Korea’s Hansae MK targets global children’s fashion market

South Korean clothing retailer Hansae MK Co. selling National Basketball Association (NBA) apparel in the country aims to expand its presence with its children's fashion brand worldwide as the local market is grappling with the world’s lowest birthrate.

Hansae MK plans to introduce Moimoln, its baby and kid clothing brand launched in China and South Korea in 2014, in other markets such as Europe and Southeast Asia, Co-CEO Kim Jiwon told The Korea Economic Daily in an interview on Friday.

“We aim to launch Moimoln, which succeeded in China and Japan, in Southeast Asia and Europe to strengthen our position as a K-fashion brand,” said the leader of the affiliate of Hansae Co., an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and original design manufacturer (ODM) of global fast-fashion leaders such as Zara and H&M.

The goal came as South Korea’s total fertility rate hit a record low of 0.72, also the world’s lowest, hurting business conditions for children's fashion brands in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

EXPANSION IN JAPAN

Hansae MK has been working to establish Moimoln as a high-end brand in China by selling it at top-tier department stores in the country. A Japanese department store manager, who saw the children's brand in China, suggested introducing the brand in the island country. Hansae MK launched Moimoln in Japan in 2020.

The company is set to open a Moimoln store in Meitetsu Department Store in Nagoya this month, as well as pop-up stores in Hanshin Department Store Umeda Main Store in Osaka and Kobe Hankyu Department Store in the first half.

“Moimoln emerged as a fresh fashion brand since there were few new children's fashion brands in Japan, which has been suffering from low birth rates for a long time,” said Kim, the youngest daughter of Hansae Yes24 Holdings Co. Chairman Kim Dong-nyung.

“Demand surged as we introduced Nordic-style items in the Japanese baby and kid clothing market, which focused on achromatic and unicolor products.”

Healthy overseas businesses raised the company’s sales by 16.7% to 316.8 billion won ($233.9 million) on a consolidated basis last year. Its operating loss shrank to 4.2 billion, less than a fifth of the 21.1 billion won loss in 2022.

IMPROVES LOGISTICS, MARKETING

Hansae MK, the retailer of a young casual brand Buckaroo, has been improving logistics and marketing based on its affiliate Yes24 Co.'s competitiveness in delivery since Kim took office in 2019.

Kim, who started her career at the online bookstore in 2008, launched the same-day delivery service in 2020.

“We significantly reduced the inspection time for shipments and returns by introducing the RFID system for logistics,” Kim said, referring to radio frequency identification.

Kim also led marketing collaborations with the hot spicy noodle Neoguri of South Korea’s top instant noodle maker Nongshim Co. and the Ki One, the country’s first homegrown single-malt whisky, to lure young customers.

Hansae MK has been improving its competitiveness in the fashion industry thanks to cooperation with its affiliates – Hansae and Yes24, Kim said.

“Yes24 provides know-how on delivery systems, online and information technology, while Hansae, which has businesses in various countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia, shares its know-how in global fashion trends and production.”

Write to Sul-Li Jun and Hyung-Joo Oh at sljun@hankyung.com
 

Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.