ITOCHU Announces Signing of License Agreements for FRUIT OF THE LOOM® in South Korea and China
January 27, 2025
ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has signed license agreements with its partners in the South Korean and Chinese markets for FRUIT OF THE LOOM®, for which ITOCHU owns the master license rights in Asia. It will be launched in South Korea and China through the apparel products company HILIGHT BRANDS CO., LTD. (headquartered in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea; CEO: Lee Jun Kwon; hereinafter “HILIGHT BRANDS”) in South Korea and through one of the world's biggest sock manufacturers WALT TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD. (headquartered in Zhejiang Province, China; CEO: Kenneth Ong; hereinafter “WALT”) in China.
FRUIT OF THE LOOM® is a brand of apparel products and underwear that belongs to Fruit of the Loom, Inc., which is the biggest underwear maker in the USA with business in 20 countries worldwide and 20,000 employees. They have consistently made basic clothing indispensable for daily living for more than 170 years, becoming such an integral of everyday life that it's said every American knows the fruit logo that is iconic for their brand. Their products are made with the motto “comfortable lifestyle goods for everyone,” beloved in more than 60 countries worldwide, transcending genre, age, and sex.
ITOCHU acquired the master license rights for FRUIT OF THE LOOM® in the Asian markets in May 2024. (*) In the Japanese market, it is steadily expanding with a focus on apparel products, the plan is to boost brand recognition further by actively expanding categories, for example by speeding up pop-up retail, strengthening online business, and making company uniforms.
South Korean HILIGHT BRANDS is an apparel products company dealing in several global brands within South Korea. Chinese WALT is known as one of the world's biggest sock manufacturers, and it will be expanding its categories to apparel products in upcoming year, building on their great technical capacity. Both companies directly manage shops in department stores and shopping malls as well as online. By continuing to strengthen the branding of FRUIT OF THE LOOM® in retail with our leading partners in Korea, a hot spot for fashion trends, and China, we hope to increase brand value in Asian markets, including the Japanese market, with a target of 20 billion yen in net sales on a retail price base in four years.
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HILIGHT BRANDS CO.,LTD
Representative | Lee Jun Kwon |
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Headquarters | 8F, Building A, PDC Building, 242, Pangyo-ro, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do Korea |
Established | 2019 |
URL | http://hibs.co.kr/eng/ |
WALT TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD
Representative | Kenneth Ong |
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Headquarters | No.48 Shijing Road Haining, Zhejiang, China 314400 |
Established | 2000 |
URL | https://walttec.shop/ |