MINNEAPOLIS — The University of Minnesota bookstore got a lesson in the global appeal of K-Pop in the past few days.
Fans of Jin, a South Korean pop star and member of the boy band BTS, spotted him wearing a maroon University of Minnesota 'Block M' sweatshirt for a few seconds of his latest music video and within hours, the requests started coming in.
"We've even had some customers coming in asking for the sweatshirt," said bookstore director, Neil Olness, who was alerted to the sweatshirt shortly after the music video was released three days ago. "Some have been pretty persistent, checking with us every day. We were just really surprised that an international star would be wearing a vintage Minnesota sweatshirt."
Though the design was instantly familiar to Minnesota fans of the K-Pop star, it didn't take long for Olness and his team to realize that the specific sweatshirt Jin wore in the video isn't readily available right now.
"I think it's from the early 2000's," Olness said, "We haven't been able to narrow it down but it's 20-plus years old, is what we're thinking."
Because the University of Minnesota still owns the license to the style, he says it is now working with vendor, Champion, to recreate the viral look.
"Everybody wants to know when we're getting it in stock and it is a little defeating knowing we don't have it right now, but we're working hard to get it in store," Olness said. "And we should have it in a few weeks so that we can give fans what they want."
It's a similar story to what unfolded several years ago, when a vintage Minnesota Science Museum sweatshirt appeared on the hit Netflix series, Stranger Things, leading to viral demand that the museum was eventually able to capitalize on.
"With Stranger Things, we really saw what is possible," he said. "Right now, we're just getting the artwork and everything as close as possible and we hope to have a release date soon."
In the meantime, you might want to check your closets.
"It's just your classic Minnesota M," said Jimmy Giese, store manager for Smile Back Vintage located in Stadium Village. "We've seen that (sweatshirt). We've had it in here several times."
Unfortunately, Giese said he doesn't have one of the sweatshirts in stock right now. He said prices for that specific design is likely to jump considerably. He said popular musicians can drive a lot of demand for vintage styles, something they've currently seen happen with another piece of familiar clothing.
"A lot of hip-hop artists have been seen wearing very specific Carhart Detroit jackets," Giese said. "Over the course of probably the past 18 months, the value on those has doubled, just because it's popular in pop culture."
And since Jin's video has already racked up nearly 7 million views in three days, who knows where the Minnesota 'block M' market is headed.
"Yeah, if you've got one of these, I'm sure they'll have a link on this story to the music video, you can bring it down (here), we'd love to buy it from you," he said.
If you're looking for one of the sweatshirts for yourself or a K-Pop fan in your life, check the University of Minnesota bookstore website and social media accounts for the latest information.