How to Apply to F&F

Key Takeaways

F&F (에프앤에프, KOSPI:383220) hires through its own custom Korean recruit portal under the 채용 section of fnf.co.kr — not Workday or any global ATS — with annual 신입 gong-chae cycles plus rolling 경력 (experienced) requisitions across the brand verticals.
Expect a Korean-first process: the 자기소개서 essay set, the written aptitude test, and most interview rounds are conducted in Korean even for roles that work with global licensors and Greater China teams in English and Mandarin.
The MLB China business is the single most important growth thesis and Mandarin Chinese capability (HSK 5/6 or new HSK equivalent) is a real differentiator for merchandising, planning, marketing, retail-operations, and brand-management roles tied to Greater China.
F&F is family-controlled — the Kim Chang-soo founding family controls the group through F&F Holdings (KOSPI:007700), the listed holding parent created by the May 2021 horizontal split that separated the operating fashion businesses into F&F (383220).
The portfolio spans MLB Korea / MLB China (licensed Major League Baseball apparel and accessories), Discovery Expedition (licensed outdoor brand competing with North Face Korea), Stretch Angels (in-house accessories and lifestyle), and Banila Co (color cosmetics, acquired 2019) — candidates should know which vertical they are targeting and the specific competitive set for that brand.
The talent comparison set is LF Corp, Hansae, Shinsegae International, Handsome (Hyundai Department Store group), Samsung C&T Fashion Group, Kolon FnC, Hyungji Apparel, and increasingly the Korean affiliates of Anta Sports, FILA Korea, and Lululemon.
The aptitude test is in the HMAT lineage of Korean conglomerate competency exams and weak scores end candidacies before any human reviews the essays — prepare with the standard Korean test-prep materials.
Compensation sits in the upper-mid Korean fashion industry tier with strong brand-rotation and cross-vertical career paths; expect structured base, performance bonus, and benefits aligned with KOSPI mid-cap consumer-discretionary norms.

About F&F

F&F (에프앤에프, KOSPI:383220) is one of South Korea's most commercially successful fashion and apparel groups, headquartered in Seoul with roughly 1,500 employees across its corporate, brand, retail, and supply-chain functions. The company is best known internationally as the operating licensee of the MLB (Major League Baseball) lifestyle apparel and accessories brand for Korea, China, and the broader Asian region — a deal that has, over the past decade, transformed a sports-licensing arrangement into one of the highest-grossing streetwear franchises in Greater China and the dominant logo-driven youth brand in Korean department stores, duty-free channels, and tier-one Chinese malls. Alongside the MLB business, F&F operates Discovery Expedition (디스커버리 익스페디션), a Korean outdoor and technical apparel brand built under license from the Discovery Channel network and positioned to compete head-to-head with The North Face Korea, Kolon Sport, K2, and Black Yak in the high-margin Korean outdoor category; Stretch Angels, an in-house designed accessories and lifestyle brand most visible in Korean youth handbag and small-leather-goods segments; and Banila Co (바닐라코), a color-cosmetics brand acquired in 2019 that anchors F&F's expansion into K-beauty and the duty-free / cross-border-ecommerce channel into China and Southeast Asia. The portfolio composition matters because it changes what the company actually hires for: a single F&F headcount slot can sit in licensed-brand merchandising for MLB China, in technical outerwear development for Discovery Expedition, in K-beauty product management for Banila Co, or in the shared corporate platform (finance, IT, supply chain, retail operations) that supports all four brands at once. The corporate history is recent in its current form but rooted in a much older Korean apparel lineage. F&F traces back to 1972 and operated for decades inside what is today F&F Holdings (KOSPI:007700), the holding-company parent that retains controlling ownership of the operating subsidiary. In May 2021 the group executed a horizontal split (인적분할) under Korean corporate-restructuring law, separating the operating fashion businesses into a newly listed F&F (에프앤에프, ticker 383220) on the KOSPI main board and leaving F&F Holdings as the listed holding parent. The Kim Chang-soo (김창수) founding family controls the group through F&F Holdings, with the founder serving as chairman of the broader group and the next-generation Kim family members in senior operating positions across the brand portfolio. Candidates should understand that F&F is therefore a family-controlled Korean fashion group with public-market accountability through two separately listed tickers — the operating company (383220) where most hires actually work, and the holding parent (007700) that consolidates the family's economic interest. This is a structurally different governance picture from family-owned private fashion houses (Hansae, Handsome, certain LF Corp affiliates) and from Western-style listed apparel companies, and it shapes how strategic decisions, brand approvals, and capital allocation actually move through the organization. Commercially, the MLB China business is the single most important growth thesis. Since the early-2010s expansion under F&F's licensee rights, MLB-branded apparel and accessories — especially the bucket hats, monogram caps, crossbody bags, and hoodie franchises — have become one of the most visible foreign youth-streetwear brands in mainland Chinese tier-one cities, with hundreds of points of distribution across MLB and MLB Kids store networks, department-store concessions, and Tmall and Douyin e-commerce flagships. This has made Mandarin Chinese capability a real differentiator inside the F&F merchandising, planning, marketing, and retail-operations organizations, in addition to the Korean working language at HQ and the English needed for global supplier negotiations and Discovery / MLB licensor management. In the Korean outdoor category, Discovery Expedition has scaled into a top-tier brand competing with North Face Korea — a structurally crowded category where seasonal product launches, K-pop and K-drama celebrity placement, and department-store and outdoor-specialty retail placement determine quarterly performance. Banila Co plays in the export-oriented K-beauty cluster against AmorePacific, LG H&H Cosmetics, Cosmax / Kolmar Korea contract-manufactured indie brands, and Olive Young's private-label expansion. The talent comparison set candidates should benchmark against is LF Corp (formerly LG Fashion), Hansae, Shinsegae International, Hyungji Apparel, Kolon FnC, Handsome (Hyundai Department Store group), Samsung C&T Fashion Group, and increasingly the Korean affiliates of Anta Sports, FILA Korea, and Lululemon.

