Approximately 10% of the world famous brand-name handbags sold by such giants as Louis Vuitton, Burb­errys, Celine, Donna Karan NY, Michael Kors and Coach are produced by the Korean manufacturer, Simone Co.,Ltd. Being a well known Original Development Manufacturing (ODM) producer, Simone boasts its top rank by occupying 10% of the world market and 30% of the United State’s handbag market with more than 160,000 variations of handbags, which has placed Simone as number 1 ranked handbag manufacturer in the world. As the eyes of the needles have changed according to the modern times, Simone has placed focus effort in the production of masterpieces; considering the tiny details such as gap between stitches and pro­ducing bags that ebb and flow with the different seasons. Such meticulous workmanship is the prime cause for attracting the customers around the world. They are known as one of the top luxury handbag producer with credibility rising exponentially. Cherishing trust as the best virtue, Mr. Park has strictly kept delivery dates with the international buyers. Following his father who ran merchant service, he sailed every year in his youth and learned a lot about the nature of the business. Simone's chairman, Mr. Park, who is consider­ate of others deserves to be called the Great Stone Face as introduced in Nathaniel Hawthorn's short story.

Translated by Chung, Jae-sung

On the occasion of our company’s 70th anniversary (Im­age:49 years, Magazine:21 years), we, the Daihan News, for the sake of looking into a genuine value of the global brands, have carefully chosen Simone co., Ltd. as a sample business corporation. Simone was actually recommended by celeb­rities in the field of business, culture, journalism and by its citizens. At the same time, we have informed the company of our purpose and cordially requested an interview with the chairman, Mr. Park, Eun-kwan. Now we would like to intro­duce an eye-opening story that has led to success not only for the chairman himself but to also the global enterprise.
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The World's Best Handbag Manufacturer
Simone was luckily able to initiate trade with Donna Karan NY just a year after they had established the company in 1987. Investing a factory worth of money, Simone purchased various world’s top-notch handbags from Europe and distrib­uted them to the handbag master craftsmen at home who had no experience in making luxury bags, in hopes to learn man­ufacturing techniques through assembling and disassembling top quality bags over and over again. Simone has always put the higher priority in maintaining quality and delivering dates than focusing on sales volume. Although a lack of lead-time has been their heavy burden, Simone has never failed to sat­isfy the customers by maintaining punctual shipments even delivering via airfreight.
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At the same time, the company has shown no neglect in learning foreign culture as well. Simone manufactures 200 samples per week and selects the best ones among those pro­duced. Being headquartered in Uiwang city in Korea, Simone has maintained overseas branches in New York and Hong Kong and foreign factories in China, Indonesia and Viet­nam. They have recently extended business lines by adding Simone FC at Cheongdam-dong and Simone Investment at Yeouido-dong in Seoul. Simone's headquarter consists of 340 employees and 30,000 employees in total are working at the overseas factories. Detailed information on Simone can be earned through website of www.simone.co.kr
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The Global Brand ‘0914’ is to be soon launched in 2015
What the ‘0914’ stands for? The chairman, Mr. Park met a female friend in his undergraduate days. Thereafter, by call­ing ‘Simone’ as a nickname meaning an ideal type of you, they spared no efforts in encouraging each other with love. However, in the rapid flow of time, they had to experience separation for a while. One day, he met the girl friend in his dream, who he had long missed. Next day, just recalling the past memories, he visited a cafe where the couple used to stop by in the past. To his extreme surprise, the lady who young Mr. Park had never thought possible to meet again appeared in front of him. The fantastic moments made him pinch him­self to make sure it was for real. The lady he met at that time is the very wife now, Mrs. Oh, In-sil.
He said that surprisingly Mrs. Oh had the same dream as he had so that she dropped by the cafe too. It was the very Sep­tember 14, 1984. Hence, the brand ‘0914’ contains a profound meaning of irresistible yearning, love and fate. The brand also carries fish shapes to express love, respect and filial piety for his father who then engaged in fishing industry at Incheon, a coastal city located westward from Seoul, Korea.
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The World’s First Handbag Museum-Bagstage
In 2002, on Simone’s 26th anniversary, they built a handbag museum as the world's first case in an effort to rearrange tre­mendous records and review its history. The particular point of the opening is that they can weave their exclusive story on one-of-a kind handbag in the world that they had directly dealt with leathers and made with their unique expertise. The followings represent an extracted portion of chairman Park's insight:
“There has been a picture associated with the museum, Bag­stage. It is possible to see that young ones interested in fash­ion, whoever they are, carry a handbag when they exit the museum. If they bought handbags, the handbags would be carried in their hands. If they just looked around, the history and knowledge on handbags would be filled in their brain. If they experienced the materials, learned how the bags are made, and saw the designers from advanced countries, their dreams and passions towards fashion would be sure­ly engraved on their minds. This is the very goal the ‘Bag­stage’wishes to accomplish.”
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The Leader who Knows How to Live Together and Consider the Others:
Seeing the storms at sea, Mr. Park has learned his life par­ticularly the existence of human weakness and modesty in front of Mother Nature. His father once presented him the following lesson. “No matter how expensive a pine tree is, people cannot feel good looking at it immediately after it is planted. They have to wait to see or smell its classical dignity and fragrance until it is well mingled with rocks and soil in­cluding moss. Money in no way affords to buy the weight of the time.”
To make the brand-name goods is therefore compared to what people plant a pine tree.
Major characteristic in manufacturing hand bags is that it starts from the human hand and is finalized by hand. Chair­man Park has put emphasis on his people-centered man­agement performed by experts of each section and process, regardless of rank, which is the biggest asset and core com­petence. Chairman Park, with unparalleled expertise, plays an important role of a cultural diplomatic mission in promoting the Republic of Korea to the international community.
 

Photograph explanation:
-New York Times : covered as the place people should stop by   in Seoul.
-Financial Times: Reported with a praise as' a Sanctuary dedicated to handbag'
-Person in charge for establishing: British installation artist, Mr. Judis Clark. Being recognized by Yale University about
  its worth and necessity of the museum, an amount of 300,000 pound was supported.
-A scene of ‘Bagstage’ the world's first handbag museum, located at Garosu-gil, Gangam-Gu, Seoul, Korea
강남구 신사동 가로수길에 있는 세계 최초 핸드백 박물관‘Bagstage’