[Life Act 3 Companies] Beyond Care to Fashion... 'The New Gray' Cultivating 'Hip Middle-aged'

The New Gray CEO Kwon Jeong-hyun

In home shopping commercials, there is often a middle-aged man eating, or an elderly person suddenly clutching their chest and collapsing in insurance ads...

The image of middle-aged men portrayed in media, especially advertisements, is mostly like this. Broadly speaking, the senior industry is similar. It is expanding mainly around models such as caregiving and nursing. The senior fashion content agency startup, The New Gray, started from CEO Kwon Jeong-hyun’s (35) question, "Is there a business targeting middle-aged people that is free from caregiving?"

The influence of The New Gray can be especially seen on SNS (social networking services). They boast about 700,000 followers combined on Instagram and TikTok. This is thanks to the influencer group "Ajeossis" nurtured by The New Gray. They break away from the typical attire one might associate with "ajeossi" (middle-aged men), wearing jogger pants or stylish business looks favored by younger people, and perform trending dance challenges on SNS. Thanks to fresh and stylish content, their TikTok cumulative views exceeded 100 million last year. Riding on the popularity of Ajeossis, The New Gray also launched "Grannies," a group of 10 middle-aged women, and the second male middle-aged group "Kkondaegarson."

On the 14th, Asia Economy met with CEO Kwon, who runs The New Gray. The company is located at the Dongdaemun branch of "Musinsa Studio," a fashion-specialized shared office created by Musinsa. It is a space made to nurture and support small to medium-sized fashion brands, housing over 200 fashion companies. Most of the occupants are fashion industry workers in their 20s and 30s. When asked if this atmosphere is far from the "senior business," CEO Kwon said, "I deliberately insisted on this location." There are many upscale lounge offices for middle-aged people now, and they received offers to move in, but all were declined. They wanted seniors visiting the company to continuously experience the atmosphere and style created by the younger generation.

CEO Kwon majored in IT systems at Hanyang University, interned at a large corporation, and went on a training program in Silicon Valley. He decided that working as part of an organization was not suitable for him and resolved to start a business. In 2014, he founded "Hello Gentle," the predecessor of The New Gray, gaining experience in fashion styling, content production, fashion commerce operation, and running an offline barbershop and cafe.

His path was not always smooth. He experienced two failures in 2017 and 2020 and even worked for a company due to lack of funds. However, he never gave up on entrepreneurship. He only slightly changed the business direction within the senior industry. CEO Kwon said, "I felt I was lacking, but I didn’t think there was a fundamental problem with the business model itself." He currently works with three employees.

CEO Kwon Jeong-hyun of The New Gray, a fashion brand for seniors. Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@

- How did the senior influencer group "Ajeossis" start?

▲ Originally, we planned to make individual seniors into influencers. We gathered about 30 people, but seniors found it difficult to manage their SNS individually. Since I couldn’t manage each person’s SNS, we decided to group several people and present them as a group. The name "Ajeossis" was initially opposed by everyone, but we wanted to boldly use the word "ajeossi" to change its image. We filmed videos of stylishly styled ajeossis riding escalators together and doing dance challenges, posting them on Instagram and TikTok. This coincided with the rise of short-form content on SNS, and views exploded.

- What is the revenue model?

▲ The main income source is corporate advertising campaigns through makeover content (changing appearance through hairstyle or makeup). Companies targeting seniors produce makeover content with us, and we receive advertising fees. It is done more as a brand campaign than for product purchase conversion, accounting for about 90% of revenue. Last year, as the pandemic ended, campaigns were held about once a month. This year, it has decreased somewhat due to the economy.

We also operate an academy called "The New Gray Club." It is an educational program for those who want to become senior influencers or creators, teaching photography, video editing, styling, and how to shoot Instagram Reels (short videos). Classes are once a week for three months. The tuition fee is 600,000 KRW per month. The fourth session starts in May, and about 50 people have taken the course up to the third session. Although the academy originally ends after three months, students requested additional lectures, so an advanced class was created, showing high satisfaction.

- What happens after completing the academy?

▲ Graduates of the academy create their own content as senior creators and actively engage. While growing their individual influence, they can also work with our agency. Since we recently opened a product sales page, we plan to have them promote as models. We aim to create revenue channels for them and establish a virtuous cycle by leveraging their influence.

- Any plans for investment?

▲ We have received many inquiries about investment but have never accepted any so far. I have an artist-like temperament in business, and I worry that receiving investment might restrict my freedom. However, recently I think we need investment to grow the business volume as much as our influence and recognition increase. This is because I want to transform The New Gray into a global senior lifestyle platform. But I hope to find a venture capital that fully trusts the direction I choose as CEO.

- What is the sales target for this year?

▲ Sales might decrease this year. Last year, as the COVID-19 situation eased, campaign project contracts increased, recording 500 million KRW in sales, but this year, due to the poor economy, I’m not sure if we can achieve the same.

- What is the most memorable campaign project?

▲ The most meaningful collaboration was the "Back to Heroes" makeover project with the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs in 2021. It was a truly great project. We invited nine Korean War veterans, gave them makeovers, and captured their new looks in photos and videos. The Ministry approached us first with the project. Initially, there was talk of dressing them in street fashion, but I thought differently. Looking at photos of independence fighters, they always wore suits. Since these veterans saved the country, I wanted to shoot them in a similar atmosphere. That project won many external awards.

- What are your future plans?

▲ We plan to start YouTube in earnest. We will run a YouTube channel like a broadcasting station, visiting popular restaurants with seniors who have long operated restaurants, or shooting content about welding with seniors who have welding experience. We also plan to expand The New Gray Club academy, currently only in Seoul, nationwide and improve the system.

We will also establish a corporation in Japan. An advertising and commerce company in Japan approached us first. We plan to create a joint corporation with that company and continue similar businesses such as makeover projects and the academy as in Korea.