Application Process

1
Identify open roles on the F&F custom Korean-primary recruit portal
Identify open roles on the F&F custom Korean-primary recruit portal — F&F operates its own corporate recruiting site under the 채용 (chae-yong, recruitment) section linked from fnf.co.kr rather than using Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, or any global ATS, with cycle announcements amplified through Saramin (saramin.co.kr), JobKorea (jobkorea.co.kr), Wanted (wanted.co.kr), and increasingly LinkedIn for English-language roles tied to MLB China and Discovery international expansion.
2
Decide which track applies: the annual 신입 (sin-ip, new-graduate) gong-chae (公採,
Decide which track applies: the annual 신입 (sin-ip, new-graduate) gong-chae (公採, open recruitment) typically runs on a published schedule with a unified application window and synchronized start date for university bachelor's and master's hires, while 경력 (kyeong-ryeok, experienced hire) requisitions are posted on a rolling basis as specific brands (MLB Korea, MLB China, Discovery Expedition, Stretch Angels, Banila Co) or shared corporate functions (finance, IT, supply chain, retail operations) open headcount; the document burden, the aptitude test requirement, and the interview structure differ between the two and between brand verticals.
3
Prepare the 자기소개서 (jagi-sogaeseo) essay set in Korean
Prepare the 자기소개서 (jagi-sogaeseo) essay set in Korean — typically four to five prompts of 700 to 1,500 characters each covering motivation for F&F specifically (interviewers expect substantive engagement with the licensed-brand operating model and the post-2021 split structure), a project depth or commercial story, a failure-and-recovery narrative, and a values-fit prompt that maps to the company's published brand philosophy and growth thesis; recycled essays from other Korean fashion applications (LF, Hansae, Shinsegae International, Handsome) read as low-effort and are filtered out at the document screen.
4
Submit your CV (이력서), academic transcripts (성적증명서), graduation certificate or ex
Submit your CV (이력서), academic transcripts (성적증명서), graduation certificate or expected graduation document (졸업증명서), English-proficiency score (TOEIC, OPIc, or TOEIC Speaking are all accepted), and where applicable Mandarin Chinese proficiency score (HSK 5 or 6, or new HSK equivalent) before the cycle deadline; for design and merchandising roles attach a portfolio PDF or portfolio URL with seasonal mood boards, product line plans, range architecture work, retail visual merchandising decks, or any prior licensed-brand or streetwear-relevant project work.
5
Sit F&F's written aptitude test
Sit F&F's written aptitude test — a Korean conglomerate-style competency exam in the HMAT lineage (the Hyundai/Hanwha-style aptitude test family used across many large Korean groups, including SSAT-Samsung, GSAT-Samsung electronics affiliate, HMAT-Hyundai, LGAT-LG, and equivalents at LF, Shinsegae, and CJ) covering verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, problem-solving, situational judgment, and Korean general-knowledge sections; for design, merchandising, and brand-marketing roles a job-specific written component or case may be added on top of the general aptitude module. Weak aptitude scores gate candidates out before any human reads the essays.
6
Pass the document and aptitude screen, then prepare for a multi-round interview
Pass the document and aptitude screen, then prepare for a multi-round interview sequence: a 1차 (first-round) practical or job-fit interview with the hiring brand or function team where merchandising and design candidates present and defend a portfolio in Korean, planning candidates work through a numerical case, and corporate-function candidates discuss substantive prior project work; followed by a 2차 (final-round) executive interview with senior leadership focused on brand-fit, English and Mandarin capability for MLB China and Discovery international roles, willingness to commit to long-tenure Korean fashion-industry career arcs, and substantive engagement with the F&F operating model.
7
Complete a pre-employment health check (건강검진), reference verification, and where
Complete a pre-employment health check (건강검진), reference verification, and where required a background check after the conditional offer is extended; for retail-operations and store-management roles, expect deployment to specific brand store networks across Seoul, Busan, and the duty-free and department-store channels, while design, merchandising, and corporate functions are concentrated at the Seoul HQ and the brand creative offices.
8
Onboard through the F&F new-hire orientation that introduces the corporate struc
Onboard through the F&F new-hire orientation that introduces the corporate structure (operating company versus holding parent), the licensed-brand contractual constraints (MLB licensor approvals, Discovery licensor approvals, what the brand teams can and cannot decide unilaterally), and your function-specific induction; new gong-chae hires are typically rotated through an immersion period across more than one brand vertical before final desk assignment, which is one of the company's distinguishing onboarding choices versus pure-play single-brand fashion houses.

