Millet Korea launched M-Limited line products at the Millet brand’s 90th year anniversary event held in Seoul on Friday.

Formerly known as Edelweiss Outdoor Co., Millet Korea is the distributor of Lafuma Group’s Millet products in Korea.

In April 2009 Millet Korea signed exclusive rights to use the French brand’s trademark in Korea and China, becoming the first independent company to sign a trademark deal with Lafuma Group.

The new M-Limited line consists of 33 items ranging from jackets and shirts to bags and headwear, designed through a collaborative project among international designers, the company said.

While representing a relatively small market in terms of population compared to neighboring countries, Lafuma Group’s general manager for the Asia Pacific Julien Ragueneau says that Korea and Japan are Millet’s biggest markets in the region.

As for the reason behind the Millet brand’s high performance in the country, Ragueneau says that Millet Korea’s efficient business model was one of the main reasons for the performance.

“First, Millet Korea is doing a very good job. They have a different business model to what we have in other countries. (In Korea) It is retail, but in other countries we do a lot of wholesale.”

According to Ragueneau, Korean consumers’ purchasing pattern is also working in favor of the company. He said that while Japanese consumers prefer to mix and match various items of clothing, Koreans prefer to buy whole sets.

About the year ahead, Ragueneau said that, “It is quite promising.”

“At the moment the main business is clothing (in Korea), but with backpacks, Japan is 10 times bigger, and footwear play a very small part in Korea,” Ragueneau said.

“We can expand into such areas, and maybe expand into other accessories.” 

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)