"Plain Leather Shoes" Yoon Seok-yeol's Shoes Sold Out... Reservation Waitlist Flooded

No Stock at Headquarters... At Least One Month Until Supply
Related Products Removed from Official Website... Online Orders Unavailable
Viner Annual Sales of 30 Billion Won... Operating Over 70 Stores Nationwide

President Yoon Seok-yeol enjoying shopping at Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam branch on his first weekend after inauguration. Photo by Reader, Yonhap News Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] The domestic brand ‘Vainer’ shoes purchased by President Yoon Seok-yeol sold out within a day. Currently, the remaining stock is only available for purchase through online shopping malls, and offline reservations require about a month of waiting to receive the product.

A Vainer representative said in a phone interview with Asia Economy on the 16th, "The comfort shoe model purchased by the President and First Lady is currently out of stock at the headquarters, with no inventory left," adding, "At the Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam branch visited by the President and First Lady, there were only a few pairs left initially, so all sizes are sold out."

Currently, to purchase this model from Vainer, customers must place a pre-order and wait. Considering the time required for supply, it is expected to take 3 to 4 weeks to receive the product.

The product purchased by the President and First Lady is a functional comfort shoe, a plain loafer-style ‘plain leather shoe’ without any laces, bulk, or decorations. The regular price is 279,000 KRW, and it is known that President Yoon purchased it at a discounted price in the 190,000 KRW range.

This pair of shoes was personally selected by First Lady Kim Geon-hee, and it is reported that President Yoon said the shoes were "comfortable" after trying them on. A spokesperson from the press office explained, "President Yoon prefers shoes with almost no heels that are comfortable for his feet and go well with suits," adding, "The shoes he is currently wearing were bought three years ago, but since they have been worn for a long time and are too worn out, he prepared new shoes."

The official Vainer website experienced a server crash due to a surge of users starting from the 14th, the day President Yoon purchased the shoes. On the restored official website, the model purchased by the President is missing from the product listings, making online ordering difficult.

The fashion items of the President and First Lady often cause sell-out situations whenever they are revealed to the public. In March, a pair of white slippers priced around 30,000 KRW worn by First Lady Kim in a photo with a police special forces bomb detection dog sold out on online shopping malls within a day, causing a stir.

Meanwhile, the brand Vainer, purchased by President Yoon, is a domestic small and medium-sized enterprise founded in 1994 by CEO Kim Won-gil, a former shoemaker, under the name ‘Antoni.’ The company changed its name after acquiring the Italian brand Vainer in 2011. Before COVID-19, it was a company with annual sales of 30 billion KRW and currently sells shoes in about 70 stores nationwide. His son, Kim Woo-hyun, is a professional golfer affiliated with the Korea Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA) and debuted on the Korean Tour in 2012, now in his 11th year as a player.