Naver’s startup development organization D2SF announced that it has made a follow-up investment in ‘Christine Company’, a fashion tech startup in which it made a seed investment last year.
Christine Company’s total investment in Pre-Series A is worth 1.5 billion won, led by Aju IB Investment, and jointly participated by Series Ventures and Gyeongnam Venture Investment.
Christine Company has built a data-based shoe manufacturing platform. By using data to streamline and systematize approximately 120 shoe manufacturing processes and organically link them on one platform, the time required from new product planning to production has been shortened by up to 90%, and manufacturing costs have been reduced by up to 50%. succeded.
By utilizing Christine Company’s platform, it is expected that not only large brands but also small and medium-sized brands, individual designers and creators will be able to easily request shoe manufacturing.
Additionally, it has become possible to produce shoes that reflect the latest trends and consumer needs. In fact, Christine Company’s own shoe brand, ‘Christine’, quickly reflected trends and planned, manufactured, and sold new products within a month, achieving annual sales of 1 billion won thanks to the positive response from MZ generation consumers.
After successfully verifying marketability with its own brand, Christine Company plans to commercialize the platform within the year and is already discussing collaboration with famous brands. In addition, we plan to link the offline manufacturing process established in cooperation with about 200 shoe manufacturing factories with the online platform. Through this, brand companies can check the manufacturing process in real time after requesting shoe manufacturing, and manufacturing factories can review order requests and manage work history.
Yang Sang-hwan, leader of Naver D2SF, said, “Christine Company has built a shoe manufacturing process platform based on its abundant field experience and network, and this is a new technology for small and medium-sized brands and individual designers who had difficulty making their own products due to time and cost issues in the existing industrial structure. “We can provide value,” he said. “We hope to grow into a platform where more diverse brands and creators can quickly make and sell their own shoes at a low cost.”
Lee Min-bong, CEO of Christine Company, said, “Despite our outstanding technology, we have innovated the Korean shoe manufacturing industry, which had been stagnant for a long time, with data technology, and our potential has also been recognized through this investment.” He added, “Not only famous brands, but also small and medium-sized companies, fashion designers, and creators. “We will establish ourselves in the market as a shoe manufacturing platform for and lead innovation in the global shoe manufacturing market by winning orders from global brands,” he said.
Source: Pangyo Techno Valley Official Newsroom
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