Junghoon Son on immigration, storytelling, and creating an emotional universe beyond fashion
Long before collaborations with names like Pokémon, Salomon, and Clarks, VANDYTHEPINK was being built through instinct, nostalgia, and a curiosity shaped between two different worlds. After moving from Korea to Virginia at 17, founder Junghoon Son found himself far from the environments typically associated with fashion or creative culture. Inspiration came through observation, travel, internet culture, and memories carried from childhood.
What started as creating things simply because he wanted them to exist has since evolved into something much larger. Today, VANDYTHEPINK operates less like a traditional fashion label and more like an expanding universe built through storytelling, emotional references, and objects that sit somewhere between familiarity and reinterpretation. Burgers become symbols. Collaborations become extensions of a larger world. Nostalgia becomes a language.
Across this conversation, Son reflects on immigration, early years spent creating in isolation, the role childhood memories continue to play in his work, and why building stories has always mattered more than building products. More than discussing fashion itself, the interview reveals how patience, consistency, and emotional honesty slowly became the foundation for an entire creative world.
What do you remember most about your first years in Virginia after moving from Korea at 17?
The biggest thing I remember was the cultural difference. Moving from Korea to Virginia at 17 was a huge shift for me in every way. Everything felt unfamiliar at first, from the language to the people to the overall environment.
I think those years forced me to observe a lot. I was constantly comparing cultures, styles, food, music, and the way people expressed themselves. Even though it was difficult at times, it also opened my perspective creatively.
Virginia itself was also very different from what people imagine when they think about fashion or street culture. There was not really a strong creative scene around me, so I spent a lot of time online or traveling whenever I had the chance, trying to absorb inspiration from different places.
Looking back now, I think being placed between two cultures shaped a big part of my identity and the way I approach creativity today.
Before collaborations with global brands and before people knew VANDYTHEPINK, you were just making things because you wanted them to exist. What did creating feel like during that period?
Back then, creating felt very pure to me. I was not thinking about strategy, analytics, or even business. I was just making things because I genuinely wanted them to exist.
At the time, I was working two jobs just to support myself while continuing to create. I did not really have a team around me either, so most of it was just me figuring things out on my own.
Living in Virginia also played a big role in shaping me. There was not much of a creative scene around me that I felt connected to, so whenever I saved enough money, I would travel back and forth to New York and Los Angeles to find inspiration and better understand the culture and world I wanted to be part of.
Looking back, I think that period was driven by pure excitement, curiosity, ambition, and passion. Everything came from instinct. Today, I have an incredible team supporting me, and we are much more structured and analytical in how we build things, but I still try to protect that original feeling as much as possible.
If the version of you who moved to Virginia at 17 saw where you are today, what would surprise him most?
Honestly, what would surprise my 17-year-old self the most is leading a team of nearly ten people and running a brand every day. At 17, I was quite quiet and reserved, and I never imagined I would spend my days in front of so many people, making decisions and guiding a creative vision.
It’s not just the growth of the brand or collaborations, but the responsibility, the energy, and the constant interaction with others that would have seemed completely unimaginable to the younger me. Yet, it’s also the part I enjoy the most.
What would you tell that version of yourself now?
I would tell my younger self to stay consistent and patient. Everything takes time, and the path isn’t always clear at first. Trusting the process and continuing to create steadily, even when it feels slow or uncertain, is what ultimately allows growth and meaningful progress.
Consistency and patience are the foundations that have allowed VANDYTHEPINK to become what it is today, and I would remind myself that even small, daily efforts accumulate into something much bigger over time.
When an idea first comes to you, what does the process actually look like before it becomes a Vandy product?
A lot of ideas usually start from memories for me. Sometimes it comes from food I grew up eating, old cartoons, toys, packaging, or random nostalgic moments from childhood. I think I am always collecting small emotional references without realizing it.
When an idea first comes to me, I usually sketch it quickly or write notes down immediately before the feeling disappears. After that, the process becomes much more collaborative with the team.
We start building the world around the idea through storytelling, moodboards, references, graphics, materials, and product direction. For me, it is never just about making a product. I always want it to feel like part of a bigger universe.
At the end of the process, the biggest question is always whether it still feels “VANDY.” Even if the reference is familiar, it has to carry our own sense of nostalgia, humor, and emotion in a way that feels authentic to our world.
When you are stuck creatively, where do you go or what do you return to?
Whenever I feel creatively stuck, I usually go back to childhood nostalgia. That is probably the most honest source of inspiration for me.
I find myself revisiting old memories, vintage packaging, cartoons, snacks, toys, or small details that made me feel something when I was younger. Sometimes it is not even about the object itself, but the emotional feeling attached to it.
I think as you grow older and the business becomes bigger, it becomes easier to overthink creativity. Going back to those simple emotions helps me reset and create from a more genuine place again.
A lot of the VANDYTHEPINK world is really built from that feeling of trying to reconnect with excitement, curiosity, and comfort that I remember from childhood.
Across VANDYTHEPINK, there is a pattern of taking familiar references and turning them into entire worlds. What interests you more: the object itself or the story you can build around it?
For me, the story is always more important than the object itself.
A product can catch someone’s attention for a moment, but a story is what makes people emotionally connect to it and remember it. I think that is why I have always been more interested in building worlds rather than just making individual items.
I want VANDYTHEPINK to feel alive. Almost like it exists somewhere between reality and nostalgia. A place that feels familiar, emotional, playful, and comforting at the same time.
A lot of the references people see in my work already exist in culture, but I enjoy reimagining them through my own memories and emotions. That process of world building is what makes creating exciting to me. It allows people to feel like they are stepping into something bigger than just fashion.
When you create a product or collaboration, do you have a specific person in mind, or are you designing more around a feeling?
