October 27, 2020 • 38 mins
Kevin and Terrence Kim grew up in New Jersey, and like many second generation Koreans, felt ambivalent about their heritage. In their early 20s, the Kim brothers found themselves trying to start a fashion line in Korea. Broke and with little knowledge of Korean language, they suddenly found themselves on fire with curiosity about everything Korean, from traditional natural dyeing techniques to furniture making and architecture. Esther talks to the brothers about their fashion company, IISE and how they've used it to express their love of their family's culture, and what it's like working with your sibling.
***This episode was recorded in February 2020 during NYC Fashion Week***
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's super sad because the best Korean food are these
old grandma's places that have been making the same but
it's like no one young is trying to like take Yeah,
no one's trying to take that over. That's why all
the markets are dying, like the joans are, you know,
all of those like old traditions are all going away.
Perfect example, like how do you do black being noodle dish?
(00:24):
Black being old dish? My father had ate at the
same restaurant and since he was a kid, it was
old like thirty four years. We went back together as adults.
The owners recognized my father from the kid, and they've
been making jotting mom for their their kids take over
and sell the restaurant for a million dollars because that
became a very the real estate. It's like that's exactly
(00:46):
what's happening. Welcome to get down with Kay Town. I'm
your host esther Troy. Hey, Hey, guys, today we are
talking all things fashion. It just happens to be fashion
Week here in New York and I'm so be to
get a chance to sit down with two of my
buddies here in town from Korea to showcase their brand.
(01:06):
Terence Kim and Kevin Kin. Welcome Hello. Two brothers from
New Jersey started a Korean streetwear brand Easy, based of
Soul Korea. Ease has found huge success locally and globally,
really spreading the Korean love through fashion. So I just
went to their show yesterday and let me tell you,
(01:27):
freaking unbelievable. Unbelievable. Yeah, so so dope. The looks were
sick um so much swag. We need a new work
for swag. Um. You guys really killed it. Congratulating thank you.
Have you been to a show before? I've been to
fashion shows, But he said, this was the first Yeah, yeah,
first Easy show? So easy it means second generation? Why
(01:50):
did you decide to name your brand US? I think
that what people first think is we called it, he said,
because we're a second generation Korean Americans. I mean, that's
part of the reason why, but so um, we think
the main reason is pretty much like we get a
lot of inspiration um from previous generations and more traditional
Korean things, and we take those things and reinterpret it
(02:11):
through our own lens through product and content. So that's
kind of like the main reason why it's uh the
name brands who came up with By the way, Kevin's
the creative, right, so he handles everything on the product side,
and I do most like the marketing, sales and stuff.
So you're like tarant you're kind of like the business
(02:33):
person business operations, UM and finance as well or actually
good stuff too. But we also have like okay because
I study finance even really that's interesting because you're the designer, right,
so I do all the design and creative, but then
I also do the numbers stuff too. Nice and you're
(02:55):
like marketing operations and we're a small team, so we
kind of terrible and everything, but he focuses more on
the product side. Got it. Got it? So Kevin came
up with UM and how did you guys start like
working on the brand? Like I know you started from
wanting to do shoes, right, and you were in China?
(03:16):
To ask you how you knew that story because I
do my homework. So you went to China to start
a sneaker brand? So we didn't go to China. Terrences
one year old in me. So after he graduated university,
he went out to China. This was like two nine,
and that's when the job market was kind of terrible.
It was kind of difficult for people to get good
(03:38):
jobs then, right, So there was an option for Terence
to go to hang Jo, which is like a city
like I guess Western Shanghai, to learn Mandarin at a
Chinese language program at a university. Okay, because our father
actually spent a lot of time in China prior and
he was always like, China's the future, you gotta go.
You got you definitely Chinese. So do you speak Chinese?
(04:00):
I do? I mean I used to speak it every
day and that was what eight years ago, So I
forgot a lot of the vocab and stuff. But every
time I do go back to China, comes back to
me slowly, right, and it's Mandarin Mandarin, right. Yeah. So
he was out there for a year and then he
was telling me how crazy it was. So he's like,
you have to come crazy fun, crazy fun because you
(04:21):
were partying, partying and you know, living in a new
country yet. So then while we were both out there,
we were like, we're always interested in street wearing sneakers.
That's how we kind of got into this whole thing,
is like we were like collecting sneakers online and selling them,
and then that led to like denim and the street
where and this like early early street where. And then
we had this idea of, like, we want to start
(04:42):
a shoe brand because we were while we were in China,
like we were actually in the proximity of like factories
and markets, you know, so we knew that if we
want to get things made, it was we could just
have to go out there and do it right. But
we had zero money, zero experience, and we're just young
with the idea of doing it. So, um, we try
to make a few shoes samples, obviously nothing worth. And
(05:03):
then how how east they started was we visited Korea
for the first time while we were in China, right, wait,
first time ever. I mean we were kids, I barely
remember middle school. I think it was the last time
we were in for them as a as a young adults.
We went to Korea for the first time from China,
and then we ended up meeting um, this older gentleman
(05:24):
who has a fashion brand already, and we were kind
of just chopping it up with him, telling him like
these ideas we had and how like the internet shaping
you know, e commerce and marketing, and how they all
those things are being shaped by like the youth and
like just all these new ideas that were like kind
of like foreign to the older generation at the time.
And then he's like, oh, let's make some samples. So
(05:46):
like with our ideas and his like structure, we were
making samples, flying back and forth between China and Korea.
What kind of samples, samples like clothes or shoes, bags?
It was like shoes and bags in the beginning, right,
and then it was going to lead to clothing, but
we started off as successories first and then then he's yet, oh,
you should move to Korea and we should start this
brand together. So we're like, all right, amazing. So at
(06:07):
this point was it this guy was doing a lot
of Korean natural dying, and we were using those fabrics
onto like modern silhouettes, like like van slip ons, like
we did that in all organic Korean organic backpacks we did.
We made it all with Korea natural tact So it
just kind of applying these older things into new ways, right,
(06:27):
which is the DNA of our brand right now. But
long story, and you guys were doing it together as
brothers with this guy, right right, So just us three
and his team kind of working on it, and we're
just the young people just to give him the ideas,
and he was kind of like doing everything else. He
told to move and we finally ended up moving to
Korea from China. And then when we got to Korea, Um,
(06:48):
he didn't want to do it anymore. Why was it
you guys like you guys were like difficult brothers. It
wasn't even that. I think he just got cold foot
at the end of the year. Why he has his
own agenda, he has his own brands like that. I
think he just got excited with like working with new
kids in the beginning, and then when it came down
to actually executing and putting the money down on it,
I think it became more of like a reality, and
then I guess he had to, like he got scared.
(07:08):
He didn't want to take risks al Yeah, maybe that's
what it was. I don't know. I mean, if I
was him, I wouldn't do it either, because like we
have no experience, Like why we're like two three at
the time, Like why are we going to invest in
two young, inexperienced kids to really start a brand. There's
a lot of money, you know, But that was so
like we kind of moved to Korea we had nothing.
We were like, wow, we just moved here, mad credit
card debt, like nothing. And also at that point, like
(07:31):
we've been working with this guy for what three months?
Oh it was only three months? Yeah yeah, but you
were you already made some samples, we got stuff, stuff going.
So we really thought we were gonna like you gotta
taste of exactly right. And then we got there and
he didn't want to do it, which was a blessing
because that's how easy started. Were like so like, yeah,
all right, let's just do it our own blessing, exactly right.
(07:52):
And how did you do that? Like where did you
come up with the funding? Like how did you? I
know in the beginning you have to be like super
scrappy as for sure. How how did that happen? And
I think, uh so after that fallout, we were basically
like left stranding in Korea. I think we had a
couple of thousand dollars to our name two and then
(08:12):
I think we made fifteen bags maybe and then just
that was the first production run fifteen bags. You spent
all our money, um, but we were able to sell
that on the internet to like a few different countries,
and then we were leaving off that money we made
from the bags for five months six months were super broke.
