Tao, formerly of the group EXO, said the sanitary pad business he personally launched has surpassed cumulative sales in the 30 billion won range. However, he explained that because of the large expense of facility investments, he has not yet recovered the principal.
In a video released on the YouTube channel "Study King Genuine Genius Hong Jin Kyung" on the 5th, Tao shared what he has been up to and said, "Life is good, and I got married." He married singer-actor Xu Yiyang, a 2024 SM Rookies alum.
What led Tao to decide on the sanitary pad business was the controversy in China over recycled sanitary pads. At the time, he said, "I will build a factory and make the production process public 24 hours a day," unveiling a plan to put the entire process, from sourcing raw materials to packaging, under public scrutiny, and he personally previewed the launch of a brand.
In the video, Tao said, "I wanted women to use sanitary pads safely without worry," and emphasized, "I am not ashamed at all to be doing this. I feel what I chose is very right."
He said he has sold about 150 million units so far, and total revenue is around 150 million yuan (about 31.8 billion won). However, he added, "Net profit is not large. I have not even broken even yet."
As the reason, he pointed to the investment burden from "in-house production." Tao is currently operating six factory production lines and said he invested about 25 billion won in them. He considered outsourcing, but because trust in the quality and process was not sufficient, he and three business partners pooled funds and chose to make the production process transparent. He said this choice also helped earn consumers' trust.
Meanwhile, Tao debuted with EXO in 2012, but left the team after three years of activity by filing a lawsuit against his agency over his exclusive contract.