Resume Tips for F&F

recommended

Lead with quantified commercial fashion or retail experience — sell-through rate

Lead with quantified commercial fashion or retail experience — sell-through rates, gross margin contribution, range plan size, season-over-season growth, store-opening numbers, GMV on Tmall / Douyin / Coupang / 11Street / Naver Smart Store, ROAS on paid social, or licensed-brand merchandising depth signal genuine industry fluency to F&F screeners. Generic 'led marketing initiatives' phrasing is filtered out.

recommended

Mirror the Korean job-description vocabulary in your 자기소개서 and CV — terms like M

Mirror the Korean job-description vocabulary in your 자기소개서 and CV — terms like MD (merchandiser), 기획 (planning), VMD (visual merchandising), 디자인, 상품기획, 영업관리, 점포운영, 마케팅, 글로벌사업, 라이선스, 수입, OEM, ODM, 조닝, 시즌별 라인업 mapped to the posting language demonstrate that you understand the role rather than pasting a generic apparel résumé.

recommended

List English proficiency scores explicitly (TOEIC ≥850, OPIc IH+, TOEIC Speaking

List English proficiency scores explicitly (TOEIC ≥850, OPIc IH+, TOEIC Speaking 7+, or TOEFL iBT 100+) and Mandarin Chinese proficiency where applicable (HSK 5/6, new HSK 6, or equivalent) — MLB China business management, Discovery international licensor work, global supplier negotiations, and increasing cross-border ecommerce operations will not advance without documented language capability beyond Korean.

recommended

Highlight any prior contact with licensed-brand operating models, Major League B

Highlight any prior contact with licensed-brand operating models, Major League Baseball merchandising, Discovery Channel commercial work, K-beauty cross-border ecommerce, or competing Korean fashion houses (LF Corp, Hansae, Shinsegae International, Handsome, Samsung C&T Fashion, Kolon FnC) — F&F values candidates who already understand its competitive set and can land productively in a licensed-brand environment.

recommended

Demonstrate substantive engagement with the F&F portfolio in your motivation ess

Demonstrate substantive engagement with the F&F portfolio in your motivation essay — name specific MLB Korea or MLB China product franchises, Discovery Expedition seasonal launches, Stretch Angels collaborations, or Banila Co hero SKUs and articulate why they matter commercially; vague 'I love fashion' essays are filtered out as boilerplate.

recommended

Localize for the Korean labor market — list military service status (병역) for mal

Localize for the Korean labor market — list military service status (병역) for male candidates, Korean residency or work-authorization status, and any 정규직 (regular) versus 인턴 (intern) versus 계약직 (contract) distinctions clearly, because F&F reviewers scan for these signals to assess long-term retention and onboarding planning.

