Mark Gong, a 28-year-old designer, experienced a massive business surge after Blackpink’s Jennie wore his dachshund-print T-shirt on February 24, 2025. His Shanghai-based label, Markgong, has since scaled to approximately $1 million in annual revenue by blending high-fashion ambition with internet-driven virality.
How 30,000 dog-print T-shirts built a million-dollar business
The trajectory of Markgong changed in a single afternoon. According to the report, when Mark Gong discovered Blackpink's Jennie was photographed in his cotton tee featuring six dachshunds wearing pearl necklaces, he immediately increased his supply . After an initial order of 500 extra units sold out instantly, Gong scaled up to 2,000, eventually moving 30,000 of the specific dog-print shirts.
This explosion in demand highlights a broader shift in how modern luxury is built. Rather than relying on traditional fashion houses, a new cohort of "returnee" designers—those who studied at institutions like New York’s Parsons School of Design before returning to China—are leveraging the global reach of K-pop to bypass traditional gatekeepers. For Mark Gong, the T-shirts now account for roughly 35% of his total business revenue.
From the 2025 Oscars to K-pop stars: The strategy of 'daily wear'
Mark Gong does not believe in the power of magazine editorials to drive sales. instead, he focuses on the "paparazzi effect," where celebrities are seen in pieces during their everyday lives. As reported, this strategy extended to dressing Blackpink’s Lisa in a tuxedo dress for the 2025 Oscars, cemetning the brand's status among Asian A-listers .
The process is a calculated ladder: Gong first provides elaborate stage costumes for performances to build trust and brand awareness. Once a relationship is established with the star and their stylist, he transitions them into "daily wear" pieces. This approach ensures the clothes feel relatable and accessible to the "Gong Girls," the brand's dedicated fanbase, rather than feeling like distant art pieces inspired by obscure paintings.
Navigating the 70% return rate of Tmall and the IAMP Mall flagship
Scaling a digital business in China comes with unique volatiltiy. Mark Gong notes that while direct-to-consumer sales make up 60-70% of his revenue, tracking exact online figures is difficult because return rates on the Alibaba-owned Tmall platform can reach as high as 70%.
To counter this digital instability, Markgong opened a physical flagship store in Shanghai’s IAMP Mall in collaboration with the incubator Labelhood. this space allows the designer to move beyond the viral T-shirt and showcase higher-end, less commercial items , such as sequin-laden pieces and pastel puffy dresses. By providing a place for customers to try on these complex garments, Gong is attempting to diversify his brand identity beyond the "dog shirt" fame.
Expanding to 260 SKUs and partnering with Purple PR for the West
While Markgong currently maintains 60 wholesale stockists in China, the brand is now aggressively targeting the US and European markets. To prepare for this expansion, Mark Gong has increased his collection from 160 to 260 SKUs to offer Western buyers and stylists a wider variety of aesthetic angles.
To facilitate this move, the label has signed with Purple PR in the United States to manage VIP dressing and distribution. Interestingly, Gong finds the cost of production in Shanghai to be a competitive advantage; his runway shows cost around $30,000 (RMB 200,000), a fraction of what similar productions cost in Europe, allowing him more capital to invest in global growth. however, it remains unclear exactly which European cities or specific retail partners Purple PR is targeting for the first wave of the brand's Western rollout.
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