Basically, K-Pop idols and their agencies release various kind of merchandise. The merchandise is released with new, different concepts, and used to conjunction with the release of an official album, as well. For example, when a certain idol group was releasing a new album, they also release various kinds of merchandise with the album’s theme, such as lightsticks, posters, photo cards, clothes, and more. Do you want to know more about K-Pop merchandise? Let’s find out the details, here!
Lightstick
First of all, we will go with the most important K-Pop merchandise among all of them; lightsticks! When we are at a concert or a fan meeting, we can see a lot of people who brought their lightsticks, right? Each K-Pop idol has different forms and concepts for their lightsticks. The idols are involved in the making process by giving their ideas and concepts for the lightsticks. Lightsticks have become one of the must-have items for K-Pop fans! Commonly, the lightstick is used for lighting up the crowds at K-Pop concerts. During concerts, usually the crowds are dark, and the light comes up from the stage. On such an occasion, the crowds would lift their lightsticks, turn on the light, and they would make such a beautiful light for the crowds with that. It’s also one of the way to gain attention from the idols at the concert, that’s why lightsticks have become the most popular and favorite item among K-Pop merchandise! Each of lightsticks has different name or different form, and it relates to the idols. For example, BIG BANG’s lightstick was called “KONBAT”, BLACKPINK’s lightstick was called a “Hammer Bong”, TWICE’s lightstick was called a “Candy Bong”, APINK’s lightstick was called Pink Panda, BTS’ lightstick was called an “Army Bomb”, and many more! If you want to buy lightstick, you could simply order it through an online store, or you could go to the offline store, as well. Through online stores, you can bought a lightstick and have it shipped anywhere in the world with worldwide shipping. But if your country also provides an offline store which sells K-Pop merchandise, you could simply go there, directly!
Photo Cards
The next item is photo cards! Basically, the usual K-Pop photo cards have a basic photo with the face of a certain idol on it. There are a lot of various kind photo cards, and you can choose one in accordance with your favorite K-Pop idols. Moreover, the fans love photo cards, because usually there’s also the idols’ sign within the photo cards! Photo cards have also become favorite items because the fans will collect them, use them as decoration for a scrapbook, as a display, and many other ways! Even though photo cards are official merchandise, there are also the unofficial versions of K-Pop idols’ photo cards. Photo cards also becoming a free item from the other K-Pop merchandise. For example, if you bought a certain lightstick or album, you could receive a free gift, and it is one set of photo cards. Often, K-Pop fans will buy a lot of versions of the same album, so they can get all of the members’ photo cards and collect all of them, as well. Moreover, the photo cards provide us with pictures from a rare and exclusive photoshoot with the idols, which is only available through photo cards!
Posters
Another popular piece of K-Pop merchandise, is the idols’ posters! There are a lot of K-Pop fans who love K-Pop posters, because through the posters we can see a portrait of our idols in a huge size. Commonly, K-Pop posters come in different size and different types. There’s a poster with paper material, and also a poster with other material that claims it’s waterproof, so the fans don’t have to be worried that their posters might be get ruined. K-Pop posters have become a favorite item because they are part of a collection. Also, we can make K-Pop decorations in the bedroom by sticking the posters on the wall. Posters and photo cards are pretty similar, but, through posters, we can see idols in a huge size, whereas through photo cards, we can see idols in a small size and we can put them anywhere. Just like K-Pop photo cards, commonly, posters are included in album packages or lightstick packages as a free gifts. The fans also tend to buy the same version of album and lightstick, so they can get different posters, as well. Where can you buy them? You can check them out through online and offline stores!
Phone Cases
The next items are K-Pop phone cases! Among all of the K-Pop merchandise, K-Pop phone cases started becoming popular since fans can put them on their phones, and people usually take their phones with them everywhere, right? Just like the usual phone cases, K-Pop phone cases are for covering and protecting our phones. K-Pop phone cases have different types and designs. Not too many idols have released phone cases as official merchandise yet, but people can buy them as unofficial merchandise, as well. Moreover, they can customize the design with their desire. here are even some creative fans who have made their own K-Pop phone case through DIY. They have used a variety of materials to made their own K-Pop phone case, and customized the designs. Such a brilliant idea, right? Watch one of the DIY K-Pop phone case videos here, as a recommendation:
Don’t worry if you didn’t have a time to made DIY phone case, you can buy the items through the usual online and offline retailers! But, if you want a customized K-Pop phone case, you’d be better off going to an online store for a customized product!
Dolls
These might be the cutest K-Pop merchandise ever, K-Pop dolls! The fans are really fond of the dolls, because they can imagine them as the ‘idols’, and can hug them or put them anywhere, anytime. The dolls also have different types, such as plastic dolls, cotton dolls, pillow dolls, and many more! Even though most K-Pop dolls are unofficial merchandise, people are still in love with them and tend to buy them for their collections. Usually they look for a cotton doll, so they can put the dolls in their bedrooms. Some of the fans even use the dolls as a gift for their idols! Whenever some fans go to a concert or a fan meeting, they will bring the K-Pop dolls and give them to their idols there. There’s are even K-Pop idols who have collaborated with other brands to made their customized K-Pop dolls, such as the boy-group BTS. Along with LINE Character, they released BT21, which includes dolls as one of the products! The stuff has become popular, and manye fans were crazy about the BT21 dolls! Some of the fans have taken the time to make customized K-Pop dolls by themselves. They did it as a form of a support towards their idol, and they wanted to give extraordinary gifts for their idols! Watch the process of making a DIY K-Pop doll, here:
If you are looking for a K-Pop doll, you can find them through online stores and offline stores, as well. There’s a lot of various types and materials for the dolls, so you can choose one of your favorites among all of them!
