Forbes Asia - June 2018

South Korea’s 50 Richest

KENNY PARK

66 | FORBES ASIA JUNE 2018

JAE-HYUN KIM FOR FORBES

Supplier

to the Stars

For decades Kenny Park has quietly made the pricey handbags

that famous labels sell around the world. Today he’s a billionaire.

BY GRACE CHUNG

A

er toiling for a month in a hot and

crowded Seoul factory, it seemed like

a slam dunk. But Kenny Park was

crushed as his pitch to two fashion

executives was going nowhere. He had

just started a company to make handbags and had

lown to New York for the meeting. “hey wouldn’t

look me in the eye,” he says. “hey said, ‘Kenny, I’m

sorry, but we spoke with sales and marketing. heir

opinion is that customers who buy Donna Karan

aren’t interested in 30% of—if it’s made in Korea.’ ”

he executives had been intrigued by the idea of

producing Donna Karan handbags at a much lower

cost. “hey were so impressed” by his samples, says

Park. But it was 1988, luxury handbags were pro-

duced mostly in Europe, and for many consumers,

the Made in Korea label meant lower quality. Un-

deterred, he called back two days later. “I told them

I don’t have an M.B.A. I don’t have any expertise in

business, but I know the three essences of merchan-

dising: well-designed, well-made, well-priced. It

doesn’t have to be me, but you need to prepare. You

need a base in Asia.”

He proposed a deal. “A couple hundred pieces, just

a test. If it doesn’t work you’re not going to be burned

and my company won’t go bankrupt. Fortunately it

worked ... it really worked.” he irst order for 240

Donna Karan handbags sold out. A second order of

600 sold out; 3,000 bags, gone. Within nine months

Donna Karan had deployed a designer to Seoul to

help create a new handbag for Park to make. In its irst

full year, his contract manufacturer, Simone Acces-

sory, reaped $4 million in revenue and was already in

the black, thanks also to another American customer,

Esprit, which had signed on a few months earlier.

Some 30 years later, Park is still making handbags

and other accessories for Donna Karan. But today

he also has nearly 20 other customers, and the list

reads like a fashion hall of fame: Michael Kors, Kate

Spade, Coach, Marc Jacobs, Alexander Wang, Versus

Versace, AllSaints. Chances are you’ve purchased

or owned something he’s made, because every year

Si mone churns out 30 million handbags and small

leather goods. hat keeps 30,000 workers busy in

seven factories in Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia

and China. Starting with the irst handbag design for

Esprit, the company now boasts an archive of 180,000

designs.