(08:35):
And you know, of course the early days, but the
think about us at that age, we were so young
and naive that we didn't it worked in our favor
because we didn't really know what could go wrong. We
just kept working at it, you know what I'm saying,
and then we we got we caught a break actually,
like we ended up went to FedEx when the king
(08:57):
goes printed out this Yankee business plan from my four
year degree business. So you actually wrote a business plan,
though it was like total ship. You know, I had
like look on Google like what to do of like
how to make a business ban Obviously, dude, I remember
writing my first business and it was just like that,
just like Google, and it's like a template exactly, That's
(09:18):
exactly it was. And then trying to figure out how
to pitch to investors because I was like, we need money,
and I remember it was like we had maybe two
weeks of money left, Like Okay, if we run out
of money in two weeks, probably we probably have to
go back to American figure it out on our own, right,
And that felt like such a failure for us you know,
like we were out like we're probably the only one
of the few people that left the States after university
(09:39):
like trial to things. So to us like failing and
moving back home with our tail between our legs, it's
like the worst that's you know, I rather meaning very embarrassing.
I would be so shameful of that. But also to
like when we started, like the shoe brand or someone
wasn't even a brand when we tried to start a
shoe brand in China, we were already sharing that on
(10:01):
like my tumbler and our blogs before before, so we're
already putting content out there that hey, we're working on something.
And then that didn't really go anywhere. And then we
started posting again and sharing again about you know, doing
back samples and you know and all that and starting
issa and everything. So we're the samples. Yeah, from the start,
(10:23):
right very early part time you say, yeah, but um, yeah,
we ended up I'll just speak this story up. We
ended up making that business plan and pitching it to
a guy who owned a company, a culture company, and
then he pretty much the deal was, he'll own a day,
but he'll pay us a salary and you'll pay for
our apartment. Okay, like, all right, that and he'll fun.
(10:49):
But then he owns the company company. Okay, so I started.
And then so about a year and a half that
we were and we're kind of learning the ropes on
this guy's financing was such a blessing because we're earned
so much and made all these mistakes. And then a
year and a half goes by. We put out what
two collections back collections that did pretty well actually really
considering that we just started. And then unfortunately that guy's
(11:11):
company ended up folding. But he was super closer. I'll
just give you guys back everything with you guys ownership,
he says, yours again. And then we had like maybe
twenty or thirty grand left and stock, and he's like,
you guys could take this flat pains on the dollar.
Why why was he so gracious like a young guy? Yes,
way bigger business to deal with, say, is just like
(11:31):
a you know, this doesn't matter to him what happens
to which we were super grateful for. But then he yeah,
so we bought that, We bought the stock, and we
flipped it a week later to one buyer, so we
had thirty grand. All of a sudden foresee money. That's
how we like really so kind of lucky lucky, right,
So that's how we kind of got like and then
from there we just built it such a long story
(11:52):
and it's such a blessing though. This guy, Yeah what
who is this random guy? That? Okay, he is, Um.
He he's from a very wealthy family and he has
means like that and resources. So I think to him,
he just wanted to give us a chance. And we're
(12:13):
so grateful for this dude to do that. That's kind
of I mean, you guys are like super cool brothers,
so like yeah, yeah, yeah, like you know, we were
in Korea. We don't speak the language, like you know,
we're just but you don't speak the language. Wait, you
didn't speak Korean very like little things we learned from
home pretty much. So it was like, I guess he's
just like it was cute, maybe, you know what, come
(12:34):
to think. I don't think. I don't think I've ever
heard you guys speak Korean. Test you later, I feel
you tested me in Korea probably. Um. So that's how
you guys started the company with the thirty dollars seed money,
and at this point the company is now yours that's
(12:54):
like so amazing, Like he didn't ask for anything back,
Like he didn't ask you guys, not nothing. She ended
up coming back into our into our company later a
couple of years later, and incredible. Talk to me about
(13:21):
this concept of infusing traditional and modern Krein elements into
your brand, Like what does that mean? I think that
this is going to apply for a lot of people
who are born um in another country that are in
mainly another heritage or something. So um. For when we
went to Korea, it's like we're seeing Korean things for
the first time, right, Like you all of us here
(13:42):
grew up in America. We don't really experienced Korean culture
other than maybe food from home, right, But when you
go back to the country mainland, you see everything Korean,
including architecture, design, food, like literally all of assets of
Korean culture use right. So to us seeing that in
an experience, seen that for the first time as Korean Americans,
(14:02):
it was all foreign, right and exciting, and in a
way for us, it's like you're finding you're seeing what's
beautiful about your heritage for the first time in your life,
and you were super inspired, I guess. And then even
like these traditional older things that Korean Koreans local Koreans
don't aren't really like paying attention to because they grew
up with it. To us, it's like, dude, that's amazing,
Like we look at like an old building or even
(14:23):
like Korean natural natural diet. Were so drawn to that
because not only because the history in the story, but
visually it's like we've never seen it before in America.
So for us, like we're like rediscovering our identity, having
appreciation for our culture for the first time, because I
think a lot of Asian Americans in America that you
kind of feel a little bit of a shame of
being a Korean Meerican while you're growing up, maybe you
(14:45):
read racism. You guys have that story. I mean, I
think everyone feeling I mean, I'm sure everyone has that
growing up here during our time, especially right. So we're
like very prideful about our culture for the first time.
So then we wanted to like use those LM into
kind of like mix our American iss to it, and
it kind of showcase that in a brand like Western
(15:05):
culture and kind of spread that around. So that was
like the initial seed for the inspiration behind it. Um Okay,
So Obviously you're very passionate about like sharing your Korean heritage.
That's a big part of what the brand is, right.
Do you feel that that's because you were not born
in Korea? Do you think that your passion grew because
(15:27):
you were born here, Because, like he was saying, when
we got to Korean, we're experiencing all these cultural things
like growing up, we're kind of like, like you said,
a sham about our culture, like you know, like all
these examples even like bringing not a shangebs embarrassment Korean
food to like school, you know, some like little things
(15:48):
like that, Yeah, bringing friends over, you know, so like
that was kind of like always in our mind, but
going to Korea and kind of experiencing all these things
for the first time, like we were really proud and
like this like so dope, and we have to kind
of like share these things with like our friends, family
and like in the Western world like through fashion, and
that's like kind of like, yeah, I don't think local
(16:09):
Koreans would have the same appreciation. Yeah, definitely out there,
you know what I mean. So are there any other
brands that are doing that in Korea? I don't think
the way that we're doing it. To be honest, I
know that they're it's kind of weird. In Korea, there's
there's sometimes a stigma from local Koreans about Korean inspired things,
like people trying to reinterpret like the Hunt Bulk, which
is like the Korean clothing. A lot of Korean people
(16:29):
kind of think that's like, um, a little what's toms
would like? Kind of yeah, because I think local Koreans
are more they like things that from Western countries more
more than their own. But for us, it's kind of flipped,
you know, like we're from the West. We're too used
to it. So like things that we like about Korea,
maybe Koreans wouldn't see it that way, and vice verse
(16:50):
or two. Like when Koreans come to America, they might
be so like New York City, but if we grew
up here, then it's kind of like is this whatever.
It's like that go to time score to like whatever. Yeah,
they avoided you know if any Yeah, it's it's that
same idea. Um, So your company is based in Sould.
I think you said that a lot of your customers
(17:12):
are actually not in Korea. They're like global. Well there's
there's two reasons for that, like one, the goal was
to kind of like make Korean inspire things for the
Western market, kind of expread that culture around. At number two,
it's like we didn't know how to speak Korean. Yeah,
we didn't know anyone in Korea. So how do you
how do you sell a product to a customer that
(17:32):
you can't communicate with the struct But we have already
had like American e commerce, We knew how to do that.
Why did you decide to stay in Soul and do it? Like,
if you want to authentically do Korean inspired fashion, I
think a major part of that is to be living
there and experience in the culture firsthand and like and
aside aside from that too, it's like Korean fabrics and
(17:54):
all these like manufacturing ter sourcings, and you can't get
that outside of Korea really, so like and we were
learning like as we went, you know, we had to
be in Korea to learn these things every day and
apply it to you. You're living your culture basically, and
we wanted to be there at the end of the day.
