An interview with Im I-rang, CEO of Konny by Erin
The 'Konny bib' has become a must-have for parents raising young children
1 million bibs sold annually — sales hit 82.3 billion won last year
'Our goal is to make parents' lives look great'
![Im I-rang, CEO of Konny by Erin, holds up one of the company's products during an interview. [Konny by Erin]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/08/news-p.v1.20260604.4638bb8e322947b3a863c9b4dffdffa8_P1.jpg)
"Konny's mission is to make parents' lives easier and more stylish. We built our products with the goal of improving the lives of parents."
Every parent raising a baby dreams of clocking out of childcare duties as early as possible — a sentiment so common in Korea that a slang term, "yuk-toe," has emerged for it. Konny by Erin caught on through word of mouth by cutting down on baby laundry and taking the guesswork out of parenting. As the buzz spread through parenting cafes and mommy blogs, customer requests began pouring in: "Please make something like this."
What started as a baby carrier brand has since expanded into nursing wear, bibs and clothing. This is the story of Konny by Erin, the company behind the "Konny bib" — a name virtually every parent in Korea has heard. The bib grew out of a customer request for a drool pad for baby carriers. Its ergonomic design and quick-drying fabric earned it a devoted following, captured in the phrase "you always come back to Konny." The company now sells 1 million bibs a year.
"As a working mom, I was always short on time," Im I-rang, CEO of Konny by Erin, said in an interview. "I started the company because I couldn't find a baby carrier I liked, and every year I ended up making thermal underwear because there was nothing I wanted to dress my kids in."
On Im's business card, the words "mom to Ji-yong and Ji-heon" sit beside her title. Products born from her own parenting experience carry a level of detail that sets them apart — and that detail has been the secret to the company's growth.
▶ One sold every 30 seconds — 'A great product is its own marketing'
Even as Korea's low birth rate continues to weigh on the consumer market, Konny's sales have kept climbing, prompting more and more people to ask about the company's marketing strategy. Im pushed back on the premise. "Did Tesla become famous because of great marketing?" she said. "A great product is the marketing. If you make something good, word spreads on its own — I think that's enough."
Sales have grown from 300 million won in 2017, the company's early days, to 82.3 billion won (approximately $54.5 million) last year — roughly 274-fold growth in eight years.
In practice, Konny has bet on product quality. It was the first in the industry to introduce what it calls a "smart care label." Parents routinely cut out clothing labels with scissors to keep them from irritating their children's skin, but removing standard labels cleanly is time-consuming and rarely neat. Konny's labels tear off by hand in one clean pull.
Konny's T-shirts also feature snap buttons at the neckline, making it easier to slip a baby's head through without a struggle — cutting down on the daily tug-of-war that comes with dressing an infant.
The bib, too, has become a daily staple thanks to its fast-drying fabric and reversible double-sided design.
These small details — the kind only parents notice — have become Konny's competitive edge. With 1 million bibs sold each year, the math works out to roughly one bib every 30 seconds.
"The guiding principle has always been: does this make life as a parent more stylish and easier?" Im said. "We constantly ask ourselves whether our product makes parenting easier than the alternatives."
Konny's word-of-mouth momentum has also resonated with parents around the world through social media. About 60 percent of the company's sales now come from overseas.
Recently, the number of foreign tourists making their way to Konny's headquarters has grown noticeably — visitors who, while in Korea, want to see and touch the products in person and look up "Konny" on a map to find it. The company has no physical retail stores. Without ever resorting to "seeding" — the common practice of sending free products to influencers and celebrities — Konny still generated buzz when a famous Hollywood actor was spotted wearing one of its carriers. Daniel Radcliffe, best known for playing the title role in the "Harry Potter" films, drew widespread attention when he brought his three-month-old son to a Screen Actors Guild strike rally in the United States wearing a Konny baby carrier.
"Because we put so much into the product itself, a lot of customers took notice — and ironically, not doing seeding is part of what made us famous," Im said. "Models, celebrity moms who are former K-pop idols, and TV anchors started wearing our products, and word of mouth gradually spread from there."
▶ 60% of remote staff are raising children — and a 1 trillion won roadmap
The firsthand parenting experience of Konny's own employees also feeds into its product development. Of the company's 137 staff members, about 60 percent are working mothers or fathers currently raising children. "Our employees who are raising kids contribute a lot of ideas," Im said. "They dress their own children in the products and use them personally, and that's how we improve what we make."
The company's family-friendly culture has recently begun attracting talent leaving large conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics. Konny by Erin operates on a flexible work model with remote work as the default, which means some employees live in Jeju or Daegu. However, the company has recognized the value of in-person collaboration and has recently begun supplementing remote work with regular face-to-face meetings and on-site days.
"We keep remote work as the foundation, within the limits of what doesn't hurt efficiency," Im said.
Konny by Erin has set its sights on reaching 1 trillion won in sales within 10 years. "If we grow at a compounding rate of 30 percent a year, we get to 1 trillion won in 10 years," Im said. "The moment you think you've reached a stable plateau, I think you're finished. Staying just a little ahead of the pace of change in the world seems to be what works." She added that the goal is not to hit 1 trillion won for its own sake. "I want steady, sustained growth," she said.
boo@heraldcorp.com