recommended

Trim Western résumé puffery — superlatives like 'leading,' 'world-class,' 'trans

Trim Western résumé puffery — superlatives like 'leading,' 'world-class,' 'transformational,' and 'visionary' read as low-credibility in Korean corporate screening; substitute concrete artifacts (range plans shipped, stores opened, GMV grown, licensor approvals secured, samples developed, factory audits passed) and verifiable metrics every time, and prefer understated, evidence-led phrasing aligned with Korean fashion industry voice.

recommended

Tailor the closing motivation paragraph specifically to F&F's actual portfolio a

Tailor the closing motivation paragraph specifically to F&F's actual portfolio and growth thesis — the MLB China runway, the Discovery Expedition outdoor positioning against North Face Korea, the Banila Co K-beauty cross-border opportunity, or the shared corporate-platform efficiency story — rather than generic 'I want to contribute to Korean fashion' language.

ATS System: F&F custom Korean recruit portal (fnf.co.kr 채용 section)

F&F operates its own custom-built Korean-primary recruiting portal under the 채용 (chae-yong, recruitment) section of the corporate site at fnf.co.kr — it is not Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, iCIMS, SmartRecruiters, or any global ATS. The portal handles cycle announcements, essay submission, document upload, portfolio upload for design and merchandising roles, aptitude-test scheduling, and interview status updates. Outside of formal gong-chae cycles, F&F also posts senior 경력 (experienced hire) requisitions on Saramin (saramin.co.kr), JobKorea (jobkorea.co.kr), Wanted (wanted.co.kr) — particularly for MLB China expat roles, brand director slots, and corporate-function leadership — and increasingly LinkedIn for English-primary global roles. Most external listings route candidates back to the F&F corporate site for the actual application. The interface is Korean-first; English-language support is partial and primarily targeted at the small subset of roles explicitly designated as English-primary or Mandarin-primary.

Watch the F&F corporate site 채용 section directly during the late-summer to autumn window when the annual 신입 gong-chae cycle most commonly opens, and subscribe to Saramin and JobKorea alerts for 'F&F' and '에프앤에프' to catch rolling 경력 reqs as they appear across brand verticals.
Create your portal account well before the cycle deadline — server load on the application closing night is significant for any large-cap Korean conglomerate cycle, and last-minute registration has cost candidates their submission window in past cycles across the Korean fashion sector.
Save every essay locally as you draft it; Korean recruit portals as a category have inconsistent autosave and session-timeout behavior, and there is no recovery once a deadline passes.
Upload PDFs with embedded fonts and selectable text — image-only scans of transcripts or certificates fail the document screen and trigger a request-for-resubmission that can miss the cutoff for tightly scheduled cycles. For portfolios, keep file size reasonable and provide both a PDF and a hosted URL fallback.
Reuse your single F&F account across cycles so recruiters can see continuity, but never reuse essay content from other Korean fashion applications (LF, Hansae, Shinsegae International, Handsome, Kolon FnC) — recruiters screen for recycled answers and treat them as a negative signal.
If a posting asks for an English résumé alongside the Korean CV, submit both — the Korean CV is graded by HR screeners and the English version is read by global-brand stakeholders, including potential MLB licensor counterparts and Discovery licensor counterparts for relevant roles.
For MLB China and other Mandarin-primary roles, include a Chinese-language CV (中文简历) in addition to the Korean and English versions; the brand China teams will read the Chinese document directly and discount candidates who only provide Korean.