So all of your pieces are made in Soul. They
(18:14):
were from the start, but now it's like half half.
Like as volume grew and we have to move stuff
like outside of the country like China, but like we
still do like a lot of production locally to but
you're now moving half moving moving to l A, So
you're now finally kind of moving your production over or
like I think the l A moves more for like
(18:35):
marketing and sales. That's kind of like more of the
reason why we're moving on in business development. What kind
of challenges are you anticipating to face. The biggest thing
for me, I think it's just living in America again,
because we've been living in Asia for the past ten years.
We became adults there and Korea has really become our home,
(18:56):
Like I miss Sore and actually really it's being here
for a week. Um, So I think kind of just
adjusting to living back in America. I think it's going
to be small challenge in the beginning, but I think
for the business is going to really help us a lot.
So that's what we're really excited for. So talk to
me about this year's collection. What was the inspiration behind that? Right?
(19:18):
So it's actually a good leeway to that because this
collection was kind of like really focused on what the
core design aesthetic is of of the brand because our
previous seasons it was kind of like more tangible concepts,
like you know, what do you mean by that? So
like a last couple of seasons, for example, it's like
this is based off Korean protest culture, which is a
(19:40):
very thing. You can think about what that looks like already,
or like riots, you know, protests at the very visual thing,
tangible thing. And then the previous season was like, oh,
let's picture say as I got a company like Samsung,
We're like a huge conglomerate and we have multiple things,
and so these are tangible concepts, right, But this season
we kind of really focused on what that design aesthetic,
where what the core design DNA of the brand is. Right.
(20:03):
We always look at the Korean architecture and furniture back
in the day, right, And like a couple of the
design philosophies from back then was like symmetry, balance, and proportions.
So like an example of that would be if a
guy's making a table, he would cut a piece of
wood right in the middle and spread it open so
the left and right side are completely symmetrical, so it
(20:25):
gives that sense of balance. So a lot of these
types of ideas were infused in like Korean like design
and furniture making and architecture design, something that everything had
a purpose, everything had balanced. This idea of symmetry is
really like existent there. So like those things really like
resonated with us for and then we want to kind
of bring that into like the concept of the brand.
And so when you look at some of the clothing,
(20:46):
it's very subtle. It's very subtle, but you know you
bring a lot of like square paneling and right right
angles and making sure that nothing is asymmetrical, and um,
that's kind of like the basis of the concept for
that one. Yeah, it was beautiful, thank you. And even
learning about that, like we had to be in created
to learn about those ideas because visit a furniture maker,
I was gonna say, like what you just like randomly thought, okay,
(21:08):
it's going to be based on that. We went to
an antique furniture market and there's this guy there that's
been selling you know, traditional Korean furniture for like thirty
or years or whatever, and we're just like, you know,
checking it out, and then we start a conversation with
him and he just kind of schools us like about, yeah,
the ideals behind traditional kore furniture design. So it was
like a random outing you went and then you were
(21:30):
inspired by this guy. It was random, but like I know,
for us, especially the first few years of being in Korea,
we were so actively pursuing like learning about Korean design
things that we were like meeting everybody who could that
and like going to all these markets, traveling around the
whole country, going to different like natural die teachers and
granted these all these people that were talking to their
above fifty. Yeah, a different generation and you know that
(21:55):
Korean thing where like the older generation they don't want
to take care of you, thank you, you make you food.
So all these older people like natural dyers, furniture makers,
like these fabric people, all older generation, they really took
the time to like teach us about all this stuff,
the history, the ideas behind it. They make us food,
they make us chem cheek, they make us punch on
(22:15):
to take home because they know that we're two Korean
Americans with no fans. Okay, so how are you guys
communicating with the hand signals Korean? I think the enthusiasm
we had and I think Koreans as a cultural they're
kind of like a little more conservative and shy, whereas
we're coming with this American energy that was allowed and
(22:36):
maybe obnoxious at times. But I think they were like, Okay,
these guys are trying, and we're like they liked it, yeah,
and you know a lot of like translating and like yeah,
but they end up learning some English who end up
learning Korean. And I think it's fun for them because
they don't have these older generation guys. They don't have
the opportunity to communicate with young people because young people
are not interested in especially in Korea, right, especially career right.
So ten twenty thirty years, like all these things are
(22:58):
going to die out because younger people are carrying it
on for the most part. And this goes to food especially.
I was gonna say, it's really sad that nobody, like
everyone's doing like modern food and they don't want to
do anything traditional, right, But what about like right, what
about old techniques and the methods that the preservation Who's
going to teach that? Yeah, I think we talked about
(23:18):
this a little bit when we're getting trade. It's super
sad because the best Korean food are these old grandma's
places that have been making the same But it's like
no one young's trying to take that over. That's why
all the markets are dying like the dogs. You know,
all those like old traditions are all like going away.
Perfect example, like which is black being noodle dish black
(23:40):
bile dish. My father was at at the same rest
shot since he was a kid. It was open for
like thirty or forty years. We went back together as adults.
The owners recognized my father from a kid, and they've
been making jogamen for what thirty years or whatever. Their
their kids take over and sell the restaurant for a
million dollars because that became the real estate. That's exactly
(24:03):
what's happening, like the parents. That just happened like right now,
I probably the last three years. Yeah, so no spots gone,
and that was a great spot, you know. But then
like the kids don't take it on. It's a hard work,
but their parents grinding it out for that long. But
at least they had to payoff that Chinese restaurant. Like
a lot of these places, like the younger generation is
not interested in just doing that kind of work. It's
(24:23):
a lot of hard work, and so yeah, it is
very sad. That's like a very deep conversation. Yeah, everyone
(24:45):
knows family business can be very hard. I know this
because I work with my sister as well. She's my partner. Yeah,
she's older and she does all the finances and like
business side of things, and obviously I'm the creative and
it's hard. Right two years and you guys are pretty
much we're not two years either, we're like twenty months
(25:08):
the same thing then the exact same exactly. So like,
how how is that? I mean, do you guys fight
frozen cons? I think yeah, but I think there's more
pros at in the beginning. Oh my gosh. Right, there
was a few first few years and you don't know
how to divvy up the responsibility. You don't know who's
who has what skills said yet, so you want to
do everything together. So that's when you fight the most.
(25:30):
And also, but on top of that, like living in
Korea and being so broken, not knowing your environment, like
we had so much stress and we had no one else.
We couldn't take it out on anyone else or like
each other, but each other exactly. So I think that
also contributed to the fights clipside, working with family, like
the trust level, it's unreal, Yes, it's the best trust.
(25:53):
You can't lose. You can't break up. I don't know
about the word break up with your brother. You can't, right,
no matter how much you want to run away, you can't.
So even if you fight a lot whatever, Like, at
the end of the day, having a trust between business
partners is so so crucial, you know. I'm sure you
can share that with your sisters. Yeah. Yeah, And also
like just like the creative direction for their brand and
(26:15):
our vision for their brand, because you grow up together
have like very similar experiences. Like everything we envisioned for
the company is always aligned, like we're not you know
what I'm saying, Like, do you know exactly what you
guys want to do? Luckily? Yeah, because it's not like
that for all ceilings what I've noticed, so like I
think maybe you and your sister to us, we have
a kind of a unique relationship, you know, compared to
(26:39):
other people that I've noticed you. Yeah, the mission is
the most important. So what's the future, right, YEA our
second office there um, and then in between that, yeah,
you know, new collections, a bunch of projects, a lot
of collaborations happen next season and then but Terrence, you
said you wanted to like expand on the brand and
(26:59):
not just be fat. Idea for the beginning is to
apply this concept of reinterpreting Korean elements into like all
product categories, but definitely now we definitely have to focus
on clothing and kind of make that more solid before
like transitioning or not transitioning but offering other like lifestyle products.
