Hansae Co., cloth designer and maker, which has plants in a number of countries, has won the $1 billion Export Tower Medal for exporting more than $1 billion worth of fashion products.

 The clothing designer and dress maker, which was founded in 1982, has its plants in such countries in Asia as Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar and also a number of countries in Latin America, including Nicaragua and Guatemala. 

 It also has an R&D center in New York.Hansae’s revenue in 2013 totaled 1.17 trillion won. The company not only makes clothes, but also designs them with its own fabrics, operating a made-to-order type system to give its customers wide-ranging choices from design to fabric. 

 The company has grown to be a trend setter in the global fashion industry under the strong leadership of Vice Chairman and CEO Lee Yong-baek. 

 One of the most important factors for the company’s success has been the close communication between the head office in Seoul and its overseas plants. The synergy — created between the outstanding management strategies drawn up at the head office and the excellent work done to develop the fabrics and the supply capacity provided by the overseas plants through localization -- led the company’s great success thus far, sources close to the company said. Hansae’s expansion overseas since 1986 has been breathtaking, with the number of overseas subsidiaries totaling. The company set up its first overseas subsidiary in Saipan in 1986 followed a number of countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nicaragua and Guatemala.

 It took three years of intensive efforts to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in Saipan’s free business environment, which has no quotas and custom taxes for foreign companies to bring their products into the country. But the government had been reluctant to issue a license to set up a subsidiary in the country. Hansae’s success in Saipan helped other Korean clothing firms set up shop in the S.E. Asian country.

 Hansae’s overseas subsidiaries, while helping the company’s operation grow worldwide through their successful localization in the countries they operate, have also been of a big help to boosting the image of Korean business firms around the world, fashion industry sources said.

 Chairman Kim Dong-young, the founder of Hansae Co., won the Industrial Merit Silver Tower medal at the 28th Textile Day for his contribution to the growth of the textile industry in Korea. The chairman launched Hansae in 1982. 

 In 2013, the company’s sales amounted to 1 trillion won and maintained that the following year. The company’s average annual growth reached 20 percent over the past three decades of operation, contributing heavily to employment and the growth of the textile industry.

 Kim said he was very happy to win the medal, adding that he has been working with a garment maker for the past 40 years since 1972, helping the growth of the textile industry to become what it is now. The textile industry had its share of ups and downs over the years, but challenges were overcome with the help of the senior people in the industry and he will continue to devote himself to the further development of the industry in the days ahead. 

 The ODM-type company supplies more than 200 million its garments annually to such world-renowned brands as Nike, Ralph Lauren, GAP, Hollister, W-Mart, Old Navy and Abercrombie and Fitch, among others.