Interview Culture

F&F interviews follow a multi-stage Korean conglomerate fashion architecture — a document and aptitude screen, a 1차 (first-round) practical or job-fit interview with the hiring brand or function team, and a 2차 (final-round) executive interview with senior leadership and sometimes a member of the C-suite or the founding family in operating roles. The first-round interview is rigorous and Korean-medium by default. Design candidates should expect to walk a portfolio in person, defend specific season choices, articulate the brand DNA distinction between MLB Korea / MLB China / Discovery Expedition / Stretch Angels / Banila Co, and show fluency in licensor-approval workflow constraints rather than pretending the brand teams have full creative autonomy. Merchandising and planning candidates get scenario questions on range architecture, depth-versus-breadth trade-offs, sell-through scenarios across department-store concession versus directly-operated retail versus duty-free versus cross-border ecommerce channels, and inventory risk management in licensed-brand contracts where minimum guarantees and royalty structures shape the economics. Marketing and brand-comms candidates are tested on K-pop / K-drama / KOL placement strategy, Tmall / Douyin / Xiaohongshu campaign architecture for the China business, and Korean department-store activation patterns. Finance, IT, supply-chain, and shared-corporate-platform candidates get standard analytical and case-based questions sized to the function. Behavioral questioning maps to F&F's published brand and growth philosophy and to a Korean conglomerate emphasis on persistence, rigor, and team continuity, so prepare structured stories with a clear obstacle, your specific actions, the result, and what you learned, framed in language that resonates with these values rather than generic Western competency-interview rubrics. The executive interview is where F&F diverges most from peer Korean fashion houses. Senior interviewers will probe whether you actually understand the licensed-brand operating model — the contractual relationship with Major League Baseball Properties, the contractual relationship with the Discovery Channel licensor, the constraints those licensors place on product, marketing, and channel decisions, and how F&F has nonetheless built an outsized commercial business inside those constraints — and whether you understand the post-2021 split between F&F (operating, KOSPI:383220) and F&F Holdings (parent, KOSPI:007700). Candidates who treat the licensed-brand model as ordinary apparel manufacturing consistently underperform candidates who can speak credibly about why a licensee model produces a specific economic and strategic profile. English capability is tested directly for any role touching MLB licensor management, Discovery licensor management, or global supplier negotiations — typically a 5 to 10 minute English segment within the executive interview where you answer questions about your motivation, your relevant experience, and a scenario question in English without translation support. For MLB China and Banila Co cross-border roles, Mandarin Chinese capability is tested in the same way, often with a parallel 5 to 10 minute Mandarin segment. Dress is conservative business formal with a stronger fashion-aware element than typical Korean conglomerate interviews — design and brand-marketing candidates in particular should treat what they wear as part of the interview, demonstrating taste and brand awareness without costuming. Punctuality and the Korean greeting protocol carry weight. Candidates report that follow-up timelines after the executive interview can stretch two to four weeks, particularly during gong-chae cycles when large cohorts are processed in parallel; silence is not necessarily a rejection, but it is reasonable to email the recruiter for a status update at the two-week mark. Offers are typically extended in writing through the recruit portal with a synchronized start date for new-graduate cohorts and individually negotiated start dates for experienced hires.

What F&F Looks For

Demonstrated commercial fashion or retail depth — merchandising, design, planning, retail operations, brand marketing, supply-chain, or licensed-brand experience with concrete project artifacts and quantified outcomes (sell-through, GMV, store openings, season-over-season growth, licensor approvals).
Korean professional fluency for HQ, brand, retail, and corporate-function roles, plus business-grade English for any role touching MLB licensor management, Discovery licensor management, global suppliers, or international expansion, plus Mandarin Chinese for MLB China, Banila Co cross-border, and Greater China regional roles — multi-language capability is a real differentiator and is tested in interview rather than assumed from a TOEIC or HSK score.
Substantive engagement with the licensed-brand operating model — candidates who can articulate why F&F's licensee economics produce a specific strategic profile, what the MLB and Discovery licensors approve and constrain, and how Banila Co's cross-border ecommerce thesis differs from the apparel-licensee playbook signal that they have done their homework.
Realistic understanding of the company's current commercial position — candidates who can speak credibly about the MLB China runway, the Discovery Expedition competitive position against North Face Korea / Kolon Sport / K2 / Black Yak, the Banila Co K-beauty thesis, the post-2021 horizontal split structure, and the broader Korean fashion competitive set (LF, Hansae, Shinsegae International, Handsome, Samsung C&T Fashion) signal they can think strategically rather than recite slogans.
Quantitative problem-solving and aptitude-test performance — the HMAT-style written competency exam is weighted in screening and weak scores end candidacies regardless of CV strength.
Cultural alignment with a family-controlled Korean conglomerate operating model — Kim Chang-soo founder family controls the group through F&F Holdings, and the operating decisions inside the brand verticals reflect that governance reality; candidates who understand and can work productively inside that model are valued, while candidates who expect Western-style flat-decision autonomy struggle.
Long-term commitment signal — F&F invests heavily in brand-vertical rotation during onboarding and rewards multi-year career arcs across more than one brand inside the portfolio; candidates who read as flight risks toward Western luxury houses, foreign sportswear affiliates (Nike Korea, Adidas Korea, Lululemon Korea), or unrelated industries are screened down.
Brand and aesthetic fluency — design, merchandising, marketing, and retail candidates should be able to discuss specific seasonal launches, hero SKUs, KOL collaborations, and competitor activations with the precision a working professional in the category would use, not the surface-level descriptions a casual consumer would offer.

