The complete guide to Korean golf brands: ANEW, WAAC, Pearly Gates, GDBR

Forty-five percent. That is South Korea’s share of the global golf apparel market — from a country with a population of 52 million. To put it plainly: South Korea, roughly one-sixth the size of the United States, outspends America on golf clothing. The design ecosystem that emerged to satisfy that demand is the most sophisticated in the sport.

It is also, until very recently, almost entirely invisible in European golf retail.

I began seriously tracking Korean golf brands few years ago, initially through connections in the Mediterranean and Baltic golf networks I coordinate across, later through direct conversations with buyers and players who travel between Seoul, Tokyo, and European courses. What I found was a category of clothing that European golf fashion has not matched: technically excellent, aesthetically precise, designed for a woman who takes both her game and her appearance seriously — without treating one as subordinate to the other.

This is the complete guide. Every label worth knowing, what each one actually stands for, and how to buy them from Europe.

How to read this guide

Korean golf fashion operates across three distinct aesthetic registers, and understanding the register before the brand saves considerable confusion and money:

Quiet luxury — precision cuts, technical fabrics in restrained colourways, minimal branding. Designed to communicate to those who know how to read clothing, and say nothing to those who don’t. Aligns with the European premium aesthetic this platform covers most often.

Style-forward — bold graphics, unexpected colour combinations, cultural references from K-pop and street culture. High energy, designed to be noticed. The fastest-growing segment in the Korean domestic market and the one most discussed internationally.

Expressive / playful — character motifs, oversized silhouettes, irreverent design. Where golf meets Seoul’s youth fashion culture. The segment that will define junior golf fashion in Europe within the next five years.

Most European buyers start with quiet luxury and move toward style-forward as familiarity with the category grows. The guide follows the same progression.

The quiet luxury tier

ANEW Golf

ANEW is the brand this platform recommends most consistently to European women discovering Korean golf fashion, because it is the one whose aesthetic register already maps onto what premium European taste understands. The brand was founded with the explicit intention of creating golf wear that anyone would want to wear — not just golfers. The design language is focal-point fashion: one element per outfit that draws attention through structure rather than decoration. Everything else is in service of that element.

The women’s collection covers polos, skorts, trousers, outerwear, and accessories. The fabric technology is consistently impressive — Cool-Function moisture management, UV protection ratings, four-way stretch that does not compromise the line of a garment. The colourways are considered in the way that takes obvious effort to appear effortless: warm neutrals, deep botanicals, the occasional precise accent colour that reads as deliberate rather than decorative.

ANEW sizes run smaller than European equivalents. A European 38 typically corresponds to an ANEW L; a European 40 to XL. Shoulder width is where the discrepancy matters most — when in doubt, size up. The stretch in the technical fabrics accommodates this well.

Where to buy: ANEW’s international site ships to Europe. EU import duties apply. Allow 10–14 days. Some multi-brand Korean golf stockists in the UK and the Netherlands now carry a curated ANEW selection.

and per se

If ANEW is the Korean brand that European women find first, and per se is the one they stay with. Pure Scandinavian minimalism applied by Korean craft. No graphics. The interest is entirely in the cut — precise, slightly architectural, deeply unfashionable in the sense that it will look correct in five years. The women’s range is entirely women-first in its design, which sounds like a low bar until you discover how rarely it is cleared.

Where to buy: Direct from andperse.com. International shipping available. Limited EU stockists currently.

Bean Pole Golf

Samsung C&T’s golf label operates at the intersection of Korean heritage and minimalist sportswear. More accessible in price than ANEW or and per se, slightly more conventional in silhouette, consistently well-made. The brand for women who want the quiet luxury register without the premium price of the top-tier Korean labels. Good entry point for the category.

The style-forward tier

WAAC — Win At All Costs

WAAC is the brand most European buyers discover through competitive golf — it was the official apparel label for the Korean Olympic team in Tokyo and Paris, and the visibility from those games has pulled it into European consciousness faster than any other Korean golf brand. Founded in 2015 specifically to break golf fashion monotony, WAAC’s design language is energetic: bold graphics, a distinctive mascot, Cool-Tech and Flex-Stretch fabrics that are genuinely technical beneath the expressive surface.

