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An advertisement for Captain Q featuring comedian Lee Seon-min [Lotte Chilsung Beverage]
An advertisement for Captain Q featuring comedian Lee Seon-min [Lotte Chilsung Beverage]

An office worker in their 30s known only by the surname Kim has been checking a convenience store app every day lately — hunting for Captain Q, the legendary Yangju whisky whose internet fame rests on the meme that it "knocks you out two days after you drink it." The search has proven nearly impossible. Lotte Chilsung Beverage supplied roughly 10,000 units each to GS25 and CU, but the initial stock sold out almost immediately. A limited-edition set of 30,000 called "Broken Captain Q Time Machine" released recently is also running short. The frenzy is not driven solely by the 40- and 50-somethings who remember the drink from the first time around: more than half of buyers have been in their 20s and 30s.

The Captain Q shortage is one snapshot of a retro wave growing hotter and broader across generations. The fashion world is seeing a revival of Y2K staples — low-rise jeans, capri pants and halter tops that were popular among mothers two decades ago — with transaction volumes for Y2K items on fashion platforms surging to between two and nine times last year's levels. Nostalgia-era bag brands Jansport and Eastpak have also staged a striking comeback.

Many people in their 20s and 30s have also fallen for vinyl records and turntables. A limited-edition turntable priced at 2.5 million won ($1,860) on one platform sold out in three seconds. LPs by late singers Kim Kwang-seok and Yoo Jae-ha, icons of the 1980s and '90s, change hands for 200,000 to 400,000 won, while rare first pressings have fetched as much as 10 million won. Meanwhile, girl groups A2O LITE and Kiki, whose concepts evoke the early 2000s, are drawing wide followings.

What is driving Generation X, the MZ generation and even Generation Alpha into the arms of retro nostalgia?

For the full story on the retro wave, visit the link below.

https://biz.heraldcorp.com/article/10928786

Han Yu-ju, a character from the drama series "Coffee Prince" [MBC broadcast screen capture]
Han Yu-ju, a character from the drama series "Coffee Prince" [MBC broadcast screen capture]

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