The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Product decision · 2018–2026
MULA, operator of Korean athleisure brand Mulawear, saw rehabilitation abolished in 2026
A first-generation Korean athleisure brand hit ₩30bn in annual sales, then lost ₩33.5bn and saw its recovery plan lapse — procedure abolished in 2026.
MULA (뮬라) · 2026-06-25
What happened
MULA (뮬라) ran Mulawear (뮬라웨어), a first-generation Korean athleisure brand that reached annual sales of about ₩30 billion in 2018 and was counted among the country's top athleisure names alongside Xexymix and Andar.
Losses then stacked up — about ₩33.5 billion cumulatively from 2020 to 2023 — and after a failed search for a new owner, MULA applied for corporate rehabilitation in January 2025. The Seoul Rehabilitation Court abolished the procedure on 25 June 2026 because no recovery plan had been submitted and it judged liquidation value higher than going-concern value.
Why it happened
- The brand kept losing money from 2020 onward, so the losses were structural, not a single bad season, and there was no equity cushion left to fund a turnaround.
- Competition intensified just as it weakened — Andar, Xexymix and global entrant Lululemon all took share in the domestic athleisure market.
- A rehabilitation plan was never filed, and once the court found liquidation value higher than going-concern value, the procedure was abolished.
The lesson
A brand that wins on a category it helped invent still has to fund the next phase — MULA's losses never stopped, no buyer appeared, and a planless rehabilitation left liquidation as the only way out.
Aftermath
MULA (뮬라), operator of Korean athleisure brand Mulawear, applied for corporate rehabilitation in January 2025 after cumulative losses of about ₩33.5 billion from 2020 to 2023 and a failed search for a new owner. The Seoul Rehabilitation Court abolished the procedure on 25 June 2026, ruling that no recovery plan had been submitted and that liquidation value exceeded going-concern value. Administration was led by CEO and administrator Cho Hyun-su. The abolition does not itself declare bankruptcy, but the industry weighed liquidation as the likely outcome as the online store wound down.
Sources
- Apparel News — Seoul Rehabilitation Court abolishes MULA's rehabilitation procedure (Jun 2026)
- Dailian — ₩30bn-sales Mulawear falls too: athleisure 'separating wheat from chaff' (Jul 2026)
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