The women’s collection is designed to move between the course and a rooftop café without a change of clothes — jumpsuits, structured dresses, technical separates with an independent identity. It is not a quiet luxury. It is the opposite of quiet luxury. Both things are valid.

WAAC sizing mirrors ANEW — size up from European equivalents. Available via their international site and a growing number of premium golf retailers in the UK.

Master Bunny Edition

Pearly Gates’ younger sibling (same parent company, Jack Bunny is the playful branch, Master Bunny is the polished one). Tour-ready technical pieces with more graphic confidence than and per se but more restraint than WAAC. The label that works well for women who want Korean quality and some visual interest without full commitment to the expressive register.

Fair Liar

The premium feminine end of the style-forward tier. Tailored elegance with genuine couture influence — structured necklines, considered silhouettes, fabrics that drape in ways that performance-first brands don’t attempt. A Fair Liar skirt looks like something from a Paris atelier that happens to allow a full golf swing. The price reflects this. For women who want Korean precision with European feminine dressing sensibility.

The expressive tier

GDBR — God Bless Digital Revolution

GDBR is where golf meets Seoul Fashion Week. The brand makes no concession to golf’s conservative aesthetic heritage — oversized hoodies, technical bucket hats, statement graphics, silhouettes borrowed from streetwear. It is the brand that will not look out of place on a fashion week runway and makes no effort to look like it belongs anywhere else. The next generation of European junior golfers will find GDBR first on social media, and they will be right to.

Currently limited international shipping. Worth monitoring — European distribution is expanding.

Lanvin Blanc

French couture house meets Korean sport in one of the more unexpected collaborations in recent fashion history. The Lanvin name applied to technically functional golf apparel with the aesthetic confidence of a luxury fashion label. The most recognisable European heritage in this guide, reimagined through Korean production standards. A useful bridge for European buyers who want Korean quality with a name they already trust.

The heritage benchmark

Pearly Gates

The label that established what premium Korean golf fashion looks like. Launched in 1989, Pearly Gates built the template — high-quality fabrics applied to bold, often whimsical design, taken seriously enough to command a premium price. K-pop group Twice is the current brand ambassador, which is less a departure from the original positioning than it might appear: Pearly Gates has always understood that golf and popular culture can coexist in the same garment. The reference point for the entire category.

How the brands compare: the Inesea edit

For European women new to Korean golf fashion, the entry sequence that works most consistently:

Start with ANEW if your wardrobe already has a quiet luxury register. The transition is seamless — ANEW pieces sit alongside J.Lindeberg and Peter Millar without aesthetic conflict.

Start with Master Bunny Edition if you want Korean quality at a slightly lower commitment level.

Move to WAAC when you want something with more energy — for a junior tournament where the atmosphere is high, for a social round where the dress code is relaxed.

Look at Fair Liar when you are ready to invest in the category and want something unmistakably feminine.

Watch GDBR if you have a teenager in the household. It will matter to them before it matters to you.

Starting your Korean golf wardrobe: the first three pieces

The wardrobe argument for Korean golf fashion in Europe is not about cultural tourism or trend-following. It is about quality. The design intelligence that came out of the Korean domestic market’s demands is, at this moment, ahead of what European golf retail is offering at comparable price points.

First piece: An ANEW polo or structured top in a neutral. It will sit immediately in your existing wardrobe and play well with everything you already own. It will also be the piece that makes other women at the club ask where you found it.

Second piece: A skort — ANEW, WAAC, or Master Bunny Edition, depending on your register. The Korean approach to the skort solves every problem the European market has not: technical enough for nine holes in thirty-degree heat, structured enough for a clubhouse lunch.

Third piece: A wind layer. Korean outerwear construction is exceptional. This is where the technical investment makes the most visible difference.

Sizing across the brands

All Korean brands run smaller than European equivalents. The standard guidance: size up one full size from your European size. ANEW and WAAC are the most consistent in this; Pearly Gates runs slightly closer to European sizing at the top of their range. GDBR, with its streetwear influences, has a more variable size run depending on the specific piece.

If you are between sizes in any of these brands, size up. The technical fabrics carry enough stretch to accommodate the larger size without losing the line of the garment.