Frequently Asked Questions

What ATS does F&F use to manage applications?

F&F operates its own custom-built Korean-primary recruiting portal under the 채용 (chae-yong, recruitment) section of the corporate site at fnf.co.kr. It is not Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, iCIMS, SmartRecruiters, or any global ATS. The portal handles cycle announcements, essay submission, document upload, portfolio upload for design and merchandising roles, aptitude-test scheduling, and interview status updates. Outside of formal gong-chae windows the company also posts senior 경력 (experienced hire) reqs on Saramin, JobKorea, Wanted, and LinkedIn — particularly for MLB China expat roles and brand director slots — with most postings routing back to the corporate site for the actual application. The interface is Korean-first; English support is partial.

Do I need to be fluent in Korean to apply to F&F?

Practically yes for HQ, brand, retail-operations, and most corporate-function roles. The application essays, the written aptitude test, and most interview rounds are in Korean. English is required on top of Korean for any role touching MLB licensor management, Discovery licensor management, global supplier negotiations, and international expansion. Mandarin Chinese is required on top of Korean and English for MLB China business management, Banila Co cross-border ecommerce, and Greater China regional roles — HSK 5 or 6 (or new HSK 6) is a meaningful screening signal. A small number of senior global-facing roles can run primarily in English or Mandarin, but those are exceptions and they still expect Korean working exposure.

When does F&F run its 신입 gong-chae new-graduate cycle?

F&F runs an annual 신입 gong-chae cycle on a published schedule announced through the corporate site, Saramin, and JobKorea. The exact timing varies year to year but historically clusters in the late-summer to autumn window for an early-spring synchronized start date. Outside the gong-chae window, 경력 (experienced) requisitions are posted on a rolling basis as specific brand or function teams open headcount, and there is no fixed annual cadence for those. Watch the corporate site directly and set Saramin and JobKorea alerts for 'F&F' and '에프앤에프' to catch openings as they appear.

What is the relationship between F&F and F&F Holdings?

F&F Holdings (KOSPI:007700) is the listed holding-company parent and F&F (KOSPI:383220) is the listed operating subsidiary that runs the actual fashion businesses — MLB Korea / MLB China, Discovery Expedition, Stretch Angels, and Banila Co. The current two-ticker structure was created in May 2021 when the group executed a horizontal split (인적분할) under Korean corporate-restructuring law, separating the operating fashion businesses from the holding parent. The Kim Chang-soo founding family controls the group through F&F Holdings, and most operational hiring sits in F&F (383220), where the brand verticals, design, merchandising, planning, retail operations, marketing, supply chain, and shared corporate functions actually live. Candidates almost always join the operating company rather than the holding parent.

Is the MLB business owned by F&F or licensed?

Licensed. F&F is the operating licensee of the MLB (Major League Baseball) lifestyle apparel and accessories brand for Korea, China, and the broader Asian region under contractual rights granted by Major League Baseball Properties. F&F does not own the MLB trademark — it pays royalties and operates inside contractual constraints set by the licensor — but it has built one of the most commercially successful licensed-brand operations in the global fashion industry, particularly in mainland Chinese tier-one cities where MLB-branded bucket hats, monogram caps, crossbody bags, and hoodies have become a dominant youth-streetwear franchise. Candidates interviewing for any MLB-related role should understand the licensor relationship, the approval workflow, and the constraints it places on product, marketing, and channel decisions.

How important is Mandarin Chinese for F&F roles?

Genuinely important for the MLB China business and meaningful for Banila Co cross-border ecommerce and Greater China regional roles. The MLB China operation is one of F&F's largest commercial engines, with hundreds of points of distribution across the MLB and MLB Kids store networks, department-store concessions, Tmall and Douyin flagships, and Xiaohongshu marketing presence. Korean is still the working language at HQ, but candidates who can operate professionally in Mandarin — read Chinese supplier documents, run KOL briefings in Chinese, attend retail walks in Shanghai or Beijing, and process Tmall and Douyin operations data — are materially more competitive for any role tied to Greater China. HSK 5 / HSK 6 / new HSK 6 scores should be listed explicitly on the CV alongside Korean and English.