But we always talk about it, want to like furniture later, Yeah,
(27:20):
like the future future kitchen wear, stationary like whatever. Lifestyle. Yeah,
like even like a hotel or something like that. We
like Big you designed the Hope you know, Moogie does
that you know? Yeah, that's right, too close to yeah, everything,
So like Boi was a big reference to like, oh
we want maybe something like Moodie, not like that type
of brand, but like the fact that they do everything,
(27:41):
all products which we love, yet everything with like traditional
Korean elements. Yeah, right, like reinterpreted. It's like what I'm
doing with Korean food, you guys are doing with like
products and clothing and love it. Obviously I have something
special for you guys. I was curious with its call bag,
(28:02):
so I made you your favorite crane dish. I love
that you guys, picked chon I love as well. We
never called it CHOHn growing up. Okay, so you're talking
about that, What did you call it? What is that?
Have you heard of that word before? Yeah? None of
my friends, So what is that? Um, it's actually it
sounds like it's a country thing. So our our mother's side,
(28:24):
our grandmother, they're all from this area called Jingju in
South Korea, our whole fal. I grew up calling it
gijim like I've never heard. I've never heard h until
I left America and then I would always refer to cha.
Remember I going to a restaurant with my friends and
I was like, oh, let's get the whatever, and it's
like no one knew what I was talking about. I
(28:45):
also made you cool noodles my version at muck Bar,
because you know, I was on a noodle shop, so
I was like, okay, I have to make them awesome.
I'm really inspired by mokba. You know, much bar is
based off a mukba, Like that's why I came up
with a word. But I feel like you open muk
bar before was actually a thing though, So it was yeah,
(29:09):
I mean it was a thing, but like not as
big as what it is. Now, yeah, it was very
early on, but I was into it from like the beginning. Yeah.
And then that's like what really inspired the name because
I love watching people eat. I love it. So Whole noodles,
which is what peeping looks the one we do at
(29:30):
muk Bar. It's actually my one of my favorite dishes
because it's almost like eating a salad, right. But the noodles,
So the noodles are ramen noodles. Um, but these noodles
are kind of based off of like Sha noodles, so
the thickness the same, but it's fresh noodles. We get
our noodles made by this fender Stun Noodles and it's
like basically the Ferrari of noodles. It's really on them
(29:54):
and stuff so good. Um. And then we do a
lot of like pickled vegetables. Um. We do like pickles,
choking mushrooms obviously, um, kim chi, spinach, bean sprouts, pickled icon,
cucumber scallion, a poach tag and this sauce is like
a traditional elect a junk. And then your tea team,
(30:15):
where are they so funny? Is your mouth watering? Okay?
So I have two types for you. One is our
seafood chun, which is shrimp and squid with chives, and
it's like this really thin like rice crepe batter. So
it's like super super thin and crispy. When you have
a fresh at the restaurant, it's like so crispy, it's amazing.
(30:35):
But yeah, and then the other ones like traditional like kimchi,
and I toasted it in the toaster which worked really
well actually, so enjoy, guys. I'm excited. I'm gonna hit
the first okay, yeah, Terence is going to try that. Okay.
So this was actually one of my favorite. This is
(30:55):
that my mom used to make me, Like how did
your mom make it? Well, you don't want to eat
that first? And then I want you to mm hmmm
mm hmmm mm hmm. Yeah wow, so fresh. That's crazy
(31:17):
because i'mmmed enough time to make me this because we
were so busy to fresh for me. Oh but you
wanted it, I wanted, I asked her. I'll try if
I have time. But I'm so happy I'm eating this now.
I love this, Like sound right, oh man, crispy? When
(31:39):
John is not crispy, I really don't like you. You
get sad, right, I get sad because like the flavor
is still good, but you I don't like when it
get soggy. Perfect. This is really good. When me and
my sister you see choon growing up, we wouldn't only
eat the outer parts and then leave the middle. This
is so good. Those are really good. Yeah, really good.
(32:03):
So how did your mom make her different vegetables? I
felt like my mom had maybe more cabbage in her.
She puts a lot more greens in it. I think,
like greens and cabbage. And she's a way too many
greens though, because she's like a salad. Yeah, but this
is that way of forcing us noodles. There would be
(32:25):
there ud be like a salad with Yeah, it was good. Um,
I'll talk to me about the chun our grandmother. It
was usually only one ingreedies. It was what do you
call this ch chimes? Yeah, it was just only chimes, right,
and I think, um, very flat, but it was like
(32:46):
really spicy too, think like little thin sices to is
like the spiciest Korean pepper. This is like the Korean pizza, right,
yeah do you call a pancake? But like I like
to compare it with like, this is really good. All right,
let me get that sauce night should tread. The kimchi
(33:07):
one is just it's very like traditional. Just yeah, So
what is your favorite dish? Oh? Wow, someone asking me
a question? Oh at the restaurant. Yeah, okay, let's do
both at the restaurant and home. My favorite the dish
that I um like my last meal on earth. It
(33:29):
will always be kimchi tia really kim to tige. Um.
I'm like a kimchi fanatic, Like I love kim chee
so much, and kimchi tige is just like something that
my mom made pretty much like all the time because
she didn't really cook, but you knew how to make
kimchi tiga. So um. I love kim ta and um.
(33:52):
At the restaurant, though we don't. We have a kimchi
raman and space off a kimchi tiga. But I'd say
my favorite dish I really like to pagan that we do.
I really like that, um. But we also do like
a top poky that I really like because we I
do it with like a brown butter and I get
it really crispy, and then I like bacon, and then
(34:15):
the sauce is really special because it's this homemade which
YOUNG like it's aged eighteen months. Some grandma makes it
in her like garage and jersey. Yeah, so, um, this
sauce is really good. And then we add like poached
egg and kimchi. It's like a modern take on topoky
but live us like sometimes like the Poky for me,
like the Street one's like too dense, like it's too much,
(34:39):
like it's super thin, and it gets like really crispy,
but still like chewer young inside m you like that
chun really good chrispy. It's nice. It's a good combo.
(34:59):
I love. People are so jealous right now read um
best pune because we ever heard wow, wow, that's a
you know, she had like a few episodes on Idiot Rising.
Oh did you watch this? I saw a lot of
your content. Um, it's like kim she making a smar Yeah,
(35:23):
and you know what, we shot ten episodes, but they
ended up going more towards music, so they stopped editing them.
The food stuff that they did was really good too.
And because it's such a big part of Asian culture,
food is everything. Yeah, that's the introduction to a lot
of culture for people. You know, food. Yeah, I introduced
people to Korean culture food because I feel like any
(35:45):
interest in a culture always starts with the food. It's
the easiest way. Once you fall in love with the food,
it's like then you curious about the culture. Was spam
and again like a big thing for you or yes
it was spam? Oh man for me, people grew up
on tunic. Yeah, for me, it's spam. I've freaking love scace.
(36:09):
Pork in kimchi is always my favorite, any type of
pork product. Did you guys do this too? When your kids?
Feel like this is very like poor Korean food, like
a comfort food. Just having water? Oh yeah, water in
your rice and then you eat a kimchi. Yeah that's it. Yeah,
of course still is like thinking about that. They're still
(36:30):
it's so insane to me, like we were just I
guess people just put water in their rice and eat
it as a porridge. Yeah, and it just that really
reminds me of like nostalgic home from house, like spam
kimchi and we're like rush in the water. That's it.
So I haven't heard that in a while. Actually, people
(36:54):
like just putting soy sauce, egg butter, a little butter
into into rice and just eating that. Yeah, that was
a go home like I love that we're growing up. Yeah, guys,
thank you so much for joining the show. Where can
we find you? Well, most of our content is on Instagram,
so in the handle is a soul I I S
(37:14):
E S e O U l um our website is
also you say I SE dot c O pretty much.
You guys don't want to share your personal Instagram. That's
what's important than you and that's our show. Thanks for listening.
