K-Content News

The market research firm IMARC predicts that the global market for eyewear will reach $170 billion by 2022. In addition, it forecasts a growth rate (CAGR) of 8% from 2017 to 2022.

The Muzik Creative Label (Muzik and Stealer) is a popular Korean brand in the eyewear market. The company has launched two eyewear brands, Muzik and Stealer, both of which are doing well. Muzik is a popular brand designed to be as accessible and trendy as listening to music. The brand also collaborates with various artists and writers. Stealer is an eyewear brand that uses metal materials such as titanium, aluminum, stainless steel, and beta steel to create freeing and unique designs. In general, the sales department of a house brand represents the largest part its management and adopts a sales strategy that focuses heavily on product sales and supply. Muzik and Stealer, however, have branding teams that are larger than their sales teams and seek to establish brand identity, as well as large design teams that work to increase product value. Rather than supplying similar types of glasses in bulk, priority is given to branding and designing at a smaller scale in order to maintain consistency and brand identity.

The idea of consistency and brand identity goes beyond product design and extends to packaging, brand-specific colors, fonts, images, and seasonal images that are all organized and produced in a unified manner. As a result of its keen attention to brand details, Stealer is gaining recognition as a brand that is equal to foreign high-end brands. Muzik and Stealer explain that it is important to take advantage of the special “cold feeling” of metal in order to create an understated image.

Muzik and Stealer have received several awards for their efforts and achievements in design. Some of these awards include the IF Design Award, one of the world's top three designer awards, and Italy’s A’Design Award, not to mention Korea’s K-Design Award.

Muzik and Stealer have been making products with the global market in mind ever since their launch in 2013. At first, they made their horn-rimmed frames in France. At the time, horn-rimmed frames were a global trend.

However, not long after, they began to mix their new horn-rimmed frames with metal; this mixed metal style began to gain in popularity. However, there were few factories in France that could mix and process metal on the horn material. After much deliberation, Muzik and Stealer decided to move to South Korea.

In 2014, with the launch of Stealer’s metal frames, Muzik and Stealer became household names. In Korea at that time, when it came to eyewear, there were very few brands in the entire fashion sector that dealt only with metals. Stealer’s lighter and more comfortable metal frame added a sensory element to eyeglass design, and the Musk and Stealer brands continued to gain in popularity.

Stealer did not actively seek any kind of celebrity marketing or endorsement. Nevertheless, celebrities heard about the brand and began to wear their frames. Such celebrities include Girls' Generation’s Taeyeon and Sooyoung, G-Dragon, Giant, Yoo Jae-suk, Jung Jae-hyung, Son Dam-bi, Boa, and actors Jung Kyung-ho and Namgoong Min. BTS band members have also recently been spotted wearing Stealer products.

Eyewear companies often face many difficulties when entering overseas markets due to differences in face shape between Asians and Westerners. Muzik and Stealer produce marketing materials that show how well suited their products are to European and American faces. Every season, the studio holds a photo shoot featuring fashion influencers and members of the general public at a photo studio in Milan, Italy.

Thanks to these and other efforts, the brands have been well-established in Asia, in places such as Thailand, Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan as well as in the West. In Asian countries, the brands use showrooms and pop-up stores as part of their sales strategies. Muzik and Stealer are also gaining popularity in Japan, which is known for having high barriers to market entry.

Osaka Hankyu Department Store, which recorded the second-highest sales among all department stores in Japan last year, operated its first Korean eyewear pop-up store for two months. Since Japan has such high-quality domestic house eyewear brands, the mere entry of Muzik and Stealer into Japan is a tremendous achievement.

Muzik and Stealer credit the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) with helping them expand overseas through the 2019 Overseas Exhibition Support Project.

Participation in brand shows is very important in the fashion industry. In order to receive orders, companies must go abroad to showcase their brands. The biggest event in the eyewear sector is the Silmo Show held in Paris, France. However, since this is the largest eyewear show in the world, participation costs are considerably high. Renting a booth costs upwards of tens of millions of won. The cost of decorating a booth is a huge burden for relatively small eyewear brands.

Kim Jun-ho, head of Muzik and Stealer’s strategic planning team explained, “Even if it [a show] costs a lot, the problem is solved if an order is secured. But it’s hard to be so confident that we’ll have such good results. We decided that it would be too much of a financial burden to participate [in the show] at our own expense, so we applied for the overseas support project operated by KOCCA.” Thanks to KOCCA’s support, Muzik and Stealer were able to obtain a large booth at the center of the Silmo Show, rather than being stuck in the corner.

Kim added, “At the overseas shows, there are also famous global brands and leading fashion companies, so you can meet more potential buyers. It reflects well on our brands just to be setting up in the same vicinity.”