Press
British Vogue, February 2019
"Moomooz is a rising rookie in the global kid’s fashion industry.”
Found in Seoul, Korea, moomooz is a rising rookie in the global kids’ fashion industry. Moomooz creates a platform for 50+ Korean designer brands to provide an endless wardrobe of trendy, vibrant, and inspirational children’s fashion items. Cool mums, dads, and kids, start your shopping spree with moomooz now at www.moomooz.com
Hooligans Magazine, January 12, 2019
“Moomooz strives to deliver not only amazing kids clothes, but also love and sincerity.”
“What kind of clothes would I want my child to wear?”, “What would I want to wear if I were a child?”
Questions from a mom’s heart and a child’s perspective brought Moomooz to life. Introducing 50+ original brands from Seoul, Korea, Moomooz strives to deliver not only amazing kids clothes, but also love and sincerity. Fill your child’s wardrobe with heart-made garments at www.moomooz.com!
Hooligans Magazine, December, 20, 2018
“Meet Moomooz, a new online shopping platform curating amazing kids clothes from 50+ original Korean designer brands.”
Meet Moomooz, a new online shopping platform curating amazing kids clothes from 50+ original Korean brands. Little Closet’s Hood Layered Down Puffer in beige is an amazing winter outerwear that plays with various colors, materials, and textures. Experience more wearable magic for children at www.moomooz.com!
Maekyung, January 23, 2019
“We were certain that if great products are sold at amazing prices, a new kids’ fashion boom can occur.”
If the global key IT ecosystem Silicon Valley is located in California, United States, and the incomparable fashion merchandising ecosystem Dongdaemun and Namdaemun are sited in Seoul, Korea. Dongdaemun began to flourish in the 1960s, with the fiber business boom. From fabric manufacturing to garment designs and now to supplying boutique clothing lines, Dongdaemun has a unique infrastructure that enables one-stop fashion goods production. The words say that China and Vietnam are quickly catching up, but frankly, Dongdaemun and Namdaemun’s production set-up only within a 10km boundary is unrivaled.
CMI Partners, a startup established in 2015, knew that Korea’s unique fashion infrastructure should be treasured and utilized at a global level. Erica Lee, the CEO of CMI Partners, started off with the goal to create an ‘online version of Korean ZARA,’ based on her work experience at Boston Consulting Group and Cheil Industries’ Shanghai branch.
“Children’s wear has some key potentials that enable global targeting,” said Lee. First, children’s fashion, especially ranging from ages three to eight, is not influenced as much as adults’ fashion by the newest trends. Second, quality is the most significantly valued. Customers, usually parents, tend consider the composition of materials, washing methods, the use of eco-friendly components very carefully. Third, online purchasing rates are high. The needs to be able to buy conveniently via online platforms were eminent, rather than having to go through the hassle of visiting offline stores. Lee explained, “Return rate at only 4% after online purchases is a clear evidence that parents need a more convenient way of shopping for their children.”
Stock management is made much easier if a single product can appeal to global markets like China and the United States, surpassing Korea’s boundaries. This also means that high quality children’s clothes produced within Korea’s fashion ecosystem can be made available with more reasonable prices. “We were certain that if great products are sold at amazing prices, a new kids’ fashion boom can occur,” said Lee.
With clear goals and core beliefs, CMI Partners launched an online children’s fashion platform ‘moomooz’ in November, 2018. Moomooz curates kids’ wear from over 50+ original Korean brands. Although only a couple months has passed since moomooz began to sell, there are proofs that CMI Partner’s tactics are working. For example, some customers from the US mass purchased $500 to $700 worth of children’s clothes. Considering that each garment is about $30, this is very meaningful. “We are on a good start,” said Lee.
https://mirakle.mk.co.kr/view.php?year=2019&no=46283
Maekyung Economy, August 22, 2018
“I realized Korean fashion can really work in the exponentially growing global fashion industry. That’s how this all began.”
Erica Eunju Lee, the CEO and founder of CMI Partners, found a vein of gold in the so called ‘declining’ fashion industry. Lee started her career as a consultant at one of the big three consulting firms, Boston Consulting Group(BCG), after graduating from KAIST(Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology). After receiving her MBA at Harvard, Lee stepped into the fashion industry at the Shanghai branch of Cheil Industries Inc.(now known as Samsung Fashion). Why did Lee decide to suddenly turnover her fancy career?
“While I was working at Cheil’s Shanghai office, I learned how prevailing Korea’s fashion industry can be. I believe Korea’s speedy production infrastructure is the world’s top rated—it’s the power of Dongdaemun and Namdaemun. I thought it was very unfortunate that the best strengths of Korea’s fashion industry was not given the spotlight in Korea’s limited fashion business field. Then I realized Korean fashion can really work in the exponentially growing Chinese fashion industry. And that’s how this all began.”
Lee’s pick was children’s wear. The gap in the trending women’s clothes are extremely different in every country. Nevertheless, Lee was certain that children’s wear startup had a chance in the global market. She established CMI Partners in 2015, and launched her very first children’s wear brand, ‘Little Closet’.