What is the F&F aptitude test like and how do I prepare?

F&F uses a Korean conglomerate-style competency exam in the HMAT lineage — the same family of tests used in slightly different forms by Hyundai (HMAT), Hanwha, LG (LGAT), Samsung (SSAT/GSAT), and most large Korean groups including LF Corp, Shinsegae, and CJ. Expect verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, problem-solving, situational judgment, and Korean general-knowledge sections, with a job-specific written component or case for design, merchandising, and brand-marketing roles. Prepare with standard Korean test-prep materials available through Saramin and JobKorea publishers, work timed practice sets repeatedly, and budget the test slot in your calendar — weak aptitude scores end candidacies before any human reviews your essays, regardless of CV strength.

What brands does F&F operate and which one will I work on?

F&F operates MLB Korea and MLB China (licensed Major League Baseball lifestyle apparel and accessories — the largest single brand engine, particularly in Greater China), Discovery Expedition (licensed outdoor and technical apparel competing head-to-head with The North Face Korea, Kolon Sport, K2, and Black Yak), Stretch Angels (in-house designed accessories and lifestyle brand, most visible in Korean youth handbag and small-leather-goods segments), and Banila Co (color cosmetics, acquired in 2019 to anchor the K-beauty cross-border ecommerce thesis into China and Southeast Asia). New gong-chae hires are typically rotated through more than one brand vertical during onboarding before final desk assignment; experienced hires are typically slotted into a specific brand or shared corporate function from day one based on the requisition.

How does F&F compensation compare to other Korean fashion companies?

F&F compensation sits in the upper-mid tier of Korean fashion industry — competitive with LF Corp, Hansae, Shinsegae International, Handsome, Kolon FnC, Hyungji Apparel, and Samsung C&T Fashion Group, with structured base, performance bonus, and benefits that reflect KOSPI mid-cap consumer-discretionary norms. The company does not publish bands publicly. Where F&F differentiates is on cross-vertical career mobility — the multi-brand portfolio creates real opportunities to rotate from MLB Korea to MLB China to Discovery to Banila Co across a multi-year arc, which experienced employees value. Total-comp transparency is provided once an offer is extended.

Does F&F hire international candidates without Korean work eligibility?

Selectively, primarily for senior brand-management, MLB China commercial leadership, global-licensor liaison, and specialized creative roles where the company actively benefits from international background. The default expectation is that candidates either hold Korean work authorization (F-series visa, permanent residency, or Korean citizenship) or qualify for a sponsored E-7 specialty work visa. The application essays and interviews still default to Korean unless the specific role is explicitly designated as English-primary or Mandarin-primary. Foreign candidates without Korean professional fluency should target the small number of explicitly English-primary or Mandarin-primary global-brand roles rather than the general gong-chae cycle, and should expect the Korean-language barrier to remain a meaningful day-to-day reality even after onboarding.

What should I include in a portfolio for F&F design or merchandising roles?

For design candidates, include seasonal mood boards, range architecture work, technical drawings, color and material exploration, finished product photography from prior commercial collections, and any licensed-brand or streetwear-relevant project work that shows you can design inside contractual brand constraints rather than from a blank page. For merchandising and planning candidates, include range plans, sell-through analyses, seasonal line-up decks, channel-mix economics, and any prior work involving department-store concession, directly-operated retail, duty-free, or cross-border ecommerce. For brand marketing candidates, include campaign decks with KOL placements, Tmall / Douyin / Xiaohongshu activations for any prior Greater China work, and Korean department-store and SNS activation examples. Provide both a PDF and a hosted URL fallback, keep file sizes reasonable for the portal upload limits, and label Korean-language and English-language sections clearly.

Key Takeaways

About F&F

Application Process

Resume Tips for F&F

Lead with quantified commercial fashion or retail experience — sell-through rate

Mirror the Korean job-description vocabulary in your 자기소개서 and CV — terms like M

List English proficiency scores explicitly (TOEIC ≥850, OPIc IH+, TOEIC Speaking

Highlight any prior contact with licensed-brand operating models, Major League B

Demonstrate substantive engagement with the F&F portfolio in your motivation ess

Localize for the Korean labor market — list military service status (병역) for mal

Trim Western résumé puffery — superlatives like 'leading,' 'world-class,' 'trans

Tailor the closing motivation paragraph specifically to F&F's actual portfolio a

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