"Be Road, a symbol of coma in the 60s and 70s"

Yeongdo Velvet (Chairman Byungseon Ryu) in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do produced velvet for the first time in Korea in 1971 and is currently a world-class product certified company that exports more than 80% of its production.
 

The founder, the late Chairman Lee Won-hwa (1940-2004), ped out of college and started selling rubber shoes at the Daeshin-dong market in Daegu from the age of 20. In 1966, while supplying fur for winter boots to the Kukje Rubber Factory in Busan, he made a connection with Velvet. Since the amount of weaving was only available in fall and winter, I had to use machines and manpower for about six months, including summer. To solve this problem, she bought nylon and wool from Gyeongnam Wool and woven it into womens sheepskin, sold it to Dongdaemun Market in Seoul, and received a great response.

At the time, most of the velvet was smuggled from Germany and Japan. Chairman Lee decided that localization would reduce the waste of foreign currency and make a lot of money. However, I didnt know how to form the bumps that bring out the three-dimensional effect of the velvet. In the end, weaving was done using only one-third the width of the loom, while the machine was idle. As a result of trial and error, such as weaving warp and weft at various ratios, we were able to weave in just eight months.

However, the prototype that came out in 1967 was clumsy, with uneven dyeing, sparsely planted bumps, and easy hair lying down. Yield was also low. In the case of general cloth, 100 yards (1 yard is 91.44 cm) can be woven with a weaving machine, whereas velvet has a high defect rate, only 10 yards are produced in the same amount of time.

The founder was so stressed that he couldnt eat properly at a time when there was no related technology in the book and he couldnt even think of introducing overseas technology. Because of his financial difficulties, he often borrowed money from his wifes family and neighbors. It was only in 1969 that mass production was successful, and Hanbok was first shipped to Seomun Market in Daegu.

The 3.7-yard piece of hanbok to make the jacket and skirt was traded for 12,000 won (current value of about 300,000 won) at the time. Although the quality was still insufficient, it was loved by consumers enough to buy all the remnants of fabric from dressmakers and use it to make clothes. In 1971, a dyeing factory was established to apply fine colors to velvet. Two years later, it entered into a technical partnership with Hasegawa Velvet of Japan and brought in 60 Japanese-made weaving machines to raise the product level to the next level. The following year, he exported velvet to the United States for the first time, and a year later, he set up a trading office in Seoul and started exporting to the Middle East in earnest.

Since then, the company has grown smoothly. The founder carried out brand marketing, such as attaching the Three Eagle Velvet trademark with a picture of three majestic eagles. At that time and now, the main export destinations of velvet are the former Soviet Union countries in the Middle East and Central Asia, and Central and South America. People in the Middle East and Central Asia who live in barren environments have a rich three-dimensional effect, and people in the Southern Hemisphere have cold winters (spring and summer in Korea). I prefer velvet for me. Chinese products that appeared after the 1990s cost only about $2 per yard on average, and Youngdo Velvet products cost more than $5, but overseas buyers trust the three eagles mark rather than Chinese products. Even world-famous clothing companies such as Armani & Klein and Zara are well-known abroad to the extent that they only insist on Youngdo Velvet products.

This successful company also fell into difficulties due to the 40 billion won investment in a new Gumi plant in 1995 and the foreign exchange crisis that followed two years later. Since 1998, it has been staggering with five consecutive years of deficit. As the founder was under tremendous stress and her health deteriorated, her wife, current chairman Ryu Byung-seon, started helping the company in 1997. In 1999, a whopping 2 million yards of inventory were accumulated in the companys warehouse, and it was calculated that 50 billion won would be needed to revive the company.

At this time, businessmen around me advised me to go bankrupt, to keep my assets, and to look for a chance to recover later. However, the founding couple poured out their own money, saying that if the name of the company disappears, the meaning and history of nearly 40 years of hard work will disappear entirely. He disposed of real estate worth 10 billion won at the time and well over 30 billion won today, including building sites and apartment sinks in Gangnam, Seoul, and stores in Seomun Market, Daegu and Dongdaemun Market, Seoul. Through a three-year workout from 2001, the number of employees, which had reached 400, was reduced by almost half, and the focus was on quality control and new product development. The creditor banks forgave the debt in response to Chairman Ryus appeal, "If Yeongdo collapses, Korea must import all of the velvet." After going through a long tunnel and turning to the black in 2003, the company is looking at sales of 40 billion won this year. However, the founder passed away from a chronic illness in 2004, enough to breathe for a moment in relief over the hardships.

President Lee Choong-yeol (41), the eldest son of Chairman Ryu, went to the United States to study in 1994 after completing military service, but naturally joined the company because he did not fit the aptitude and needed an American agent for Youngdo Velvet. While working in the United States for two years from 1996, he carried out sales operations that sold Youngdo products to distributors with a normal 15% margin.
 

Gumi = Reporter Jeong Jong-ho rumba@hankyung.com