Jaahn Bio "Acquires Jaahn Cosmetic and Italian Luxury Brand 'Hydrogen'"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Jaahn Bio and Jaahn Cosmetic announced on the 23rd through a public disclosure that they have jointly signed a contract to acquire 100% of the shares of ‘Hydrogen S.r.l.’ located in Italy.

Through this acquisition of Hydrogen, Jaahn Bio and Jaahn Cosmetic plan to expand the brand’s category from the existing luxury sportswear (fashion) to premium hygiene products and cosmetics.

The fashion category will be handled by Jaahn Group, premium hygiene products by Jaahn Bio, and cosmetics by Jaahn Cosmetic. Jaahn Bio has already launched functional fashion masks and premium hand sanitizer products using the Hydrogen brand earlier this year.

Hydrogen, an Italian luxury sportswear brand headquartered in Milan, was founded in 2003 by tennis player-turned-designer Alberto Bresci. The brand mainly sells casual wear as well as luxury golf wear, tennis, and performance products.

The brand name ‘Hydrogen’ was inspired by hydrogen, which was gaining attention as a future fuel at the time of its founding, and means ‘innovative ideas leading future change.’ True to its name, Hydrogen has attracted worldwide attention through bold collaborations crossing various fields since its establishment.

It has introduced numerous collaboration product lines with famous fashion brands such as Duvetica, Superga, and Alberto Biani. It has also collaborated with well-known brands unrelated to fashion, including Japan’s popular character Hello Kitty, supercar brand Lamborghini, and luxury yacht brand Wally Maxi Yacht.

Hydrogen showcased distinctive designs using the brand’s signature skull logo, H2J patches, and camouflage patterns. As luxury sportswear with excellent functionality, it has gained particular popularity in the Japanese market beyond Europe. In Korea, Jaahn Group has exclusively operated the brand since 2013.

A representative of Jaahn Group said, “We recently signed a license agreement with a domestic distributor for the Hydrogen golf wear product line,” adding, “Through this, we plan to actively operate golf wear stores mainly in major domestic department stores such as the Apgujeong Galleria Department Store main branch and street-level stores.”

They continued, “We are also on the verge of signing an exclusive distribution contract with a large Chinese distributor for the Hydrogen brand’s entry into the Chinese market.”

Jaahn Bio, Jaahn Group, and Jaahn Cosmetic plan to accelerate business expansion through various global company acquisitions, starting with this acquisition of the Italian brand Hydrogen.

A representative of Jaahn Bio emphasized, “We plan to actively pursue M&A of global bio and health functional food companies, global luxury fashion companies, and global cosmetic companies in the future,” adding, “To this end, we will actively utilize the experience and network of Jaahn Bio CEO An Si-chan, who has over 20 years of experience in brand business targeting the global market in the US and Korea.”