What Is Post Archive Faction (PAF)? Dongjoon Lim’s Seoul Label
What is Post Archive Faction? Post Archive Faction, better known as PAF, is the Seoul label Dongjoon Lim launched in 2018. Collections arrive as numbered versions that treat clothes like evolving product systems. This explainer covers the brand story for shoppers mapping newer Korean technical fashion.
Cover photo: lumoplank — Dongdaemun Design Plaza architecture in Seoul — CC0. Also on Wikimedia Commons. Resized for web. Seoul design-architecture mood for PAF’s product-design thinking; not a PAF storefront or garment shot.
PAF sits in the recent Seoul wave next to the wider Asian context in our Asian Streetwear Guide.
Dongjoon Lim and the 2018 Launch
The LVMH Prize profile says Dongjoon Lim was born in Seoul in 1992, studied industrial and spatial design at Hongik University from 2012 to 2016, worked as a UX designer, then became a self-trained menswear designer. He launched POST ARCHIVE FACTION in 2018.
Vogue adds the co-founder story: Lim met Sookyo Jeong through campus football, explained he had vision but not pattern skill, and asked Jeong to help. They co-founded PAF in 2018. Lim’s early driver was blunt: make product, starting from T-shirts, then push into weirder self-designed garments.
Versions, Not Mood Boards
LVMH Prize copy says PAF explores new structural formulas and presents collections as versions that evolve over years. It dates a March 2019 2.0 showcase in Seoul, an October 2019 3.0 preview in Tokyo, and a January 2020 3.1 showroom during Men’s Paris Fashion Week for Autumn/Winter 2020. The numbering is the branding: iteration over seasonal slogan theater.
In Vogue, Lim says the work is rooted in product design rather than fashion with a capital F, and that he thinks of what they make as a uniform. Panelling, contrasting textures, and technical outerwear language made the brand readable in cities from Seoul to New York without needing a heritage house myth.
LVMH Prize, Stockists, and Pitti
PAF was a semi-finalist for the 2021 LVMH Prize, per the official Prize page. Vogue’s interview treats that moment as both honor and hardship during post-pandemic pressure. The same piece lists stockists such as Dover Street Market, Slam Jam, Ssense, and LN-CC, and notes collaborations including Off-White outerwear for Autumn/Winter 2022 and a project with On.
Vogue also frames PAF’s Pitti Uomo guest-designer appearance as only the second South Korean brand in that slot after Juun.J in January 2016. That pairing is useful on a timeline: Juun.J for Paris-tailoring Seoul export; PAF for newer structural techwear thinking.
Why PAF Matters for Asian Streetwear Shoppers
PAF explains a 2018-and-after Seoul generation that arrives through product systems, version numbers, and technical construction. If older Asian streetwear stories start in 1990s Harajuku shops, PAF is how a UX-and-industrial-design path enters the same conversation decades later.
For more reading, see the Asian Streetwear Guide and What Is Streetwear? 15 Streetwear Outfit Ideas.
FAQ
What is Post Archive Faction (PAF)?
Post Archive Faction, often shortened to PAF, is a Seoul label launched in 2018 by Dongjoon Lim. It presents collections as evolving numbered versions and focuses on structural, product-design-led garments.
Who founded PAF?
Dongjoon Lim is the designer named on the LVMH Prize page. Vogue’s interview also credits co-founder Sookyo Jeong, who brought pattern and production skill when Lim was still learning construction.
When was PAF founded?
2018, per the LVMH Prize profile and Vogue. Early public milestones include a March 2019 2.0 showcase in Seoul and later Tokyo and Paris calendar steps.
What does the version numbering mean?
LVMH Prize copy says collections are presented as versions that evolve over the years (2.0, 3.0, 3.1, and so on), signaling iterative product development rather than mood-only seasonal themes.
Was PAF in the LVMH Prize?
Yes. The official LVMH Prize page lists Dongjoon Lim / POST ARCHIVE FACTION as a semi-finalist of the 2021 LVMH Prize.