Blackyak debuts new eco-friendly clothing, eyes expansion in US with Nau brand

New York – South Korea’s Blackyak signed a deal in May with TK Chemical, a chemical fibre manufacturing company of SM Group to use the latter’s production of recycled fibres from used plastic bottles.

Last month, Blackyak released an environmentally friendly t-shirt using the recycled fibre and its technology, now planning to extend the production to create trousers, fleeces and other outdoors clothing.

Achieving a complete circulation of resources would differentiate the brand from its competitors who import recycled fibres from other countries such as Taiwan and Japan due to impurities-related issues, point out market sources. As openly explained by the retail group in various occasions, for Blackyak, producing and selling “eco-friendly” clothing is not something that pays off immediately, although they believe it will help them win over Gen Z and expand in other markets, such as the US.

Behind these strategies is Director Kang Jun-seok, the son of CEO Kang Tae-seon, who is also the largest shareholder of the brand. He led the efforts to acquire Nau in 2015. He identified the values of Nau – headquartered in Portland - which pursuits sustainable fashion, with those Blackyak was working towards as a brand. Noteworthy, Nau makes a loss of about five billion won every year although it made a profit for the first time in four years since the acquisition in the first half of 2019.

Now, Blackyak plans to expand its business in the US using Nau as a springboard, while it continues to expand its eco-friendly clothing business in South Korea. It has more than doubled the portion of green products in the S/S collection and the F/W collection, 118 percent and 123 percent respectively, compared to the previous year.