[Female CEO who moves Korea] Ryu Byung-seon, CEO of Youngdo Velvet
Ryu Byung-seon, CEO of Youngdo Velvet, smiles brightly among the velvet products displayed at Youngdo Daum, the worlds only velvet exhibition hall in Samdeok-dong, Jung-gu, Daegu. Having maintained the worlds No. 1 ranking in velvet since 2001, he said, "I will go beyond a first-class textile company and become a high-tech material company." /Reporter Kim Dong-hwan
“Even when you sit on the sofa, the velvet hair doesn’t lie down, right? It’s all thanks to the micro velvet we developed.”
On the 20th, Ryu Byung-seon (82), CEO of Youngdo Velvet, met at the velvet exhibition center Youngdo Daum in Samdeok-dong, Daegu, and said this while stroking the velvet sofa cover. Youngdo Velvet is the largest velvet company in Korea founded in 1960 by CEO Ryu and his husband, the late Chairman Lee Won-hwa. In 2001, 40 years after its founding, it ranked first in global market share, and has maintained that position ever since. CEO Ryu said, “I thought that technology was the only way to survive, and after digging only one well for over 60 years, I was able to have the world’s largest velvet factory (Gumi).” Velvet is a fibrous tissue densely studded with hair and is used in various products such as clothing and sofas. Luxury companies such as Giorgio Armani, Gucci, and Burberry are also customers of Youngdo Velvet. The representative couple of
Ryu started their business by renting 4 looms and supplying winter fur for rubber shoes.
Because it was a seasonal product, I had to play for half of the year without moving. So it was Velvet who turned her eyes. Production was difficult and expensive, so at the time, only contraband goods from Germany and Japan were circulated. Mr. and Mrs. Ryu had no velvet skills or knowledge at all. I brought German-made fabric and entrusted it to a domestic research center for analysis, but to no avail. Ryus husband sat in front of the machine day and night for eight months and after countless trials and errors, he found out how to weave fabric. “It was literally a header on the ground,” said Ryu.
Eventually, in 1968, he succeeded in localizing velvet. It has been exporting since 1975. In 1988, it received the 10 million dollar export tower, and in 1990, it developed the worlds first micro velvet that does not flatten hair even when washed with water. When his business got back on track, Ryu returned to being a housewife.
In the mid-1990s, when more than 70% of textile companies in Daegu moved their factories overseas, such as China, Youngdo Velvet made a large-scale investment in its Gumi factory. It was determined to protect Made in Korea, but the foreign exchange crisis broke out in 1997 and the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. As the exchange rate soared from 800 won to 2,000 won, debt for leasing looms borrowed in dollars rose from 10 billion won to 30 billion won in an instant.
It was around this time that Ryu returned to business. He said, "At the time, my acquaintances told me to just file for bankruptcy, but I persuaded my husband, Lets not remain as parents who have bankrupted our children." Since then, Mr. and Mrs. Ryu have been running abroad, and they say that they went in and out of banks until the threshold was worn out. Even their house was secured as collateral, and after tenacious efforts, Youngdo Velvet graduated early from the workout in 2004. However, her husband, whose health deteriorated as the company suffered, passed away the day after graduation from the workout. Representative Ryu said, “It was fortunate that I was able to leave without feeling relieved after seeing the workout was over.”
From No. 1 textile company to high-tech material company
Youngdo Velvet spent 10 billion won in research funds to develop industrial velvet to diversify its business and succeeded in localizing LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) Loving Cloth in 2006. Rubbing cloth is a key fiber material that aligns the liquid crystal molecules of LCD in a certain direction. It was first used in the iPad 2 LCD panel supplied by LG Display to Apple in 2011, and has since been exported to the world. Currently, 45% of Youngdo Velvets sales come from Loving4. Last year, Youngdo Velvets sales were 19.6 billion won.
Youngdo Velvet is developing high-tech materials for electric vehicles, such as environmental filter velvet that absorbs fine dust or heavy metal ions in the air as next-generation food. CEO Ryu, who is full of energy even at the age of 82, said, “We will not stop at being a first-class textile company, but will leap forward to become a high-tech material company and become a 100-year-old company.”
Ryu Byung-sun, CEO of Youngdo Velvet
1960 Co-founded with her husband, the late Chairman Lee Won-hwa
1988 10 million dollar export tower
2005 Female entrepreneur Presidential citation
2010 30 million dollar export tower
2019 Gold Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit Correspondent
Suji Shin sjsj@chosun.com
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