Futureworks Co., Ltd. (CEO Kim Jin-yong), a company specializing in global brand and IP business, has signed a partnership with Japan's Fuji Consumer Products LLC (FCP) and is launching full-scale Korean licensing operations for 'P-kies Family,' one of Japan's best-known character IPs. Under the partnership, Futureworks will serve as P-kies Family's licensing agent in Korea, developing a range of business opportunities including sourcing domestic licensees, brand collaborations, product development, and retail and pop-up projects.
P-kies Family is a family brand encompassing the characters born from 'Ponkickies,' a long-running Japanese television series. Led by its flagship characters Gachapin & Mukku, it comprises a lineup of distinctive characters and properties including P-chan, Alphabets, Go! Go! Connie-chan, Gaaa & Muuu and Sister Rabbits. Building on IP including these characters, FCP conducts licensing, marketing, creative development and collaborations with a variety of companies and creators.
Gachapin & Mukku originated in the Ponkickies series, which began with 'Hirake! Ponkikki' in 1973, and the company describes them as characters that have been beloved across generations in Japan for many years. According to the company, the Ponkickies series aired over a span of roughly 45 years and influenced not only character culture but also music, animation and broader Japanese pop culture.
FCP and Fuji Television have recently been actively pursuing projects that reinterpret Gachapin & Mukku through the lens of fashion and culture, moving beyond the realm of traditional character merchandising. In 2025, they held the fashion exhibition 'FRIENDSHIP PARTY 2025' in Shibuya, Tokyo, unveiling a collection of around 50 T-shirts that reimagined character IPs such as Gachapin & Mukku, P-chan and Connie-chan. The event drew some 400 fashion brand representatives, media and influencers.
In 2026, the scale grew considerably. Centered on April 2, 'Gachapin & Mukku Everyone's Friends Day,' a large-scale collaboration project spanning fashion, accessories and food was rolled out across Japan, including Shibuya and Harajuku, involving 50 companies and more than 500 products.
In one standout example, global casual brand Gap reinterpreted Gachapin & Mukku's 'everyone is friends' message through its logo and special artwork, releasing a total of 26 products for adults and kids, including sweatshirts, T-shirts and tote bags. In the outdoor category, a collaborative collection was launched with Columbia, while a three-way Columbia × FREAK'S STORE × Gachapin & Mukku collaboration produced limited-edition T-shirts featuring Gachapin & Mukku enjoying the outdoors along with fishing-lure patterns.
In street and young fashion, WEGO rolled out collaborative products including T-shirts, long-sleeve T-shirts and socks. LOWRYS FARM, in its first collaboration with Gachapin & Mukku, presented a collection of accessories, kidswear and unisex items infused with the brand's signature sensibility. CONVERSE showcased customized ALL STAR designs featuring Gachapin & Mukku through White atelier BY CONVERSE, along with special designs combining the characters with the graphic world of artist Chocomoo.
In art fashion, a collaboration with guernika, the brand run by contemporary artist Shinichiro Inui, applied Gachapin & Mukku to the brand's signature Paint-T as well as a new T-shirt series. By combining prints with hand-painting applied directly to each piece, the collaboration reinterpreted the IP from an art-fashion perspective distinct from conventional character merchandise, according to the company. The company emphasized that P-kies Family is thus moving beyond simply applying character images to products and broadening its reach as an IP that can be reinterpreted in diverse ways according to each partner brand's identity, spanning casual, street, outdoor, art fashion, kids and lifestyle.
Drawing on this body of fashion collaboration experience built up in Japan, Futureworks has made the fresh reinterpretation of P-kies Family through the original sensibilities of Korean fashion brands and creators the core direction of its Korean business. Initially, it plans to source partners primarily among Korean street casual, contemporary, sports, outdoor and lifestyle brands, matching each brand's design language with the most suitable P-kies Family characters.
Through this, the company will pursue projects in a variety of formats, extending beyond basic character merchandise such as T-shirts and sweatshirts to capsule collections, limited-edition products, accessories, pop-up stores, retail projects, branded content and marketing campaigns. In particular, Futureworks intends to focus first on building well-executed early collaborations that can shape P-kies Family's fashion and cultural image in Korea.
"Looking at the various cases in Japan, what's interesting is that Gachapin & Mukku doesn't stop at being a character licensing business — depending on a fashion brand's creative approach, it can be reinterpreted in completely different forms, whether street, outdoor, art or lifestyle," said Kim Jin-yong, CEO of Futureworks. "In Korea, I believe it's important to connect the design and cultural sensibilities of Korean brands with P-kies Family to create something new," he added. "Our goal is to generate new ideas and collaborations with great Korean brands and partners, and to develop this into an IP business that will be loved over the long term."
Partner FCP, an affiliate of Fuji Television, handles licensing management for character merchandise, authorization and management of Fuji Media Group properties, planning and sales of consumer product and promotional licenses, IP content development and sourcing, and marketing and creative businesses. Recently, it has been expanding the intersection between character IP and fashion, art, retail and culture, pursuing new IP business models that go beyond the scope of conventional character licensing through collaborations with brands and creators in Japan and overseas.
Futureworks is a specialist company engaged in licensing, brand development, strategic partnerships and overseas business development based on global brands and IP. As a character IP that has expanded into fashion collaborations in Japan meets the design language of Korean fashion brands, attention is turning to what form the first collaborations will take — and to the results of the initial partner search Futureworks has announced.
