K-POP BANG

Korea’s coolest custom car outfit is Peaches in Seoul. Felix Page sees why 

- Felix Page

Peaches describes itself as a "lifestyle fashion brand" rather than an automotive enthusiast hub, and certainly the beflamed baseball caps and faux-graffitied sweatshirts on its website point to its prevailing ambition to capture a share of Korea's burgeoning skatewear scene. But with its roots in racing and huge global support from the petrolhead community, it has quickly become the centre of Korea's nascent custom car scene.

The buzz is evident at the brand's Seoul headquarters - a sort of hybrid between tuning garage, bar, merchandise shop and cafe - not dissimilar to Duke of London in west London. The outlandish Murciélago parked outside speaks to the brand's affinity for individuality and its vehement disregard for established custom car conventions, but this is not a market where modifying cars to such extremes is a common practice, chief creative officer Sangwook Corey Park explains, as we survey the site from the rooftop basketball court: "If you go beyond the [factory] specification, then you have to register and get it certified to drive on the public roads. If you want to add a wide-body kit or change the wheels, then you have to go to the registration office. It's really strict." It's like the UK's IVA process on steroids. New exhaust? That'll need checking by the officials. Likewise shorter springs, chunky splitters and aftermarket lighting enhancements'- mainstays of the Western tuner scene.