In 2016, Little Closet’s offline pilot stores opened in Nanjing, China, and the results were extremely successful. Lee was the first of Korean entrepreneurs to establish a joint venture with the Hao Hai Zi Group, China’s largest children’s products company. Hao Hai Zi Group invested 9 million US dollars on CMI partners, which is eventually used to open over 100 Little Closet offline stores in China within 2019.
Moreover, CMI Partners managed to be funded 5 million US dollars by four VCs including Mirae Asset in July, 2018. It’s an unprecedented case for a fashion startup to receive such a big amount.
“We’re planning to launch a new online platform targeting the US and Europe this coming September,” said Lee, “This new platform will carry children’s wear not only from Little Closet but also from many other original Korean brands. We look forward to provide the grounds for Korea’s fashion industry to perform at its fullest potential.”
http://vip.mk.co.kr/newSt/news/news_view.php?sCode=10002&t_uid=20&c_uid=1623299
Apparel News, November 19, 2018
“We thought Korean children’s wear with high quality design and material, and great prices, is just what our target markets needed.”
CMI Partners launched a brand new online platform ‘moomooz,’ which curates original children’s wear from various Korean designer brands on November 7th, 2018.
Targeted countries include the US, Canada, and parts of Europe, where kids fashion industry is very much appreciated. Moomooz provides English as its primary language, and consumers can purchase products with US dollars, Euros, and Pounds sterling.
“Europe has a lot online and offline stores carrying designer brand children’s wear, but the high price ranges make it difficult to consumers to purchase without hesitating. We thought Korean children’s wear with high quality design and material, and great prices, is just what our target markets needed,” said Erica Eunju Lee, CEO and founder of CMI Partners.
Moomooz carries children’s wear from 50+ original Korean designer brands, including CMI Partner’s ‘Little Closet’. Moomooz’s products can be viewed through the girls and boys categories, or can also be sorted by brands and colors. More brands will continuously be added. Moomooz is also looking forward to expanding its categories to kids’ lifestyle in general.
When products from various partnering brands arrive at CMI Partner’s distributing center in Seoul, products will be compiled and shipped together via international shipping. Returns and refunds are also coordinated by CMI Partner’s Seoul distributing center.
One of the greatest strengths of moomooz is product suggestions provided based on data science. Moomooz suggests what each customer is likely to consider buying, referring to previously collected data specified by region and personal taste. Another fun service moomooz will soon begin to provide is the ‘Find Your Style’ Quiz, which analyzes customers’ previous search and shopping records to suggest just the right products for individual customers. Moomooz’s data science team is striving every night and day to better understand and analyze customers’ shopping patterns in many different perspectives.
Moomooz is utilizing many SNS and other channels for marketing, and also is planning to hold marketing events like opening up offline pop-up stores in targeted countries. Furthermore, moomooz is looking forward to strengthening the merchandising team to source more competitive Korean children’s wear brands to introduce to the world.
http://www.apparelnews.co.kr/naver/view.php?iid=73657
News 1, August 6, 2018
“CMI Partners was funded 5 million US dollars by four VCs including Mirae Asset. It’s an exceptional case for a fashion startup to receive such a big amount.”
CMI Partners was funded 5 million US dollars by four VCs including Mirae Asset on July 24th, 2018. It’s an exceptional case for a fashion startup to receive such a big amount. Senior Investment Manager of Mirae Asset explained, “We decided to fund CMI Partners with all respect to their excellent global business execution skills.”
Erica Eunju Lee Lee, CEO and founder of CMI Partners is planning to put in a large sector of the received funding to develop and strengthen a global online children’s wear platform, targeting the US and Europe, which is scheduled to launch within 2018.
“I want to be an entrepreneur who can take part in prospering Korea’s fashion industry,” Lee said, “It would be great if the government could help, but I hope the government can take a closer look at Korea’s fashion industry in general, not just our company. There are so many sewing factories and fabric producing companies that are closing down. It’s like losing a big part of national gems. They deserve to be recognized and appreciated.”
Sending a round of applause to the female entrepreneur with passion and dedication.
http://news1.kr/articles/?3390770
Fashion Biz, July 25, 2018
“CMI Partner’s main goal is to introduce various Korean designer brands that design sophisticated kids clothes with competitive qualities to the US and European markets.”
CMI Partners, a children’s wear production and distribution startup has been funded 5 million US dollars by four VCs, including Mirae Asset. CMI Partners is planning to launch an online platform that curates original children’s wear from various Korean designer brands targeting the US and Europe within 2018.
Jinhwan Cho, Senior Investment Manager of Mirae Asset explained, “We are extremely impressed in CMI Partner’s excellent global business execution skills. We’re expecting for even better ideas to emerge”
CMI Partners is planning to put in a large sector of the received investment to develop and strengthen a global online children’s wear platform. The company’s main goal is to introduce various Korean designer brands that design sophisticated kids clothes with competitive qualities to the US and European markets. CMI Partner’s data science team is striving to specify the target consumer pool by analyzing customer needs using big data.
http://www.fashionbiz.co.kr/TN/?cate=2&recom=2&idx=167834