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YG and Samsung join hands to launch fashion brand

September 11, 2014

YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun-seok introduces NONA9ON inside a Seoul club Friday. (Yonhap)

Korean entertainment mogul Yang Hyun-seok, CEO of YG Entertainment, introduced a joint fashion brand with Samsung titled NONA9ON on Friday, Yonhap reported.

The brand is a part of Natural Nine, a clothing line launched by YG and Samsung’s Cheil Industries, its fashion unit, in 2012.

NONA9ON will be a casual street brand targeted toward customers in their late teens to early 30s, Yang said at a party held inside a Gangnam club in Seoul.

The event was attended by a crowd of YG artists, including Psy, Big Bang, Epik High, 2ne1 and actors Cha Seung-won and Choi Ji-woo, as well as Lee Seo-hyun, president of Cheil Industries.

Big Bang attends a party introducing YG and Samsung’s fashion brand NONA9ON Friday in Seoul. (Yonhap)

“K-pop is more popular overseas than in Korea,” Yang said. “Traveling overseas over decades, I wondered about the lack of a fashion brand that represents Korea when Korean culture is being so spread worldwide. I’m sure everyone’s seen the drama ‘Jewel in the Palace,’ but Korean food culture hasn’t been properly introduced to the world when compared to China and Japan. [The brand] is more about trying to introduce the excellence of Korean culture and content to the world than it is about trying to make money.”

The brand hopes to bring in 100 billion won, or about $100 million, in sales by 2017.

Starting with a Seoul department store on Sept. 12, NONA9ON will be available at pop-up stores in Milan, Shanghai and Hong Kong inside 10 Corso Como stores.