NONFICTION

What NONFICTION does

NONFICTION is a Seoul-based lifestyle beauty brand founded in 2019 that designs, manufactures, and sells premium fragrances and body care products formulated around the dual value proposition of "healthy ingredients" and narrative-driven product storytelling. Its core product portfolio is anchored in perfumes/fragrances, with a complementary body care line that extends the brand experience beyond scent into adjacent personal-care SKUs. The company is privately held and operates as a Korean corporation (주)논픽션 with its headquarters at 17 Jongno 3-gil, D-Tower D1, 15F, Jongno-gu, Seoul, and reports a headcount of 88 employees.

The company's go-to-market is predominantly direct-to-consumer. In South Korea, it operates brand-controlled Signature Stores across premium Seoul neighborhoods (Hannam, Seongsu, Sinsa, Samcheong) and a Bukchon gift shop concept, plus a flagship-in-department-store presence at Shinsegae Centum City in Busan. A separate duty-free counter operates inside Lotte Duty Free's Myeongdong main store, serving international travelers. Internationally, NONFICTION distributes through online and offline retail partners across Europe, the Americas, Hong Kong, and Japan. Pricing is not publicly disclosed, and the revenue model is one-time product sales (no subscription or licensing revenue is indicated in the source material).

Operationally, NONFICTION is currently in an active scaling phase, with open requisitions across procurement, retail training, product marketing (cosmetic product planning/development), QA&RA leadership, and store-level sales and management roles. The company is building internal capabilities in supply chain, quality assurance, retail training, and product innovation — a profile consistent with a brand moving from founder-led boutique retail toward a more institutionalized consumer goods company preparing for sustained multi-channel and multi-region growth.

Name

NONFICTION

Legal name

(주)논픽션

Website

https://nonfiction.career.greetinghr.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

NONFICTION is a Seoul-based lifestyle beauty brand founded in 2019 that sells premium perfumes and body care products through its own signature stores, duty-free retail, and global online/offline partners across Europe, the Americas, Hong Kong, and Japan.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Seoul

HQ country

South Korea

HQ region

Asia

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Product Sales: Sales of lifestyle beauty products including perfumes and body care items through owned retail stores, duty-free shops, and online/offline retail partners globally.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Core offering

NONFICTION (논픽션) is a Seoul-based lifestyle beauty brand that designs, develops, and sells perfumes (fragrances) and body care products featuring healthy ingredients and narrative-driven brand storytelling. Products are sold directly to consumers through company-operated Signature Stores in Seoul and Busan, duty-free shop locations, and international online/offline retail partners across Europe, North America, Hong Kong, and Japan.

Product overview

NONFICTION is a Seoul-based lifestyle beauty brand established in 2019, offering a unified portfolio of premium fragrances and body care products. The core products consist of perfumes and body care items featuring healthy ingredients and compelling brand narratives. The company distributes through multiple channels including direct-to-consumer via Signature Store retail locations (Hannam, Seongsu, Sinsa, Samcheong, Gift Shop), department store partnerships (Shinsegae Centum City in Busan), and duty-free operations (Lotte Duty Free Myeongdong). Globally, products are available through online and offline retail partners across Europe, North America, Hong Kong, and Japan.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• 논픽션 Signature Store: Brand's retail store concept for direct customer engagement.
• 논픽션 Duty Free
• 논픽션 기프트샵

Products and services

• NONFICTION Fragrances Luxury perfumes featuring healthy ingredients and narrative-driven brand storytelling, sold to individual consumers through Signature Stores, duty-free retail, and online/offline retail partners across Korea, Europe, North America, Hong Kong, and Japan.
• NONFICTION Body Care Body care products formulated with healthy ingredients, complementing the brand's fragrance line and extending the lifestyle beauty experience to consumers globally.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Lotte Duty Free (롯데면세점)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNONFICTION operates duty-free retail at Lotte Duty Free Myeongdong branch, selling fragrance and body care products to international travelers.
• Shinsegae Department Store (신세계백화점)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNONFICTION operates a signature store at Shinsegae Department Store Centum City branch in Busan.
• Global Online/Offline Retail PartnerscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThe company partners with online and offline retail distributors to reach consumers in Europe, Americas, Hong Kong, and Japan.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Innisfree: Amorepacific-owned K-beauty brand with global retail and ingredient-led positioning. Comparable as a Korean beauty competitor with broader mass-market reach; useful for sizing the gap between indie K-beauty and conglomerate K-beauty.
• Sulwhasoo: Flagship premium Korean beauty brand from Amorepacific, offering fragrance-adjacent skincare and body care with a heritage Asian-ingredient narrative. Comparable as a Korean premium-beauty benchmark with global department-store and duty-free distribution.
• Le Labo: Niche fragrance and body care brand (Estée Lauder-owned) famous for narrative-led product storytelling and lifestyle boutique retail. Closely comparable to NONFICTION's "healthy ingredients + meaningful narrative" positioning at a global scale.
• Diptyque: Heritage fragrance and body care brand with boutique-led retail and a curated lifestyle narrative. Comparable on premium fragrance + body care portfolio and the experiential store concept NONFICTION uses in Seoul and Busan.
• Laneige: Amorepacific-owned Korean skincare and beauty brand with strong global e-commerce and duty-free presence. Comparable on Korean-origin beauty brand leveraging duty-free (Lotte) and international digital channels — the same distribution mix NONFICTION uses.
• Aesop: Premium narrative-driven fragrance, skin, and body care brand (Estée Lauder-owned) with a global signature-store retail model. Comparable as a benchmark for the upscale, story-led retail experience NONFICTION is building, though materially larger and more global.
• Byredo: Luxury fragrance and body care house (Puig-owned) built around brand storytelling and selective retail distribution. Comparable on narrative-led positioning and body-care/fragrance portfolio mix that NONFICTION pursues.

Emerging players

• COSRX: Korean indie skincare brand that scaled globally through digital and retail partnerships with a hero-product narrative. Comparable as a Korean indie brand that built international distribution without owned global retail — the path NONFICTION is taking.

Direct peers

• Tamburins: Seoul-based lifestyle beauty/fragrance brand with a signature store-led retail concept, premium positioning, and international distribution. Most direct comparable to NONFICTION in category, brand narrative, and GTM motion; widely reported as a target of global beauty strategics.

Others

• Maison Margiela Replica: Luxury fragrance line whose "memory/narrative" storytelling approach overlaps with NONFICTION's narrative-fragrance positioning. Comparable as a category peer in lifestyle fragrance rather than as a retail or distribution competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nonfictionbeauty

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NONFICTION