“Pay Us”: Girl Group Accused of Dodging Payment For Custom Stage Outfits

A Threads post about a girl group “stealing” custom outfits from a small business has netizens on detective duty.

On January 21, 2026 (KST), @doldol_mammy shared, “My parents run a clothing sample workshop,” explaining that “on October 28 of last year, they received a request from a K-Pop management agency to produce costumes for an idol group, and the final delivery was completed on December 9.”

@doldol_mammy continued that the group was then seen wearing the costumes in their music video and at an end-of-year awards ceremony (where they received a “K-Pop Girl Group Award”).

While such exposure is usually considered helpful for small businesses, @doldol_mammy exposed the agency for allegedly failing to pay for the costume production and delaying payment for months.

The Threads post claimed, “The staff member who commissioned the costumes said they weren’t in charge of payments and gave us the contact information of a company director.”

The director said over the phone that payment would be made by January 15, but we still haven’t received anything.

— @doldol_mammy/Threads

After multiple attempts to follow up, including direct messages sent through the company’s official social media accounts that went unanswered, @doldol_mammy sent a formal certified letter to both the agency’s corporate office and the representative’s home, notifying them that further action would be taken if payment was not made within three days of receipt.

They owe my parents ₩1.40 million KRW (about $956 USD) and another vendor ₩600,000 KRW (about $410 USD), totaling ₩2.00 million KRW (about $1,370 USD). As a small business, this is incredibly difficult. It may seem like a large amount to some and small to others, but how are we supposed to deal with being ignored like this?

— @doldol_mammy/Threads

While @doldol_mammy didn’t name any specific groups or agencies, netizens have pieced the puzzle together based on the clues sprinkled throughout the post. Only one girl group, UDTT from SW Entertainment, was awarded a “K-Pop Girl Group Award” in 2025, and one of the outfits worn by a member of the said group resembles the outfit in a photo provided by @doldol_mammy.

Amid the growing online speculations, @doldol_mammy commented, “All we want is to be paid for the work we completed. I hope this can be resolved smoothly without harming the dreams of the young artists who wore the outfits—and I also hope situations like this don’t continue to happen.”

• “Seriously, just pay what you owe…”
• “Damn… Seeing two posts next to each other, both mentioning ‘200’ but one person is bleeding over not getting ₩2.00 million KRW (about $1,370 USD), while the other guy pocketed ₩20.0 billion KRW (about $13.7 million USD) in tax evasion. It’s honestly so depressing.”
• “This is seriously demoralizing… Some people are desperate over ₩2.00 million KRW (about $1,370 USD), while others swipe ₩20.0 billion KRW (about $13.7 million USD)…”
• “That’s insane.”
• “This really hits hard…”
• “Sounds like the girl group is in a rough spot, too. Both sides are unfortunate.”
• “For some people, even ₩2.00 million KRW (about $1,370 USD) is money they desperately need… sigh.”
• “Pay what you owe.”
• “Just pay what you owe on time.”
• “If you don’t have the money, don’t debut an idol group…”

The named girl group/management agency has not responded to the online suspicions as of January 23, 2026 (KST).