South Korean fashion platform Musinsa has applied for a preliminary review to list on the main Kospi market, taking a formal step toward a potential initial public offering.

Musinsa submitted the application to the Korea Exchange on Monday afternoon, the company said. The preliminary review is a standard first stage in the Korean listing process, in which the exchange assesses whether a company meets the quantitative and qualitative requirements to list on the Kospi or the tech-heavy Kosdaq before a formal listing application can proceed.

According to Musinsa, the review will allow the company to determine whether it meets the requirements for a listing and whether going public would be beneficial. The company said it is considering an IPO as one way to raise funds for its global expansion.

Founder and CEO Cho Man-ho and 26 other shareholders currently hold a combined 54.2 percent stake in the company. According to a Korea Exchange disclosure, Musinsa plans to have about 227.8 million shares outstanding if it goes public, including 26.6 million shares to be offered to investors. The shares have a par value of 100 won each.

Investment banking industry estimates put Musinsa's potential valuation at between 8 trillion won ($5.9 billion) and 10 trillion won. If the listing proceeds, Musinsa is expected to be one of South Korea's biggest IPOs in the first half of 2027. A listing of that scale would place Musinsa among the larger Korean technology and consumer-internet companies to go public in recent years, a cohort in which e-commerce and platform businesses have been prominent contributors to the domestic IPO market.

Musinsa began in 2001 as an online community for sneaker enthusiasts before growing into one of South Korea's largest fashion platforms. Its businesses now include fashion marketplace Musinsa Store, lifestyle platform 29CM and clothing brand Musinsa Standard. The company's growth tracks a broader rise of Korean fashion and lifestyle brands overseas, aided by global interest in Korean pop culture and the overseas reach of Korean e-commerce players.

In recent years, the company has expanded beyond its online roots, opening more physical stores in Korea while stepping up efforts to bring Korean fashion brands to overseas markets.

Musinsa reported consolidated revenue of 1.47 trillion won in 2025, up 18.1 percent from a year earlier. The company posted record first-half revenue of 821.7 billion won this year, up 22.5 percent from a year earlier, driven by the expansion of its offline and overseas businesses.

Operating profit, however, fell 11.2 percent to 52.3 billion won as costs increased. Exports rose to 37.2 billion won, nine times the amount recorded during the same period last year.

Despite taking the first formal step toward an IPO, Musinsa has not committed to going public. The company said it will use the preliminary review to assess both whether it meets listing requirements and whether a listing would ultimately benefit the business. The pace of any subsequent steps, including a formal listing application, will depend on the outcome of the review and the company's own decision on whether to proceed.