If you like what you heard, please subscribe and leave
(37:34):
us a five star review. Get Down with Kaytown is
a production of I Heart Radio and was created by
our executive producer, Christopher Haciodes and me as to Troy
follow me on all sociare media at toy Bites, and
I'd also like to thank our producer, editor and mixer
Marci to Peina. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
(37:56):
you listen to your favorite shows.
It's super sad because the best Korean food are these
old grandma's places that have been making the same but
it's like no one young is trying to like take Yeah,
no one's trying to take that over. That's why all
the markets are dying, like the joans are, you know,
all of those like old traditions are all going away.
Perfect example, like how do you do black being noodle dish?
(00:24):
Black being old dish? My father had ate at the
same restaurant and since he was a kid, it was
old like thirty four years. We went back together as adults.
The owners recognized my father from the kid, and they've
been making jotting mom for their their kids take over
and sell the restaurant for a million dollars because that
became a very the real estate. It's like that's exactly
(00:46):
what's happening. Welcome to get down with Kay Town. I'm
your host esther Troy. Hey, Hey, guys, today we are
talking all things fashion. It just happens to be fashion
Week here in New York and I'm so be to
get a chance to sit down with two of my
buddies here in town from Korea to showcase their brand.
(01:06):
Terence Kim and Kevin Kin. Welcome Hello. Two brothers from
New Jersey started a Korean streetwear brand Easy, based of
Soul Korea. Ease has found huge success locally and globally,
really spreading the Korean love through fashion. So I just
went to their show yesterday and let me tell you,
(01:27):
freaking unbelievable. Unbelievable. Yeah, so so dope. The looks were
sick um so much swag. We need a new work
for swag. Um. You guys really killed it. Congratulating thank you.
Have you been to a show before? I've been to
fashion shows, But he said, this was the first Yeah, yeah,
first Easy show? So easy it means second generation? Why
(01:50):
did you decide to name your brand US? I think
that what people first think is we called it, he said,
because we're a second generation Korean Americans. I mean, that's
part of the reason why, but so um, we think
the main reason is pretty much like we get a
lot of inspiration um from previous generations and more traditional
Korean things, and we take those things and reinterpret it
(02:11):
through our own lens through product and content. So that's
kind of like the main reason why it's uh the
name brands who came up with By the way, Kevin's
the creative, right, so he handles everything on the product side,
and I do most like the marketing, sales and stuff.
So you're like tarant you're kind of like the business
(02:33):
person business operations, UM and finance as well or actually
good stuff too. But we also have like okay because
I study finance even really that's interesting because you're the designer, right,
so I do all the design and creative, but then
I also do the numbers stuff too. Nice and you're
(02:55):
like marketing operations and we're a small team, so we
kind of terrible and everything, but he focuses more on
the product side. Got it. Got it? So Kevin came
up with UM and how did you guys start like
working on the brand? Like I know you started from
wanting to do shoes, right, and you were in China?
(03:16):
To ask you how you knew that story because I
do my homework. So you went to China to start
a sneaker brand? So we didn't go to China. Terrences
one year old in me. So after he graduated university,
he went out to China. This was like two nine,
and that's when the job market was kind of terrible.
It was kind of difficult for people to get good
(03:38):
jobs then, right, So there was an option for Terence
to go to hang Jo, which is like a city
like I guess Western Shanghai, to learn Mandarin at a
Chinese language program at a university. Okay, because our father
actually spent a lot of time in China prior and
he was always like, China's the future, you gotta go.
You got you definitely Chinese. So do you speak Chinese?
(04:00):
I do? I mean I used to speak it every
day and that was what eight years ago, So I
forgot a lot of the vocab and stuff. But every
time I do go back to China, comes back to
me slowly, right, and it's Mandarin Mandarin, right. Yeah. So
he was out there for a year and then he
was telling me how crazy it was. So he's like,
you have to come crazy fun, crazy fun because you
(04:21):
were partying, partying and you know, living in a new
country yet. So then while we were both out there,
we were like, we're always interested in street wearing sneakers.
That's how we kind of got into this whole thing,
is like we were like collecting sneakers online and selling them,
and then that led to like denim and the street
where and this like early early street where. And then
we had this idea of, like, we want to start
(04:42):
a shoe brand because we were while we were in China,
like we were actually in the proximity of like factories
and markets, you know, so we knew that if we
want to get things made, it was we could just
have to go out there and do it right. But
we had zero money, zero experience, and we're just young
with the idea of doing it. So, um, we try
to make a few shoes samples, obviously nothing worth. And
(05:03):
then how how east they started was we visited Korea
for the first time while we were in China, right, wait,
first time ever. I mean we were kids, I barely
remember middle school. I think it was the last time
we were in for them as a as a young adults.
We went to Korea for the first time from China,
and then we ended up meeting um, this older gentleman
(05:24):
who has a fashion brand already, and we were kind
of just chopping it up with him, telling him like
these ideas we had and how like the internet shaping
you know, e commerce and marketing, and how they all
those things are being shaped by like the youth and
like just all these new ideas that were like kind
of like foreign to the older generation at the time.
And then he's like, oh, let's make some samples. So
(05:46):
like with our ideas and his like structure, we were
making samples, flying back and forth between China and Korea.
What kind of samples, samples like clothes or shoes, bags?
It was like shoes and bags in the beginning, right,
and then it was going to lead to clothing, but
we started off as successories first and then then he's yet, oh,
you should move to Korea and we should start this
brand together. So we're like, all right, amazing. So at
(06:07):
this point was it this guy was doing a lot
of Korean natural dying, and we were using those fabrics
onto like modern silhouettes, like like van slip ons, like
we did that in all organic Korean organic backpacks we did.
We made it all with Korea natural tact So it
just kind of applying these older things into new ways, right,
(06:27):
which is the DNA of our brand right now. But
long story, and you guys were doing it together as
brothers with this guy, right right, So just us three
and his team kind of working on it, and we're
just the young people just to give him the ideas,
and he was kind of like doing everything else. He
told to move and we finally ended up moving to
Korea from China. And then when we got to Korea, Um,
(06:48):
he didn't want to do it anymore. Why was it
you guys like you guys were like difficult brothers. It
wasn't even that. I think he just got cold foot
at the end of the year. Why he has his
own agenda, he has his own brands like that. I
think he just got excited with like working with new
kids in the beginning, and then when it came down
to actually executing and putting the money down on it,
I think it became more of like a reality, and
then I guess he had to, like he got scared.
(07:08):
He didn't want to take risks al Yeah, maybe that's
what it was. I don't know. I mean, if I
was him, I wouldn't do it either, because like we
have no experience, Like why we're like two three at
the time, Like why are we going to invest in
two young, inexperienced kids to really start a brand. There's
a lot of money, you know, But that was so
like we kind of moved to Korea we had nothing.
We were like, wow, we just moved here, mad credit
card debt, like nothing. And also at that point, like
(07:31):
we've been working with this guy for what three months?
Oh it was only three months? Yeah yeah, but you
were you already made some samples, we got stuff, stuff going.
So we really thought we were gonna like you gotta
taste of exactly right. And then we got there and
he didn't want to do it, which was a blessing
because that's how easy started. Were like so like, yeah,
all right, let's just do it our own blessing, exactly right.
(07:52):
And how did you do that? Like where did you
come up with the funding? Like how did you? I
know in the beginning you have to be like super
scrappy as for sure. How how did that happen? And
I think, uh so after that fallout, we were basically
like left stranding in Korea. I think we had a
couple of thousand dollars to our name two and then
(08:12):
I think we made fifteen bags maybe and then just
that was the first production run fifteen bags. You spent
all our money, um, but we were able to sell
that on the internet to like a few different countries,
and then we were leaving off that money we made
from the bags for five months six months were super broke.
