When someone hears the brand Samsung, the first thing that comes in mind is electronics.
Maybe not anymore. This South Korean electronics giant is now paving its way to the world of fashion.
Samsung, through its affiliate Cheil Industries, launched in February this year its fashion retail brand 8Seconds and has five shops at present, all located in Korea. Cheil Industries plans to expand the brand to 10 stores by the year’s end and to 300 by 2015.
“We are born to do fast fashion. Koreans are one of the most fast and hard-working people in the world,” said Park Cheolkyoo, VP of Cheil Industries and head of the 8Seconds.
“There is certainly a niche demand and what is uniquely Korean can be (successful) globally too as we have seen with K-pop,” Park said.
“Fast fashion is largely considered disposable. But we want to make it differently with our label. We aim to earn consumer confidence at home and abroad that our clothes are values that outlast seasons and years.”
Prices at 8Seconds, whose offerings include apparel, shoes and accessories for men and women, range from 7900 won (US$6.94) to 79,000 won, or US($69.38).
8Seconds targets to achieve a revenue of 60 billion won (US$53 million) by the end of the year and 1.5 trillion won (US$1.29 billion) by 2015. It aims to compete with global brands Topshop, Zara, H&M and Uniqlo.
Cheil Industries was established in 1954 as textile producer. It carries own labels such as Bean Pole, Galaxy, Rogatis, MVIO, Kuho and Le Beige. It is also imports foreign brands such as Issey Miyake, Mango and Tory Burch and operates the two 10 Corso Como stores in Seoul.
GB
