Youngone Corp., a South Korean original design manufacturer (ODM) for foreign outdoor brands such as The North Face and Nike, will build an R&D center in Bangladesh by 2027 for weaving, printing and design, said Sung Ki-hak, the company's chairman and chief executive on Thursday. The R&D center will be composed of seven divisions for textile, design and other operations.
It will hire 2,000 employees, including 20 professors and 30 researches with masters’ or doctoral degrees by 2027. In close proximity to the facility, it will establish a university-level educational institution with textile to clothing design curriculums for its employees around the end of next year in commemoration of its 50th anniversary this year. The institution will collaborate with Korean and foreign universities to develop cutting-edge technologies, Sung said in an interview with The Korea Economic Daily.
Later on, it will open the door of the education center to those from outside. Youngone manufactures clothes for global sportswear brands, including Patagonia, Adidas and Lululemon, under licensed agreements. It built its first overseas factory in Bangladesh in 1980 to cope with export quotas imposed by its top export countries.
Some 60% of its products are manufactured in Bangladesh. In the following years, it set up a factory in China to maximize its cheap labor costs and then one in Vietnam with an aim to diversify its manufacturing base as part of a speed to market strategy. It also runs produc.