(08:35):
And you know, of course the early days, but the
think about us at that age, we were so young
and naive that we didn't it worked in our favor
because we didn't really know what could go wrong. We
just kept working at it, you know what I'm saying,
and then we we got we caught a break actually,
like we ended up went to FedEx when the king
(08:57):
goes printed out this Yankee business plan from my four
year degree business. So you actually wrote a business plan,
though it was like total ship. You know, I had
like look on Google like what to do of like
how to make a business ban Obviously, dude, I remember
writing my first business and it was just like that,
just like Google, and it's like a template exactly, That's
(09:18):
exactly it was. And then trying to figure out how
to pitch to investors because I was like, we need money,
and I remember it was like we had maybe two
weeks of money left, Like Okay, if we run out
of money in two weeks, probably we probably have to
go back to American figure it out on our own, right,
And that felt like such a failure for us you know,
like we were out like we're probably the only one
of the few people that left the States after university
(09:39):
like trial to things. So to us like failing and
moving back home with our tail between our legs, it's
like the worst that's you know, I rather meaning very embarrassing.
I would be so shameful of that. But also to
like when we started, like the shoe brand or someone
wasn't even a brand when we tried to start a
shoe brand in China, we were already sharing that on
(10:01):
like my tumbler and our blogs before before, so we're
already putting content out there that hey, we're working on something.
And then that didn't really go anywhere. And then we
started posting again and sharing again about you know, doing
back samples and you know and all that and starting
issa and everything. So we're the samples. Yeah, from the start,
(10:23):
right very early part time you say, yeah, but um, yeah,
we ended up I'll just speak this story up. We
ended up making that business plan and pitching it to
a guy who owned a company, a culture company, and
then he pretty much the deal was, he'll own a day,
but he'll pay us a salary and you'll pay for
our apartment. Okay, like, all right, that and he'll fun.
(10:49):
But then he owns the company company. Okay, so I started.
And then so about a year and a half that
we were and we're kind of learning the ropes on
this guy's financing was such a blessing because we're earned
so much and made all these mistakes. And then a
year and a half goes by. We put out what
two collections back collections that did pretty well actually really
considering that we just started. And then unfortunately that guy's
(11:11):
company ended up folding. But he was super closer. I'll
just give you guys back everything with you guys ownership,
he says, yours again. And then we had like maybe
twenty or thirty grand left and stock, and he's like,
you guys could take this flat pains on the dollar.
Why why was he so gracious like a young guy? Yes,
way bigger business to deal with, say, is just like
(11:31):
a you know, this doesn't matter to him what happens
to which we were super grateful for. But then he yeah,
so we bought that, We bought the stock, and we
flipped it a week later to one buyer, so we
had thirty grand. All of a sudden foresee money. That's
how we like really so kind of lucky lucky, right,
So that's how we kind of got like and then
from there we just built it such a long story
(11:52):
and it's such a blessing though. This guy, Yeah what
who is this random guy? That? Okay, he is, Um.
He he's from a very wealthy family and he has
means like that and resources. So I think to him,
he just wanted to give us a chance. And we're
(12:13):
so grateful for this dude to do that. That's kind
of I mean, you guys are like super cool brothers,
so like yeah, yeah, yeah, like you know, we were
in Korea. We don't speak the language, like you know,
we're just but you don't speak the language. Wait, you
didn't speak Korean very like little things we learned from
home pretty much. So it was like, I guess he's
just like it was cute, maybe, you know what, come
(12:34):
to think. I don't think. I don't think I've ever
heard you guys speak Korean. Test you later, I feel
you tested me in Korea probably. Um. So that's how
you guys started the company with the thirty dollars seed money,
and at this point the company is now yours that's
(12:54):
like so amazing, Like he didn't ask for anything back,
Like he didn't ask you guys, not nothing. She ended
up coming back into our into our company later a
couple of years later, and incredible. Talk to me about
(13:21):
this concept of infusing traditional and modern Krein elements into
your brand, Like what does that mean? I think that
this is going to apply for a lot of people
who are born um in another country that are in
mainly another heritage or something. So um. For when we
went to Korea, it's like we're seeing Korean things for
the first time, right, Like you all of us here
(13:42):
grew up in America. We don't really experienced Korean culture
other than maybe food from home, right, But when you
go back to the country mainland, you see everything Korean,
including architecture, design, food, like literally all of assets of
Korean culture use right. So to us seeing that in
an experience, seen that for the first time as Korean Americans,
(14:02):
it was all foreign, right and exciting, and in a
way for us, it's like you're finding you're seeing what's
beautiful about your heritage for the first time in your life,
and you were super inspired, I guess. And then even
like these traditional older things that Korean Koreans local Koreans
don't aren't really like paying attention to because they grew
up with it. To us, it's like, dude, that's amazing,
Like we look at like an old building or even
(14:23):
like Korean natural natural diet. Were so drawn to that
because not only because the history in the story, but
visually it's like we've never seen it before in America.
So for us, like we're like rediscovering our identity, having
appreciation for our culture for the first time, because I
think a lot of Asian Americans in America that you
kind of feel a little bit of a shame of
being a Korean Meerican while you're growing up, maybe you
(14:45):
read racism. You guys have that story. I mean, I
think everyone feeling I mean, I'm sure everyone has that
growing up here during our time, especially right. So we're
like very prideful about our culture for the first time.
So then we wanted to like use those LM into
kind of like mix our American iss to it, and
it kind of showcase that in a brand like Western
(15:05):
culture and kind of spread that around. So that was
like the initial seed for the inspiration behind it. Um Okay,
So Obviously you're very passionate about like sharing your Korean heritage.
That's a big part of what the brand is, right.
Do you feel that that's because you were not born
in Korea? Do you think that your passion grew because
(15:27):
you were born here, Because, like he was saying, when
we got to Korean, we're experiencing all these cultural things
like growing up, we're kind of like, like you said,
a sham about our culture, like you know, like all
these examples even like bringing not a shangebs embarrassment Korean
food to like school, you know, some like little things
(15:48):
like that, Yeah, bringing friends over, you know, so like
that was kind of like always in our mind, but
going to Korea and kind of experiencing all these things
for the first time, like we were really proud and
like this like so dope, and we have to kind
of like share these things with like our friends, family
and like in the Western world like through fashion, and
that's like kind of like, yeah, I don't think local
(16:09):
Koreans would have the same appreciation. Yeah, definitely out there,
you know what I mean. So are there any other
brands that are doing that in Korea? I don't think
the way that we're doing it. To be honest, I
know that they're it's kind of weird. In Korea, there's
there's sometimes a stigma from local Koreans about Korean inspired things,
like people trying to reinterpret like the Hunt Bulk, which
is like the Korean clothing. A lot of Korean people
(16:29):
kind of think that's like, um, a little what's toms
would like? Kind of yeah, because I think local Koreans
are more they like things that from Western countries more
more than their own. But for us, it's kind of flipped,
you know, like we're from the West. We're too used
to it. So like things that we like about Korea,
maybe Koreans wouldn't see it that way, and vice verse
(16:50):
or two. Like when Koreans come to America, they might
be so like New York City, but if we grew
up here, then it's kind of like is this whatever.
It's like that go to time score to like whatever. Yeah,
they avoided you know if any Yeah, it's it's that
same idea. Um, So your company is based in Sould.
I think you said that a lot of your customers
(17:12):
are actually not in Korea. They're like global. Well there's
there's two reasons for that, like one, the goal was
to kind of like make Korean inspire things for the
Western market, kind of expread that culture around. At number two,
it's like we didn't know how to speak Korean. Yeah,
we didn't know anyone in Korea. So how do you
how do you sell a product to a customer that
(17:32):
you can't communicate with the struct But we have already
had like American e commerce, We knew how to do that.
Why did you decide to stay in Soul and do it? Like,
if you want to authentically do Korean inspired fashion, I
think a major part of that is to be living
there and experience in the culture firsthand and like and
aside aside from that too, it's like Korean fabrics and
(17:54):
all these like manufacturing ter sourcings, and you can't get
that outside of Korea really, so like and we were
learning like as we went, you know, we had to
be in Korea to learn these things every day and
apply it to you. You're living your culture basically, and
we wanted to be there at the end of the day.
So all of your pieces are made in Soul. They
(18:14):
were from the start, but now it's like half half.
