Karina Named MARK & LONA's First Female Brand Ambassador in Tokyo

Karina of aespa has become a brand ambassador for MARK & LONA, a Japanese golf label. According to the brand’s press release, the announcement came at a press conference held in Tokyo on 27 April 2026, and she is the label’s first female ambassador. A new campaign, PLAY ILLUSION, was unveiled at the same event.

The announcement at the Tokyo press conference

The press conference took place at Spiral Hall Aoyama in Minato-ku, Tokyo, on 27 April 2026. Munhwa Ilbo reported that some 70 Japanese outlets gathered there, and Digital Daily gave the same venue and the same figure. Karina represents the brand alongside the Japanese actor Takuya Kimura. Kimura is an actor MARK & LONA had signed before her, and the chief executive Tomoaki Matsumura called him “a legendary ambassador” to the same outlet.

At the press conference Karina said she was “very honoured to be working as an ambassador for MARK & LONA”. According to the same report, she added that she “felt sure I could express the brand’s new image clearly, in my own way”.

What she said about golf is on the record with Digital Daily. “My family likes golf, so I have had a good impression of MARK & LONA for a long time.” The same report said she wanted to try a real golf course through her work as an ambassador. On holding a club, she said: “Actually holding a club, I found it hard, but it was really fun.” According to the brand’s press release, a putting challenge was held at the event and Karina completed it on her third attempt.

The PLAY ILLUSION campaign and five looks

MARK & LONA unveiled a new campaign, PLAY ILLUSION, at the press conference. The brand’s press release describes it as a narrative running across space, sky, desert, underwater and city settings, and says it shows the label’s latest collections — GENERAL, CODE, FER and T-LINE.

According to Digital Daily, Karina proposed five ‘Karina looks’ at the event, and an advertising film and a photoshoot made in Korea were shown with them. The press release says the event also included a fashion show.

Why the brand says it chose her

MARK & LONA’s chairman and creative director is Tomoaki Matsumura. According to the brand’s press release, Matsumura said that seeing Karina in an aespa music video was what led to the appointment, and he spoke about the professionalism she showed on the shoot in Seoul. The same release says Karina was surprised at first but glad, and that she felt sure the campaign could carry the brand’s new image.

In an interview with Munhwa Ilbo, Matsumura said he wants to bring the brand’s fashion to young people around the world through Karina. In the same interview he explained that the partnership also yields a ‘Karina line’ collection, saying the collaboration pieces are “designs matched to Karina’s lifestyle”. He added that it is “a line you can wear comfortably any time in daily life, not only on the golf course but in choreography practice, airport fashion and travel”.

The label’s history and its stores

According to the same interview, Matsumura started out in 1994 in Kanagawa Prefecture with skateboards, snowboards and vintage clothing. He launched the ‘SYLVAIN SYLVIAN’ collection in 2005, founded the golf brand ‘T-LINE’ in 2006 and renamed it MARK & LONA in 2008. The brand’s press release also gives 2008 as the founding year and describes the concept it stands for as ‘luxury golf’.

The same interview says the label’s symbol is the ‘Iron Skull’, a skull icon combined with a golf club. Matsumura said he is pushing into the Chinese market: after opening the brand’s first flagship store in China at SKP in Beijing, it now runs four stores, counting the ones inside members-only courses in Shenzhen and Beijing. The press release gives the aim of the appointment as strengthening the label’s global presence and widening its customer base.

Key takeaways

• MARK & LONA announced Karina as a brand ambassador at a Tokyo press conference on 27 April 2026, and its press release calls her the label’s first female ambassador.
• Munhwa Ilbo reported that some 70 Japanese outlets attended the press conference.
• The campaign is called PLAY ILLUSION and shows the GENERAL, CODE, FER and T-LINE collections.
• Karina proposed five ‘Karina looks’, and the advertising film and the photoshoot were made in Korea, Digital Daily reported.
• aespa’s official YouTube channel posted a behind-the-scenes video of Karina’s MARK & LONA shoot on 28 June 2026. K-Culture Radar neither downloads nor re-hosts it and links to the official upload.