© Yulim Global

The firm we’re going to introduce today is a sportswear company named Yulim Global. Let’s hear from its CEO Kim Gi-hye(김기혜). 

As a sports apparel manufacturer, Yulim Global has specialized in the design, production and distribution of sportswear such as rash guards, swimsuits, fitness wear and yoga outfits since 2013. Encouraged by an enthusiastic consumer response to our rash guard products, we’ve also been offering yoga wear since 2016. 

“Yu” in Yulim means “abundant” or “plentiful” and “lim” refers to “forests.” We named the company Yulim in the hopes that the firm will prosper like thick forests and go global successfully. 

Since its establishment in 2013, the company has developed 56 different types of rash guards, 116 kinds of swimsuits and 44 kinds of yoga wear to fulfill the various needs of customers. The firm has a unique story about its foundation. 

I worked in the field of early childhood education for nearly 20 years before I decided to give back what I had earned to society in 2009. 

At the time, I received approval to run social welfare foundations to set up a nursing home in Pyeongchang in Gangwon Province and a center for in-home service for the elderly. I created another nursing home in Jeongseon in the same province in 2013. I operate these three non-profit social welfare organizations to this day. While engaging in work for older people, I found that more and more citizens showed an interest in healthcare in this rapidly aging society. So I decided to start a sportswear business. 

Ms. Kim has work experience in child education and social welfare. She still helps out the elderly by running non-profit welfare facilities. While thinking about how to help senior citizens stay healthy and happy, she became interested in sports. She took note of the fact that older people had fewer options when selecting sports clothes, compared to the younger generation. She wanted to develop functional sportswear that would be easy to put on, regardless of age. Her first product was a rash guard. 

A rash guard is a type of water wear that can be worn for sports such as surfing, water-skiing and wakeboarding. The athletic outfit blocks the damaging ultraviolet rays of the sun and protects the skin from rashes or chafing. Moreover, many rash guard products come with a long-sleeved shirt and shorts so that people of all ages can wear them without worrying about excessive body exposure.  

While examining various sportswear pieces one by one, Kim paid attention to the advantages of rash guards. Upon the foundation of her company in 2013, she started manufacturing rash guards. At that time, rash guards were rather unfamiliar to consumers here in Korea. As Yulim Global began to produce them, however, they became one of the most preferred summer fashion items. 

Riding on this popularity, the company’s monthly rash guard sales reached 100 million won or roughly 90-thousand US dollars in 2015.

On the back of its rash guard success, Yulim Global was able to take firm root in the local sportswear market. In 2016, the company again grabbed the attention of consumers with its yoga outfits. 

I think this is a niche market. Many women find clothes on mannequins attractive, but I thought that not many women would actually fit into the model sizes. As a result, I produced yoga wear for plus-sized women so that even stout middle-aged women who have children could look fabulous in yoga wear. This strategy proved effective. 

When making yoga wear, Yulim Global considered various age groups and different body types. In Korea, there are typically just a few major sizes for women: 44, 55 and 66. While the average size for Korean women is 66, markets mostly offer clothes with smaller sizes of 55 or 44. Due to the lack of sizes, plus-sized women can hardly find trendy clothes that make them look slim and have no choice but to purchase baggy, frumpy items. 

Sportswear is no different. Most sports outfits are designed for young and thin people. For plus-sized consumers who have a very limited choice of sportswear, Yulim Plus unveiled large-size yoga wear. The company poured immense effort into the material and design of the new sports garments so that anyone wearing it could look attractive and stylish. 

© Yulim Global

With low-priced fabrics, it is almost impossible to produce good yoga wear. So I decided to use fine fabrics and make high-quality products. 

Our yoga wear is designed to make the chest and leggings parts stretch easily so wearers can feel comfortable. It won’t shrink or loosen when you wash it. 

Once they wear it, consumers are inclined to use it often and eager to spread the word. 

Although it is a small firm, Yulim Global uses the best-quality materials, which are as good as those used by large companies, in order to make wearers feel as comfortable as possible. Still, its products ensure a tight, compressed fit to allow consumers to show their perfect body curves. 

Thanks to the sporty designs and comfortable fit of the athletic costumes, people may wear them in everyday life. Boasting these distinguishing features, 22 products of Yulim Global have been selected for the “Seoul Awards for Outstanding Products” hosted by the Seoul Business Agency. The company’s products have been recognized in overseas markets as well. 

We started selling our rash guards in Japan in 2016. We’ve also exported yoga wear as well. We’ve sent samples to Singapore, Vancouver and Detroit, so we’ll have to wait and see how things turn out. We hope to explore the market in the U.S., in particular, where demand for plus-sized clothing is high. Currently, we’re working on yoga wear samples with a buyer based in Detroit. Using the city as a launch pad, we’ll make more efforts to expand our business into New York. 

Yulim Global has held sales meetings with buyers in 14 different countries since 2016. It is also drawing great interest from India, which is the home of yoga. From the very beginning, the company aimed to appeal to people of various age groups. Now is the time for Yulim Global to reach out to many more consumers in various parts of the world.