[Hipple Hip Item] "Matteung Kim Next is City Breeze"... The Mega Brand Challenge of a 'Fashion Novice' CEO

Interview with Kim Dong-jin, CEO of East End
Operating City Breeze, Artid, Rozly, and Humer brands
Plans to open first road shop and offline store in Japan in the first half
"Will become a leading K-fashion brand within 10 years"

"Following the baton of 'Mardi Mercredi', 'Matin Kim', and 'Marithe Francois Girbaud', we will elevate Citybreeze into a global brand capable of surpassing 100 billion KRW in annual sales."

Kim Dong-jin, CEO of Eastend, said this in an interview with Asia Economy on the 28th at Eastend's headquarters in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, adding, "It is no longer a hypothesis but a certainty that K-fashion can succeed."

Eastend was founded by CEO Kim in 2016. Currently, it operates four main brands centered around 'Citybreeze', including 'Artide', 'Rozly', and 'Humer' (golf). Citybreeze is a brand with a strong young casual vibe, Artide focuses on business wear, and Rozly specializes in guest attire for weddings.

Recently, Mardi, Matin Kim, and Marithe have attracted significant attention both domestically and internationally, growing into 'mega brands' with annual sales exceeding 100 billion KRW. These brands had sales around 10 billion KRW just 2-3 years ago but have now increased their revenue by approximately 8 to 10 times.

The fashion industry is paying attention to Citybreeze as the next mega brand. Citybreeze's strengths lie in its solid quality and distinctive fit. Known as the 'shirt specialist,' Citybreeze ranked first in sales on the clothing sales platform W Concept. In particular, its cable knit, designed to look like intertwined cables, has become a steady seller to the extent that competing brands have produced similar products.

Last year, Eastend's annual sales reached 30 billion KRW, with cumulative transaction volume at 80 billion KRW. The average annual growth rate based on sales is 70%. CEO Kim aims to maintain this high growth rate, targeting 50 billion KRW in sales this year and 80 billion KRW next year.

About a decade ago, CEO Kim was far from the fashion industry. Before founding the company, his experience was limited to reviewing fashion companies while working at a consulting firm. His entry into the 'red ocean' fashion market was motivated by recognizing the growth potential of K-fashion. This was due to the emergence of designer brands capable of handling everything from fabric selection, planning, production, mass manufacturing, to sales.

CEO Kim said, "In the past, designer brands representing K-fashion typically held fashion shows based on their individuality and produced limited quantities, but now designer brands place greater value on popularization. I believed that if we could nurture a giant company among them, K-fashion could be sufficiently expanded into the global market."

Kim's prediction proved accurate. With the emergence of fashion platforms like Musinsa and W Concept, designer brands have grown rapidly. Currently, about 10,000 brands are registered on W Concept, and the designer brand market continues to expand, with a new brand joining approximately every week.

These domestic brands are gaining recognition in overseas markets. The offline stores of the '3M' brands?Mardi, Matin Kim, and Marithe?in Hannam-dong and Hongdae, Seoul, are popular stops for foreign tourists. They are especially noted in China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Mardi has even opened offline stores in China and is actively conducting marketing in partnership with local Chinese companies. Their rapid growth over the past 2-3 years is attributed to having opened offline stores early during the COVID-19 pandemic. As offline stores attracted the interest of the MZ generation (Millennials + Gen Z), they expanded into department store channels such as Hyundai Department Store, which served as a springboard for entering the Chinese market.

CEO Kim Dong-jin said, "'3M' not opening offline stores during COVID-19 was a painful decision," adding, "However, since they showed that designer brands can grow into brands with over 100 billion KRW in sales, I gained confidence that Citybreeze can also grow sufficiently." At that time, with weddings sharply declining, the growth of Rozly, which focuses on guest attire, was significantly hindered, leaving no room to consider additional investment in offline stores.

Citybreeze plans to pursue a two-track strategy this year: expanding domestic offline stores and entering overseas markets. Currently, Citybreeze has offline stores only in department stores such as Hyundai Department Store Pangyo and Bucheon Jungdong. The goal is to have 15 stores per brand. Next month, they will open stores at Hyundai Outlet Songdo and Hyundai Department Store Trade Center. They are also considering opening a road shop near Seongsu-dong or Hannam-dong in the first half of the year.

In overseas markets, opening the first offline store in Japan is a goal for this year. They are negotiating with local companies to open a long-term pop-up store for about a month near Osaka or Tokyo, and given the positive response to Citybreeze in the Japanese market, securing a store is expected to be relatively easy. Since last month, they have been selling products via mobile live broadcasts with Chinese influencers. CEO Kim explained, "While we don't earn hundreds of millions of KRW from a single broadcast, sales in the Chinese market are steadily trending upward," adding, "We are strengthening marketing to build a Citybreeze fandom domestically as well, aiming to establish it as a 'brand I want to wear.'"

CEO Kim projects this year's annual sales to be around 50 billion KRW, with cumulative transaction volume reaching approximately 120 billion KRW. He emphasized, "Sales may vary depending on the speed of opening offline and overseas stores, but the growth trend will not be broken," and added, "In 10 years, we aim to become a brand known by everyone in the Asian market."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.