knit, white cotton tank top and blue jeans. 

Jimin, 30, also appeared on French President Emmanuel Macron’s Instagram Story performing in a Dior red cotton hoodie, worn through one arm only, with the rest of the garment resting on his shoulder. Macron had attended one of the BTS shows. 

In December 2025, Jimin was announced as the new global ambassador for South Korean haircare brand Lador and has since promoted a hair product. 

Suga 

With the rapper’s ambassadorship for luxury Italian fashion brand Valentino at an end, as ST understands, Suga – whose real name is Min Yoon-gi – has moved on to appointments in consumer tech.

In February, the 33-year-old was named Samsung’s official brand ambassador for its Galaxy Buds4 Pro, fronting the advertising campaign. 

In Paris, he wore a Givenchy by Sarah Burton custom look: a black leather tracksuit with twisted gold cord embroidery, pearls and crystals, and an embroidered T-shirt with Givenchy Tape and Pin necklaces.