Simone will be listed on the Seoul stock market early next month. Simone said on Sept. 9 that it plans to invest the funds raised through listing on the stock market to expand a new plant in Indonesia.
Simone is the world's No. 1 luxury handbag ODM manufacturer. Simone's global market share is about 10%, more than double that of its competitors. Its U.S. market share is close to 30%.
Its customers include 20 luxury brands including Donnakaran New York (DKNY), Michael Kors, and Marc Jacobs, the three major American designer and fashion companies.
Chairman Park Eun-kwan of Simone, who established a company with annual sales of 1 trillion won with a single handbag brand, said, “Simone’s power comes from the fingertips of the craftsmen who work hard in the company’s workshop.”
CEO Park said, “There are more than 220,000 bag designs that we have researched and developed on our own.”
Simone standardizes the process of products made by artisans and mass-produces them. Its factories in Vietnam and Indonesia, it produces 20.8 million handbags and 9.2 million wallets annually.
Simone's competitiveness can also be confirmed by its high operating margin. Simone posted an operating profit of 135.1 billion won on sales of 1.017 trillion won in 2019.
The five-year average operating profit margin just before the outbreak of COVID-19 was 16.3%. This is more than three times the fashion manufacturing industry's average operating profit margin (4.7%).
Although sales last year and this year decreased due to the impact of COVID-19, the company is expected to recover to the average of previous years from next year.
This is because it can plan and produce only the highest-priced products from luxury brands, thereby increasing its margins.
Simone has a reputation for continuing long-term business with customers with whom it has established a relationship.
It has been doing business with DKNY for 33 years, Marc Jacobs for 20 years and Michael Kors for over 18 years.
During this period, Simone produced more than 400 million handbags. CEO Park said, “If three handbags are counted as 1 m and lined up in a row, it is enough to circle the earth three and a half times.”
As for the driving force behind such long-term mass transactions, CEO Park emphasized, “It was because we gave trust to customers so that they could stretch out and sleep.”
The growing Chinese and Southeast Asian markets and the online fashion retail market are opportunities for Simone.
