How A Shoe Company Cracked The K-Pop Code And Why Malaysian CARATs Are Eating It Up

Skechers Malaysia’s refreshed Court Classics Hotshot collection, fronted by SEVENTEEN’s DK, SEUNGKWAN, and DINO, is less a celebrity endorsement and more a full retail experience — member-specific colourways, in-store standee hunts, and a limited-edition photocard for anyone spending RM350 or more

Skechers

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Skechers didn’t just sign three K-pop idols and call it a day.

When the Malaysian arm of the global footwear giant unveiled its refreshed Court Classics Hotshot collection earlier this week, it brought something more calculated than a pretty campaign poster — it brought a system designed to get fans off their phones and into stores.

The collection features DK, SEUNGKWAN, and DINO of SEVENTEEN, three members of the 13-piece South Korean group that has spent the better part of a decade building one of the most dedicated fanbases in K-pop.

Their fans — called CARATs (the name means “fans are the diamonds that make the group shine”) — are not casual consumers.

They collect, they hunt, they spend.

Skechers, it seems, knows this.

The Shoes First

To be fair, the product holds up on its own.

The men’s Skechers Slip-ins: Court Classics Hotshot — priced at RM319 — is a clean, court-inspired sneaker built around the brand’s slip-on technology, duraleather and suede upper, and Air-Cooled Memory Foam insole.

The women’s Court Classics Hotshot comes in at RM299, swapping the slip-in mechanism for Heel Pillow technology and a slightly more streamlined silhouette.

Three colourways each.

Nothing outrageous.

The kind of sneaker that works with jeans on a Tuesday or a night out on a Friday — which is precisely the point.

Then the Machine Kicks In

Here’s where it gets interesting: Skechers didn’t stop at putting DK, SEUNGKWAN, and DINO on a campaign visual.

Each member was assigned a colourway — DK in Black White, SEUNGKWAN in White Black, DINO in Light Gray Blue — a detail that means nothing to a casual shopper and everything to a CARAT who has a favourite.

Then came the in-store hunt.

Standees of all three members are placed at selected Skechers concept stores nationwide, each location featuring a different member.

Fans are encouraged to find them, photograph them, and post on social media.

And then, the closer: spend RM350 in-store and walk out with a limited-edition folding photocard featuring all three.

One per receipt, while stocks last.

The RM350 Question

The shoes cost between RM299 and RM319, and the photocard threshold sits at RM350.

That gap — roughly RM31 to RM51 — is a nudge, the kind that turns a single purchase into a browsing session, and a browsing session into a second item in the basket.

A pair of socks, an insole and a second pair for a friend.

It’s a retail mechanic as old as loyalty programmes, dressed up in K-pop photocard clothing, and it will almost certainly work.

What Skechers has built isn’t just a celebrity endorsement — it’s a scavenger hunt, a collectible drop, and a social media activation in one, the kind of campaign that fills stores on a weekday and generates organic content the brand never had to pay for.

The collection runs until 22 March at selected Skechers concept stores, including Pavilion Bukit Jalil, Pavilion KL, Suria KLCC Mall, The Exchange TRX Mall, and 1 Utama Shopping Centre — and online at skechers.com.my.

CARATs already know, everyone else is catching up.