Golden Child: Ddara Woollim Mall Merch Review

Golden Child came back with their second full repackage album Ddara on October 5th, 2021, and Woollim Mall had quite the turnaround by already announcing the list of official merchandise for this era on October 8th at 11:30AM KST.

Golden Child 2nd Album Repackage [DDARA] Official MD:

• HOODIE (black or white) / 65,000₩ / $55.06 USD
• L HOLDER SET / 25,000₩ / $21.18 USD

Preorders for these items are from October 8th at 2PM through October 14th at 23:59PM KST. This round of merchandise has this preorder window, however Woollim Mall still lists the L Holder Set for sale (as of November 14th).

On October 12th, Woollim Mall also announced a Polaroid event where customers who purchase at least 50,000₩ worth of [DDARA] MD are automatically entered into a lottery to win 1 of 10 Polaroids.

On the last day of preorders, October 14th at 10:02AM KST, Woollim Mall posted a clearer preview image of the merch. Honestly this made me less excited for the L holder set as it confirmed the photos were from the Ddara Version B album shoot instead of perhaps another photoshoot with alternate outfits from the music video.

Again,I'm not really enticed to buy from Woollim Mall for the chance of a Polaroid (because what are the odds). It took a few days for Kpoptown to list both items, but when they did (prior to Woollim Mall's preorder period ending) I ordered from there. On Kpoptown, the Hoodie is $64.90 USD (I chose only to purchase the white version), the L Holder Set is $25.90 USD, and DHL shipping was $29.00 USD, for a total of $119.80 USD. Ordering the same two items via Woollim Mall would have totalled to $132.91 USD.

Both items are expected to ship starting on November 8th.

My friend had ordered hers through Woollim Mall and received hers on November 10th. And as a pleasant surprise, hers arrived with a signed Polaroid! Her Polaroid was wrapped in bubblewrap. 

I received an email from Kpoptown on November 10th notifying me that my package has shipped. My packaged arrived on November 12th!

My package came in a small cardboard box with my merch wrapped in an outer layer of bubblewrap. The hoodie came in a plastic bag packaging that was folded in half, and to the right were 2 air pocket bags to keep everything snug.

Underneath the hoodie is the L holder set wrapped in bubblewrap.

As I took out the hoodie bag, I couldn't believe my eyes! (Cue "내 눈을 의심해"^^) There was a signed Polaroid of Bomin in a clear sleeve taped onto the packaging! I'm seriously at a loss for words, taking in my bad luck with online orders, and then my most recent good luck of receiving my first signed Polaroid not even two weeks ago. I thought I had forgone the chance of winning a Polaroid by choosing Kpoptown, but I'm so grateful it did work out. It's interesting how my Polaroid was packaged like this, as opposed to my friend's with bubblewrap; it makes me wonder if Kpoptown intentionally received the Polaroid and stuck it to my order, or if Woollim Mall packaged the Polaroid like that and Kpoptown left it as is.

Here is a closer look at the Polaroid^^ It's the same background as my friend's Polaroid too; I wonder where and when they took these! And I still can't believe I now have signed Polaroids of my first two biases!

And here are the Ddara merchandise! As a callout, the product sticker is larger and different in design.

Hoodie

The hoodie comes in a black plastic zip lock bag. The product sticker with the holographic Woollim seal is on the front of the bag.

Here is how the hoodie looks straight out of the bag.

And here is the hoodie! It is one size, made of cotton, and comes in either black or white. There is a large kangaroo pocket. The backside is the same color as well. The music video screenshot is of different material from Golden Child's past tops ("One" tee, "Bong Bong" tee, and YES. hoodie), where this time the image feels like the same material as the hoodie itself. Additional details include wide but thin drawstrings with sewn edges with metal openings at the end of the hood, and the DDARA era Golden Child logo at the end of the left sleeve.

Here is a closer look at the image of the hoodie. You can see there is a faint edge between the creamish background of the screenshot and the white of the hoodie. This is the reason I chose a white hoodie, so that the image would be more seamless than a cream rectangular box on a black hoodie.

I always love the branding of Golden Child's clothes and the little details put into them, such as the clothing tag. The tag inside the neckline is the same as the one on the "Bong Bong" tee, with the Game Changer era Golden Child logo printed on it (which is weird since DDARA does have its own font and era logo).

The backside of the hoodie just under the neckline has "DDARA" printed in black with this era's font.

As this hoodie is one size like all of Golden Child's clothes so far, it is quite large and roomy. I'm 5'4" and 105lb, and this is how the hoodie fits on me. The sleeves are quite long that just the tips of my fingers barely stick out, and the body is a nice length that my jean pockets are almost fully covered. The hoodie itself is not too thick and not too thin, so it's nice to wear underneath a jacket if I'm going out in the colder months.

L Holder Set

The L holder set comes in a paper envelope, and the outer packaging is a clear plastic resealable bag.

Here is the backside of the packaging. The envelope flap itself is fully made of paper without any sticky substance so you don't need to risk damaging the envelope when opening it. The center of the flap has the DDARA era Golden Child logo. The new product sticker with the holographic Woollim seal is on the backside of the clear bag.

Here are how the contents were packaged inside the envelope: the 10 posters in age order starting with Daeyeol, and then the two L holders at the bottom.

To everyone's surprise, the two L holders are the same exact image. I originally thought Eline messed up yet again, but on the bright side you can now use one L holder and preserve the other one.

Here is the L holder with the Daeyeol poster inside. Even though the holder is translucent, you can hardly see the image of the poster.

These L holders are made of plastic film and are meant to hold A4 sized documents. The backside has "DDARA" and "Golden Child" printed in this era's font.

The posters are A4 size and are more like large glossy postcards with white backs. The fronts are prone to fingerprints.

Here are Seungmin, Jaehyun, Jibeom, and Donghyun.

And here are Joochan and Bomin.

Overall, I'm really happy that Woollim Mall has been holding events for their various official MD, and even more happy that I can confirm that there are winners for the Polaroid events, especially since they don't notify the winners and it's a matter of properly checking your package to see if a surprise Polaroid made it in^^ I am also beyond happy with both Woollim Mall and Kpoptown for this experience especially when I've had trouble with both companies. As for the Ddara merchandise, I like the variety of practical items (hoodie and L holder) and paper goods (posters). I also like how the hoodie uses an image outside of the Ddara album photobooks.