Like as volume grew and we have to move stuff
like outside of the country like China, but like we
still do like a lot of production locally to but
you're now moving half moving moving to l A, So
you're now finally kind of moving your production over or
like I think the l A moves more for like
(18:35):
marketing and sales. That's kind of like more of the
reason why we're moving on in business development. What kind
of challenges are you anticipating to face. The biggest thing
for me, I think it's just living in America again,
because we've been living in Asia for the past ten years.
We became adults there and Korea has really become our home,
(18:56):
Like I miss Sore and actually really it's being here
for a week. Um, So I think kind of just
adjusting to living back in America. I think it's going
to be small challenge in the beginning, but I think
for the business is going to really help us a lot.
So that's what we're really excited for. So talk to
me about this year's collection. What was the inspiration behind that? Right?
(19:18):
So it's actually a good leeway to that because this
collection was kind of like really focused on what the
core design aesthetic is of of the brand because our
previous seasons it was kind of like more tangible concepts,
like you know, what do you mean by that? So
like a last couple of seasons, for example, it's like
this is based off Korean protest culture, which is a
(19:40):
very thing. You can think about what that looks like already,
or like riots, you know, protests at the very visual thing,
tangible thing. And then the previous season was like, oh,
let's picture say as I got a company like Samsung,
We're like a huge conglomerate and we have multiple things,
and so these are tangible concepts, right, But this season
we kind of really focused on what that design aesthetic,
where what the core design DNA of the brand is. Right.
(20:03):
We always look at the Korean architecture and furniture back
in the day, right, And like a couple of the
design philosophies from back then was like symmetry, balance, and proportions.
So like an example of that would be if a
guy's making a table, he would cut a piece of
wood right in the middle and spread it open so
the left and right side are completely symmetrical, so it
(20:25):
gives that sense of balance. So a lot of these
types of ideas were infused in like Korean like design
and furniture making and architecture design, something that everything had
a purpose, everything had balanced. This idea of symmetry is
really like existent there. So like those things really like
resonated with us for and then we want to kind
of bring that into like the concept of the brand.
And so when you look at some of the clothing,
(20:46):
it's very subtle. It's very subtle, but you know you
bring a lot of like square paneling and right right
angles and making sure that nothing is asymmetrical, and um,
that's kind of like the basis of the concept for
that one. Yeah, it was beautiful, thank you. And even
learning about that, like we had to be in created
to learn about those ideas because visit a furniture maker,
I was gonna say, like what you just like randomly thought, okay,
(21:08):
it's going to be based on that. We went to
an antique furniture market and there's this guy there that's
been selling you know, traditional Korean furniture for like thirty
or years or whatever, and we're just like, you know,
checking it out, and then we start a conversation with
him and he just kind of schools us like about, yeah,
the ideals behind traditional kore furniture design. So it was
like a random outing you went and then you were
(21:30):
inspired by this guy. It was random, but like I know,
for us, especially the first few years of being in Korea,
we were so actively pursuing like learning about Korean design
things that we were like meeting everybody who could that
and like going to all these markets, traveling around the
whole country, going to different like natural die teachers and
granted these all these people that were talking to their
above fifty. Yeah, a different generation and you know that
(21:55):
Korean thing where like the older generation they don't want
to take care of you, thank you, you make you food.
So all these older people like natural dyers, furniture makers,
like these fabric people, all older generation, they really took
the time to like teach us about all this stuff,
the history, the ideas behind it. They make us food,
they make us chem cheek, they make us punch on
(22:15):
to take home because they know that we're two Korean
Americans with no fans. Okay, so how are you guys
communicating with the hand signals Korean? I think the enthusiasm
we had and I think Koreans as a cultural they're
kind of like a little more conservative and shy, whereas
we're coming with this American energy that was allowed and
(22:36):
maybe obnoxious at times. But I think they were like, Okay,
these guys are trying, and we're like they liked it, yeah,
and you know a lot of like translating and like yeah,
but they end up learning some English who end up
learning Korean. And I think it's fun for them because
they don't have these older generation guys. They don't have
the opportunity to communicate with young people because young people
are not interested in especially in Korea, right, especially career right.
So ten twenty thirty years, like all these things are
(22:58):
going to die out because younger people are carrying it
on for the most part. And this goes to food especially.
I was gonna say, it's really sad that nobody, like
everyone's doing like modern food and they don't want to
do anything traditional, right, But what about like right, what
about old techniques and the methods that the preservation Who's
going to teach that? Yeah, I think we talked about
(23:18):
this a little bit when we're getting trade. It's super
sad because the best Korean food are these old grandma's
places that have been making the same But it's like
no one young's trying to take that over. That's why
all the markets are dying like the dogs. You know,
all those like old traditions are all like going away.
Perfect example, like which is black being noodle dish black
(23:40):
bile dish. My father was at at the same rest
shot since he was a kid. It was open for
like thirty or forty years. We went back together as adults.
The owners recognized my father from a kid, and they've
been making jogamen for what thirty years or whatever. Their
their kids take over and sell the restaurant for a
million dollars because that became the real estate. That's exactly
(24:03):
what's happening, like the parents. That just happened like right now,
I probably the last three years. Yeah, so no spots gone,
and that was a great spot, you know. But then
like the kids don't take it on. It's a hard work,
but their parents grinding it out for that long. But
at least they had to payoff that Chinese restaurant. Like
a lot of these places, like the younger generation is
not interested in just doing that kind of work. It's
(24:23):
a lot of hard work, and so yeah, it is
very sad. That's like a very deep conversation. Yeah, everyone
(24:45):
knows family business can be very hard. I know this
because I work with my sister as well. She's my partner. Yeah,
she's older and she does all the finances and like
business side of things, and obviously I'm the creative and
it's hard. Right two years and you guys are pretty
much we're not two years either, we're like twenty months
(25:08):
the same thing then the exact same exactly. So like,
how how is that? I mean, do you guys fight
frozen cons? I think yeah, but I think there's more
pros at in the beginning. Oh my gosh. Right, there
was a few first few years and you don't know
how to divvy up the responsibility. You don't know who's
who has what skills said yet, so you want to
do everything together. So that's when you fight the most.
(25:30):
And also, but on top of that, like living in
Korea and being so broken, not knowing your environment, like
we had so much stress and we had no one else.
We couldn't take it out on anyone else or like
each other, but each other exactly. So I think that
also contributed to the fights clipside, working with family, like
the trust level, it's unreal, Yes, it's the best trust.
(25:53):
You can't lose. You can't break up. I don't know
about the word break up with your brother. You can't, right,
no matter how much you want to run away, you can't.
So even if you fight a lot whatever, Like, at
the end of the day, having a trust between business
partners is so so crucial, you know. I'm sure you
can share that with your sisters. Yeah. Yeah, And also
like just like the creative direction for their brand and
(26:15):
our vision for their brand, because you grow up together
have like very similar experiences. Like everything we envisioned for
the company is always aligned, like we're not you know
what I'm saying, Like, do you know exactly what you
guys want to do? Luckily? Yeah, because it's not like
that for all ceilings what I've noticed, so like I
think maybe you and your sister to us, we have
a kind of a unique relationship, you know, compared to
(26:39):
other people that I've noticed you. Yeah, the mission is
the most important. So what's the future, right, YEA our
second office there um, and then in between that, yeah,
you know, new collections, a bunch of projects, a lot
of collaborations happen next season and then but Terrence, you
said you wanted to like expand on the brand and
(26:59):
not just be fat. Idea for the beginning is to
apply this concept of reinterpreting Korean elements into like all
product categories, but definitely now we definitely have to focus
on clothing and kind of make that more solid before
like transitioning or not transitioning but offering other like lifestyle products.
