Korean Brand "Lecaf"

October 1, 2007 4:40 PM

Koreans: Please tell me about the brand "Lecaf". Is it cool? Is it on the up? Where is it sold? Really, tell me anything about the brand. (I may have a chance of a job with them and I just need some background).
posted by priorpark17 to clothing, beauty, & fashion (6 comments total)

Well, there is this US trademark registration, owned by HS Corp. of Korea. Dunno if it's the same brand you're thinking of...
posted by exogenous at 5:03 PM on October 1, 2007

Lecaf is a Korean sportswear company. They make pretty good quality sportswear, and probably rank among the top few Korean sportswear brands.

It might be useful to know, however, that there's a prevailing mindset in Korea concerning fashion that values foreign/western brands over national ones. Lecaf (and every other similar Korean sportswear company) is generally accepted as a lesser brand than foreign ones (Nike, Reebok, Adidas). As a result, there's kind of a limit to Lecaf's popularity, success, or 'cool' factor.

They're good shoes, sturdy, affordable but not cheap, good after-service, et cetera. I wore some pairs of their shoes when I was younger, I think. They're sold in Lecaf stores, or department stores in Korea, next to Nike, Adidas, et cetera. I think recognition/distribution outside of Korea is nearly zilch.

My personal gripe with Lecaf (and a lot of other Korean brands) is that their entire design philosophy seems to revolve around a delicate emulation of those western sportswear brands, complete with dynamic half-swooping logo and an English brand and all -- although that's much less a Lecaf thing and much more a Korean Company thing. Anyways. I hope that helps!
posted by suedehead at 5:52 PM on October 1, 2007

make "an English brand" => "an English motto"
posted by suedehead at 5:52 PM on October 1, 2007

suedehead pretty much has it. I've lived in Korea most of the time since 1996, and I had to rack my brains a bit to remember the brand. That said, I am by no means a good consumer, and don't pay too much attention to that stuff.

It's a recognizable brand in Korea, but Korean brands that haven't hit the breakthrough point yet (for much that isn't highend (cars, electronics, etc)) are being squeezed between, as mentioned, international brands on the top end and cheap Chinese imports (of steadily increasing quality) at the low end.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:18 PM on October 1, 2007

I'll be the contrarian here and tell you this — I don't know about the "street cred" of the brand per se, but Lecaf is the company that makes the doboks and ho I wear for taekwondo.

I've been wearing the same set of pads and the same three uniforms now three times a week for about two years, and they have taken quite a beating and are all still in good shape so I'd say the brand at least makes quality products.
posted by Brittanie at 11:09 PM on October 1, 2007

I forgot to add if you click that last link you'll see that only certain brands of pads are approved for use by the World Taekwondo Association and Lecaf is one of them. Just FYI.
posted by Brittanie at 11:12 PM on October 1, 2007