The street fashion brand Lost Management Cities (LMC) was launched in 2015 by its parent company 'LAYER' after a long preparation. It started out as a concept of being LAYER's main brand LIFUL's second brand. Some were concerned that the two brands may overlap but this prediction missed by a mile in three years since LMC was launched. It created a solid and strong fandom, gaining huge popularity among teens and people in their 20s through the brand's uniqueness and bold design. Let's take a closer look at LMC's branding story.

 Street fashion, literally, meant a temporarily popular fashion trend on the streets. But since the 2000s, it became a fashion category that gained attention as the fashion style of the people in the artistic subculture of graffiti, hip hop, tattoo and many others and those who enjoyed and led that culture. It was then when the convention-like idea that street fashion brands must hold a cultural code was born.

 LMC added a bit more comprehensive range of subculture in its clothes. It brought together the humanities and religious and social issues, allowing consumers to enjoy even the areas that may be sensitive by interpreting these issues in a way that is sometimes serious and sometimes light and humorous.

 In addition, LMC continued to reach out to consumers by announcing various collaboration collections with artists and brands active in Korea and abroad. It didn't simply announce or disclose its S/S, F/W and collaboration collections at offline stores or pop-up stores. Instead, the brand invited musicians and DJs who expressed the LMC brand well and held parties that everyone enjoyed. LMC also collaborated with the online select shop 'MUSINSA' and artist agency 'TEO' and opened a photo exhibition that reinterpreted the brand through the eyes of a photographer. People went wild for LMC's cultural journey. Consumers felt joy in engaging and experiencing the culture and in the interactive communication with the brand, which played a key role in forming LMC's fandom.

 Today, Instagram is an important venue for marketing attracting many small brands as well as luxury brands. LMC, which has almost 100,000 followers, also has been managing an Instagram account since its launch. But compared to the lively activities and events mentioned above, LMC's Instagram is simple and calm. The brand strategically positioned itself to reach Generation Z, who wish to communicate through a single image or a 10-second short video. Instead of using perfectly edited photos, LMC uses a diverse range of content from everyday pictures and videos that capture the moments to content using contemporary media art, appropriately and with humor, which gets good responses from consumers of different ages.

 Recently, many local brands are quite dependent on online select shops like 'MUSINSA' or 'W Concept'. It's because online select shops have a lot more good quality content that consumers like and can be inspired by. This has made the own websites of local brands a mere showroom of the brand. But LMC merged its own content platform, the Layer Magazine, in its website offering a wide range of rich content. The brand continued its own path, covering different types of genres of content from brand news, essays to interviews with artists in Korea and overseas. Consumers stayed on the LMC website for a long time, immersed in the brand and inspired by its content. They could have bought the same products at lower cost from the above mentioned select shops, but instead consumers called themselves fans of LMC and enjoyed the brand's website content and paid full price for products. LMC's brand power made consumers feel like they are communicating with the brand, not simply purchasing an item, and gave them a sense of rightfulness in buying their products. This completely differentiates itself from other Korean fashion brands. LMC aims to become a brand that contributes to shaping the culture – the culture that they were born out of.

 LMC is a brand with a clear identity. The content that they deliver to consumers hold their own unique brand philosophy, which contributed to forming a solid and strong fandom, amid the sea of contents that are heavily commercialized and designed to be stimulating to get more likes. It is not an easy task to fulfill both brand philosophy and consumer trend in an era of abundant and various contents. But looking at LMC's case, one will find that rather than the perfect and refined images, consumers are more attracted to content that is more real and holds the brand's philosophy and the power that makes the brand into one culture. True branding developed by forming a strong relationship with consumers becomes the driving force that leads to creating more various and appealing products, which then again creates brand identity.