Korean online specialty mall for women’s fashion, MAY-SOME(www.maysome.jp), is experiencing a growth spurt driven by cost-effective and exceptional apparel. It recently launched in Japan and is now rapidly gaining its foothold as a global K-style brand.
MAY-SOME gained its competitive edge in Japan through modeled product photos and detailed descriptions. As uncommon as it is in Japan to present styles in the form of fashion content, the brand soon became the hot topic of Japan’s social media. Although sales volume is definitely important, MAY-SOME’s utmost priority is accurately portraying its brand identity to customers. Japanese customers most commonly describe MAY-SOME to be “affordable but of good quality as well as exceptionally stylish,” in their product reviews.
In 2015, MAY-SOME was founded by CEO Shin Eun-seon, who persistently studied women’s fashion items since she was a teenager. She became hooked on accessories during college and started selling mostly bracelets online. She was a student entrepreneur who photographed products with her mobile phone and managed shipments on her way home from school. In just five months, CEO Shin single-handedly succeeded in attracting 30,000 customers to her business.
Today, MAY-SOME has evolved into an apparel brand for 10~20 year old women. The brand’s styles consist of effortless items that ensure comfort. Each design is made with special details to differentiate them from widespread trends in the market. Basic components such as buttons or pockets have their own uniqueness that helps the clothing to fluidly match with different looks.
CEO Shin said, “From the start, a sturdy system was implemented for design and production in order to satisfy young women that are sensitive to changing fashion trends,” and added, “Our secret to success is in being faithful to the basics.”
For instance, the brand’s recent best seller ‘premium jeans’ series is made with rare ‘slim washing’ patterns. The design minimizes the rough impression of regular washes by adding nine fine finishes after every inch. This series alone sold out over 24,000 pairs in recent months.
MAY-SOME’s product photos have a sense of friendliness as if they are pictures of a friend. Rather than staging excessively glamorous photoshoots that can be irrelevant to customers, photos reflect naturalness and allow customers to think that they can also dress like the models. The brand continues to diversify its methods to accurately show details on the web.
CEO Shin said, “I shoot most of the model photographs myself.” She explained, “I think it’s very important to always think about how women my age approach fashion.”
Its rapid success in Korea led to the opening of an online specialty mall in Japan and active localized marketing through global e-commerce platform, cafe24(www.cafe24corp.com/en). The merging of effective marketing and competitive fashion is accelerating customer traffic to the mall.
CEO Shin’s long term goal is expanding to all countries. She repeatedly emphasized her intentions to mature into a global women’s fashion brand after achieving significant results in Japan. Gaining success in Korea’s complex market has convinced her that MAY-SOME can compete at a global level.
“I was greatly impacted when the products that were popular in Korea also made it in Japan,” said CEO Shin, “Going forward, I plan to take a step closer toward potential customers searching for unique styles.”
Staff Reporter Yoon, Heeseok | pioneer@etnews.com