In the beginning, a lot of what I created came from things I personally wanted to exist. It was very pure and instinctive in that sense.
Now, the process is much more developed and intentional. We spend a lot of time sampling, refining, researching references, and developing ideas before they become final products. But even with that structure, the core of it is still connected to enjoyment, curiosity, and passion.
I think I design more around a feeling than a specific person. I want people to feel excitement, nostalgia, and emotional connection when they see or wear something from VANDYTHEPINK.
Collaborations are very similar as well. I am always interested in creating the ideal “VANDY-style” crossover, where two different worlds can naturally blend together while still feeling authentic to our universe.
The burger started as a reference, but at some point it became something people attached identity to. When did you realize it stopped being a graphic and became part of the VANDYTHEPINK language?
I think the burger became more than just a graphic when people started emotionally connecting it to the world of VANDYTHEPINK itself.
To me, VANDYTHEPINK has always been a reflection of myself and my experience. Coming to America at a young age was a huge moment in my life, and I wanted to give meaning to that experience through creativity.
The burger naturally became part of that story because it represents something very iconic and recognizable within American culture. I was also very inspired by the spectacle of American commercials, fast food branding, packaging, and advertising. There was something bold, playful, and larger-than-life about it that felt very different from what I grew up around in Korea.
At the same time, I never wanted to present it in a purely American way. I was more interested in mixing those references with the emotions, nostalgia, and sensibilities I grew up with in Korea. I think that blend is what eventually turned the burger into part of the VANDYTHEPINK language instead of just a single graphic.
Your early work existed in a space between reinterpretation, customization, and what some people would have dismissed as bootleg culture. Do you think legitimacy changes how people value creativity, or just who they allow to participate?
In the beginning, the DIY and bootleg space felt very pure and fun to me. It was never something I approached with heavy thinking or strategy. It came from curiosity, experimentation, and the excitement of creating something in my own way.
I also believe that almost everyone starts from some form of imitation. Even the way humans learn language begins through imitation. What becomes important is how you grow from that process and reinterpret what you learn through your own experiences, perspective, and identity.
For me, creativity has always been about taking inspiration, references, and existing ideas, then transforming them into something that feels personal and emotionally honest. Even today, a lot of my work still comes from reinterpreting ideas and rebuilding familiar things through the VANDYTHEPINK lens.
So I think legitimacy does change who people allow to participate sometimes, but true creativity has always existed outside of those boundaries as well.
What is the biggest misconception people have about your work?
I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that people sometimes see the work as just playful graphics or surface-level nostalgia.
But in reality, there is a lot of thought and development behind everything we make. Storytelling is a huge part of the brand, and every collection is built around emotion, references, and world building.
At the same time, people who actually wear our products usually understand that quality is also a major focus for us. Every season, we spend a lot of time researching fabrics, improving fits, refining samples, and thinking carefully about how to create products people genuinely want to come back to.
For me, building long-term trust with customers is just as important as creating something visually exciting.
You have built collaborations with everyone from Clarks to Pokémon to Salomon. Has what makes you say yes changed over time, and looking back, which collaboration felt most personal?
What makes me say yes to a collaboration has definitely changed over time. Today, one of the most important things for me is whether I have the creative freedom to reinterpret the project in a way that truly feels “VANDY.”
I am less interested in collaborations that simply place logos together. I always want to create a crossover that feels natural to our world and emotionally authentic to both sides.
Honestly, every collaboration feels special to me because I have been fortunate enough to work on things I genuinely loved growing up or always dreamed about. That is something I never take for granted.
But if I had to choose one that felt especially personal, it would probably be Pokémon. It was such a big part of my childhood and holds a lot of memories for me, so being able to reinterpret that world through VANDYTHEPINK felt very meaningful.
Without revealing too much, what has been influencing the way you think lately, creatively or otherwise?
Lately, I have been very focused on IP itself. I’ve been thinking a lot about why people collect certain items and why intellectual properties seem stronger and more influential than ever today.
What really stands out to me is that what lasts over time are characters and stories. That realization has influenced how I approach creation now. I spend a lot of time researching, studying, and developing ideas that can carry meaningful narratives or memorable characters, rather than just making something visually appealing.
This focus on storytelling and the power of IP is shaping the way VANDYTHEPINK evolves, both in products and in the worlds we create around them.
Looking at where VANDYTHEPINK is now, from footwear and furniture to entertainment and global collaborations, do you think you are still building a fashion brand, or something much harder to define? How would you explain the VANDYTHEPINK world to someone seeing it for the first time?
At this point, I think VANDYTHEPINK has become more than just a fashion brand. I see it more as a universe.
Fashion is still a very important part of it, but the world now also includes characters, collectibles, furniture, food culture, collaborations, and different lifestyle experiences. I have become more interested in building an emotional world that people can step into and connect with in different ways.
If I had to explain the VANDYTHEPINK world to someone seeing it for the first time, I would probably describe it as a place that exists somewhere between reality and nostalgia. A playful and emotional universe shaped by my experiences growing up between Korean and American culture.
No matter what category we move into, the goal is always the same. I want everything to feel connected as part of one living world.
When you think about everything you have built so far, what do you hope your biggest contribution has been, not just to fashion, but to the way people think about creativity?
More than fashion itself, I hope my work encourages people to create more freely and courageously.
I came from a background where I was constantly mixing cultures, memories, references, and ideas that did not always “belong” together in a traditional sense. Through VANDYTHEPINK, I wanted to show that creativity does not always have to follow fixed rules or stay inside one category.
I hope people see that it is possible to build your own world from the things you genuinely love, no matter how random, nostalgic, playful, or unconventional they may seem at first.
At the end of the day, I think the most meaningful creativity comes from being honest about who you are and having the courage to express it in your own way.
Discover more at onvandylab.org
