K-beauty and fashion are stirring up excitement worldwide. Korean cosmetics have overtaken France, a long-standing powerhouse, to rank first in exports in the United States and Japan, positioning themselves at the center of the global market. The fashion sector is also experiencing continuous growth. ChosunBiz has conducted a relay interview featuring success stories of beauty and fashion brands recognized overseas and their differentiated product philosophies. [Editor's note]

K-fashion is gaining popularity across Asia thanks to the Korean Wave. So-called '3MA' brands, represented by Mardeen, Mardimekredi, and MariT, are attracting attention in places like Japan and Southeast Asia with their fresh designs. The annual sales of these brands have surpassed 100 billion won, with international sales accounting for more than half.

On Oct. 23, Kim Dong-jin, CEO of Eastend, is interviewing with ChosunBiz at the headquarters in Seongdong-gu, Seoul. /Courtesy of Choi Hyo-jung.

One of the brands anticipated to become the next mega brand in the fashion industry is Eastend's 'City Breeze.' Known for its solid quality, it has produced hit products like wrinkle-free shirts and cable knit zips, gaining popularity primarily among the domestic 20s and 30s generations. Eastend's annual sales reached 50 billion won last year. Just as '3MA' successfully ventured overseas based on their domestic popularity, City Breeze plans to make its overseas expansion a reality this year.

On the 23rd, Kim Dong-jin, the CEO of Eastend, revealed this vision during a meeting at the company's headquarters in Seongdong-gu, Seoul. Eastend was founded in 2016 by CEO Kim. The company mainly operates contemporary brands such as 'City Breeze' and 'Artied.'

CEO Kim ventured into the fashion market after identifying the growth potential of K-fashion. With the rising popularity of the Korean Wave and the emergence of platforms like Musinsa and 29CM, an environment has been established for emerging designer brands that could handle design, production, and sales simultaneously to thrive. CEO Kim foresees continued growth in indie brand-centered K-fashion, attributing it to the excellent designer brand environment available through Dongdaemun materials, factories, and designers. Although his background was unrelated to fashion, he chose this path with a long-term goal of conquering the overseas market with consumer goods.

The secret to the success of the main brand City Breeze lies in its quality. Unlike other designer brands that focus mainly on design, City Breeze emphasizes materials and quality. The hit product, a wrinkle-free shirt, has sold over 300,000 units and is made from patent materials to reduce wrinkling. The cable knit zip also uses thick yarn that is unavailable in other products. By reducing the variety of products, they have improved quality relative to price.

CEO Kim said, "City Breeze aimed from the outset to reduce the variety of products as much as possible compared to other designer brands that produce in very small quantities, while enhancing the cost-effectiveness of hit products," adding, "By elevating quality and accurately pinpointing the points that appeal to Korean consumers, such as wrinkle-free features, we found the secret to our popularity."

CEO Kim's perspective proved correct. Last year, Eastend surpassed 50 billion won in transaction volume and achieved an accounting revenue of 30 billion won. The transaction volume in 2022 was about 30 billion won, averaging an annual growth rate exceeding 70%. When looking solely at City Breeze, its revenue growth rate reached 80% year-on-year. The goal for this year is a transaction volume of 130 billion won and an accounting revenue of 90 billion won.

Eastend's next target is the overseas market. Previously, the 3MA brands successfully made a name for themselves overseas by leveraging their domestic popularity among tourists. City Breeze plans to solidify its overseas expansion, starting with Japan, and then entering China and Taiwan. The total amount invested in Eastend by financial investors (FI) and others reached 20 billion won by the end of last year. They plan to secure an additional 5 billion won in this year's first half for international expansion. Furthermore, they will push for a KOSDAQ listing in the latter half of this year.

CEO Kim explained that the potential for City Breeze in the Japanese market is limitless. The brand has gained a reputation locally as one favored by K-pop idols such as BLACKPINK and Girls' Generation, due to its unique designs not found in Japanese brands. Detailed designs, like diagonal-cut jackets, are popular with Japan's MZ generation (people born from 1980 to the 2000s), and they are determined to create a mega hit product in the Japanese market, just like the wrinkle-free shirt.

He noted, "In Japan, where the market is primarily dominated by SPA brands like Uniqlo, K-fashion stands at the forefront of trends and boldness," adding, "We received a strong response at the pop-up stores. Compared to other brands in Korea, City Breeze is somewhat bolder, and the design details, such as the diagonal cut, resonate with Japanese consumers."

CEO Kim predicts that the popularity of K-fashion will continue as long as the Korean Wave persists. However, he identified overcoming challenges such as the limited size that restricts entry into European and North American markets and the erosion of the Dongdaemun production infrastructure, which underpins K-indie brands due to the influx of Temu and Ali, as critical tasks.

Kim stated, "A synergy between differentiated designs and Korean culture will enhance K-fashion's potential for expansion," adding, "There will inevitably be limits in the domestic market, but conquering the world with consumer goods, like clothing, is the ultimate goal." He continued, "We will overcome the chronic limitations of indie brands by increasing production scale while enhancing quality and reducing prices."