Editor’s Note
This profile of RomanSon Co., Ltd. and its president, Kim Ki-seok, explores the ambition and global mindset behind a brand that has found significant success in international markets. It highlights how a focus on quality and design, exemplified by products like the ‘Atrax’ watch, can build a reputation that transcends borders.
The Challenge Spirit That Created ‘RomanSon, More Famous Overseas’
Kim Ki-seok, President of RomanSon Co., Ltd., welcomed guests at the company’s headquarters in Garak-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, on a day with a drizzling spring rain. He was dressed in a blue-toned suit, a look not easily pulled off by everyone. On his wrist under the shirt was RomanSon’s Premier line hit product, ‘Atrax’.
“I’ve always been very interested in clothes. After launching J.ESTINA, we truly became a global fashion brand company. (Laughs) I think it’s okay for the CEO of a fashion brand company to dress a bit more standout. It’s a kind of allowance.”
I heard you are the youngest brother of the founder, Chairman Kim Ki-moon. What do you think has been RomanSon’s competitive edge that allowed it to thrive over the past 24 years?
“Among five siblings, there are only two brothers, my older brother and me, so I naturally joined the business he started. ‘Thriving’ is an embarrassing term; it’s more accurate to say we developed steadily without going bankrupt. (Laughs) If I were to name a competitive edge, it would be the challenge spirit that is our company’s DNA. From the early days, we had a sales mindset that didn’t distinguish between domestic and international markets. The second is passion; both my brother and I have little fear of new things.”
I’m curious why you decided on watches as the founding item. Even back then, wasn’t Switzerland or Japan the first thing that came to mind when thinking of watches?
“My older brother had experience in management while working at a watch company run by a relative. Naturally, when he became independent, he started a watch company.”
The founding year was 1988, and you aggressively targeted overseas markets from as early as 1990. There must have been many difficulties.
“Watches were classified as luxury items, and the watch market was not yet open. At that time, the domestic watch market was vibrant, with wedding watches being the mainstream, and four major brands from large corporations like Orient, Anam, Handok, and Samsung formed a market worth about 100 billion won based on factory prices. It was not an easy situation for a small company’s brand to compete with large corporate brands. So, we chose the overseas market. We actively pursued participation in overseas exhibitions; the first exhibition was the Dubai Korean Products Exhibition organized by KOTRA (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency). Through that exhibition, we made our first deals with Middle Eastern buyers in 1990, starting to sell watches priced from $10-20. At that time, people from China or Russia (the former Soviet Union) also came to Dubai to buy goods. Thanks to that, RomanSon watches became known in Russia, and import requests came from various Middle Eastern countries.”
You exported to many countries, including the Middle East, the former Soviet Union, and Hong Kong. Did Korean design work well?
“Our design was truly standout at the time. It was effective because we developed designs considering the regional characteristics of the export countries. For example, we exported many flashy watches with cubic zirconia to the Middle East. Gold-plated products were popular in Russia. At that time, RomanSon developed the world’s first IPG plating method and also possessed technologies like cut glass to make glass look like gemstones. It was a completely different concept from domestic wedding watch brands. In fact, watch companies often start with OEM, but we insisted on our own brand, so branding and marketing were desperately needed.”
What do you think about domestic consumers’ evaluation of RomanSon watches?
“For the first 10 years, preference was high due to new designs that didn’t feel like a Korean brand. However, after market liberalization, Korean consumers started preferring foreign brands, and sales declined. Over time, an old-fashioned feel was also unavoidable. RomanSon had high awareness but low preference among domestic consumers. So, starting this year, we began brand refreshing work. We increased domestic marketing costs and started seriously producing mid-to-high-priced watches like Atrax. We are approaching this with the pride of being a representative Korean brand and the confidence that we can beat foreign brands. In fact, the Atrax model was one of the representative models at Baselworld last year. It was a product highly praised by buyers.”
Dreaming of a Global Total Fashion Brand
What is the current annual sales scale of RomanSon, the sales of the watch division, and the sales of J.ESTINA?
“The current sales composition is about 30% from the watch division and 70% from J.ESTINA. This year’s sales target is about 130 billion won. Watches had a moderate growth rate, but jewelry showed rapid growth. At one point, it grew 20-30% annually, and now it maintains a steady growth rate of 8-10% per year.”
J.ESTINA was also active in star marketing using big stars like Girls’ Generation and Kim Yuna.
“Strangely, celebrities liked it from the launch. They bought and wore the products themselves. We never gave anything away for free. (Laughs) The first official model for J.ESTINA was athlete Kim Yuna, and that was also a coincidence. Five years ago, during a staff meeting, someone mentioned that Kim Yuna seemed to be wearing a copy of our product. At that time, Kim was a high school student. So I said, ‘Let’s send her one,’ and later, through an agency, we signed a model contract. When Kim won the gold medal at the Winter Olympics (2010 Vancouver Olympics), we couldn’t keep up with demand. (Laughs) The Olympic impact was huge. Japanese media like NHK and Asahi even came to cover it. It’s strange; I once said I wished swimmer Park Tae-hwan would wear a RomanSon watch, and then I coincidentally got a chance to meet him and gift him a watch. I also thought about wanting to gift a watch to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and last year, we became the sponsor of a party hosted by the UN for global journalists and really presented Secretary-General Ban with a RomanSon watch. Haha.”
How do you envision RomanSon’s future vision?