But we always talk about it, want to like furniture later, Yeah,
(27:20):
like the future future kitchen wear, stationary like whatever. Lifestyle. Yeah,
like even like a hotel or something like that. We
like Big you designed the Hope you know, Moogie does
that you know? Yeah, that's right, too close to yeah, everything,
So like Boi was a big reference to like, oh
we want maybe something like Moodie, not like that type
of brand, but like the fact that they do everything,
(27:41):
all products which we love, yet everything with like traditional
Korean elements. Yeah, right, like reinterpreted. It's like what I'm
doing with Korean food, you guys are doing with like
products and clothing and love it. Obviously I have something
special for you guys. I was curious with its call bag,
(28:02):
so I made you your favorite crane dish. I love
that you guys, picked chon I love as well. We
never called it CHOHn growing up. Okay, so you're talking
about that, What did you call it? What is that?
Have you heard of that word before? Yeah? None of
my friends, So what is that? Um, it's actually it
sounds like it's a country thing. So our our mother's side,
(28:24):
our grandmother, they're all from this area called Jingju in
South Korea, our whole fal. I grew up calling it
gijim like I've never heard. I've never heard h until
I left America and then I would always refer to cha.
Remember I going to a restaurant with my friends and
I was like, oh, let's get the whatever, and it's
like no one knew what I was talking about. I
(28:45):
also made you cool noodles my version at muck Bar,
because you know, I was on a noodle shop, so
I was like, okay, I have to make them awesome.
I'm really inspired by mokba. You know, much bar is
based off a mukba, Like that's why I came up
with a word. But I feel like you open muk
bar before was actually a thing though, So it was yeah,
(29:09):
I mean it was a thing, but like not as
big as what it is. Now, yeah, it was very
early on, but I was into it from like the beginning. Yeah.
And then that's like what really inspired the name because
I love watching people eat. I love it. So Whole noodles,
which is what peeping looks the one we do at
(29:30):
muk Bar. It's actually my one of my favorite dishes
because it's almost like eating a salad, right. But the noodles,
So the noodles are ramen noodles. Um, but these noodles
are kind of based off of like Sha noodles, so
the thickness the same, but it's fresh noodles. We get
our noodles made by this fender Stun Noodles and it's
like basically the Ferrari of noodles. It's really on them
(29:54):
and stuff so good. Um. And then we do a
lot of like pickled vegetables. Um. We do like pickles,
choking mushrooms obviously, um, kim chi, spinach, bean sprouts, pickled icon,
cucumber scallion, a poach tag and this sauce is like
a traditional elect a junk. And then your tea team,
(30:15):
where are they so funny? Is your mouth watering? Okay?
So I have two types for you. One is our
seafood chun, which is shrimp and squid with chives, and
it's like this really thin like rice crepe batter. So
it's like super super thin and crispy. When you have
a fresh at the restaurant, it's like so crispy, it's amazing.
(30:35):
But yeah, and then the other ones like traditional like kimchi,
and I toasted it in the toaster which worked really
well actually, so enjoy, guys. I'm excited. I'm gonna hit
the first okay, yeah, Terence is going to try that. Okay.
So this was actually one of my favorite. This is
(30:55):
that my mom used to make me, Like how did
your mom make it? Well, you don't want to eat
that first? And then I want you to mm hmmm
mm hmmm mm hmm. Yeah wow, so fresh. That's crazy
(31:17):
because i'mmmed enough time to make me this because we
were so busy to fresh for me. Oh but you
wanted it, I wanted, I asked her. I'll try if
I have time. But I'm so happy I'm eating this now.
I love this, Like sound right, oh man, crispy? When
(31:39):
John is not crispy, I really don't like you. You
get sad, right, I get sad because like the flavor
is still good, but you I don't like when it
get soggy. Perfect. This is really good. When me and
my sister you see choon growing up, we wouldn't only
eat the outer parts and then leave the middle. This
is so good. Those are really good. Yeah, really good.
(32:03):
So how did your mom make her different vegetables? I
felt like my mom had maybe more cabbage in her.
She puts a lot more greens in it. I think,
like greens and cabbage. And she's a way too many
greens though, because she's like a salad. Yeah, but this
is that way of forcing us noodles. There would be
(32:25):
there ud be like a salad with Yeah, it was good. Um,
I'll talk to me about the chun our grandmother. It
was usually only one ingreedies. It was what do you
call this ch chimes? Yeah, it was just only chimes, right,
and I think, um, very flat, but it was like
(32:46):
really spicy too, think like little thin sices to is
like the spiciest Korean pepper. This is like the Korean pizza, right,
yeah do you call a pancake? But like I like
to compare it with like, this is really good. All right,
let me get that sauce night should tread. The kimchi
(33:07):
one is just it's very like traditional. Just yeah, So
what is your favorite dish? Oh? Wow, someone asking me
a question? Oh at the restaurant. Yeah, okay, let's do
both at the restaurant and home. My favorite the dish
that I um like my last meal on earth. It
(33:29):
will always be kimchi tia really kim to tige. Um.
I'm like a kimchi fanatic, Like I love kim chee
so much, and kimchi tige is just like something that
my mom made pretty much like all the time because
she didn't really cook, but you knew how to make
kimchi tiga. So um. I love kim ta and um.
(33:52):
At the restaurant, though we don't. We have a kimchi
raman and space off a kimchi tiga. But I'd say
my favorite dish I really like to pagan that we do.
I really like that, um. But we also do like
a top poky that I really like because we I
do it with like a brown butter and I get
it really crispy, and then I like bacon, and then
(34:15):
the sauce is really special because it's this homemade which
YOUNG like it's aged eighteen months. Some grandma makes it
in her like garage and jersey. Yeah, so, um, this
sauce is really good. And then we add like poached
egg and kimchi. It's like a modern take on topoky
but live us like sometimes like the Poky for me,
like the Street one's like too dense, like it's too much,
(34:39):
like it's super thin, and it gets like really crispy,
but still like chewer young inside m you like that
chun really good chrispy. It's nice. It's a good combo.
(34:59):
I love. People are so jealous right now read um
best pune because we ever heard wow, wow, that's a
you know, she had like a few episodes on Idiot Rising.
Oh did you watch this? I saw a lot of
your content. Um, it's like kim she making a smar Yeah,
(35:23):
and you know what, we shot ten episodes, but they
ended up going more towards music, so they stopped editing them.
The food stuff that they did was really good too.
And because it's such a big part of Asian culture,
food is everything. Yeah, that's the introduction to a lot
of culture for people. You know, food. Yeah, I introduced
people to Korean culture food because I feel like any
(35:45):
interest in a culture always starts with the food. It's
the easiest way. Once you fall in love with the food,
it's like then you curious about the culture. Was spam
and again like a big thing for you or yes
it was spam? Oh man for me, people grew up
on tunic. Yeah, for me, it's spam. I've freaking love scace.
(36:09):
Pork in kimchi is always my favorite, any type of
pork product. Did you guys do this too? When your kids?
Feel like this is very like poor Korean food, like
a comfort food. Just having water? Oh yeah, water in
your rice and then you eat a kimchi. Yeah that's it. Yeah,
of course still is like thinking about that. They're still
(36:30):
it's so insane to me, like we were just I
guess people just put water in their rice and eat
it as a porridge. Yeah, and it just that really
reminds me of like nostalgic home from house, like spam
kimchi and we're like rush in the water. That's it.
So I haven't heard that in a while. Actually, people
(36:54):
like just putting soy sauce, egg butter, a little butter
into into rice and just eating that. Yeah, that was
a go home like I love that we're growing up. Yeah, guys,
thank you so much for joining the show. Where can
we find you? Well, most of our content is on Instagram,
so in the handle is a soul I I S
(37:14):
E S e O U l um our website is
also you say I SE dot c O pretty much.
You guys don't want to share your personal Instagram. That's
what's important than you and that's our show. Thanks for listening.
If you like what you heard, please subscribe and leave
(37:34):
us a five star review. Get Down with Kaytown is
a production of I Heart Radio and was created by
our executive producer, Christopher Haciodes and me as to Troy
follow me on all sociare media at toy Bites, and
I'd also like to thank our producer, editor and mixer
Marci to Peina. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
(37:56):
you listen to your favorite shows.
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