On 6 month 4 day, Asian private equity investment firm Zhongwei Capital announced the completion of its investment in Korean fashion group IICOMBINED (Sinobai Co., Ltd.).
Although the transaction amount was not disclosed, according to earlier reports by the Korea Economic Daily, in 2025 year 8 month some old shareholders sold approximately 1.94% of their shares for 4670 ten thousand US dollars (about RMB 3.16 hundred million yuan), and the buyer was Zhongwei Capital, corresponding to an overall group valuation of about 3.35 trillion Korean won (about RMB 148 hundred million yuan). The nature of this investment was a transfer of old shares and did not dilute the controlling stake of the founding team.
The name IICOMBINED may be unfamiliar to ordinary consumers, but its subsidiary GENTLE MONSTER is a trendy eyewear brand known to almost everyone. In addition, the group also owns creative beauty brand TAMBURINS, art dessert brand NUDAKE, hat brand ATiiSSU, and tableware brand Nuflaat. The entry of Zhongwei Capital has once again made this Korean fashion group the focus of the capital market.
▍Partial brand matrix of IICOMBINED
The question is, why would a company that started with eyewear make investors give a valuation close to 150 hundred million yuan? More noteworthy is why its beauty brand TAMBURINS can rise against the trend amid the overall cooling of Korean beauty. The logic behind this investment is actually a long-term experiment about monetizing aesthetics.
To understand the value of IICOMBINED, one must first step out of the traditional framework of fashion companies. It does not build an empire by acquiring historical brands like LVMH, nor does it rely on cash flow from luxury leather goods like Kering. IICOMBINED's core capability lies in its extreme skill at transforming an abstract cultural concept or emotion into a sellable commodity, and then turning the place where the commodity is sold into an immersive art exhibition.
Every flagship store of eyewear brand GENTLE MONSTER and beauty brand TAMBURINS is an independently themed art space. The brand employs more spatial designers than product designers, which is almost unimaginable in traditional fashion companies. Stores change their installation themes every twenty to twenty-five days, giving consumers a sense of freshness every time they walk in. This approach essentially uses the operational thinking of a theme park for retail: admission is free, but you can't help buying a pair of glasses or a bottle of perfume as a souvenir.
▍TAMBURINS store image
Financial data also confirms the effectiveness of this logic. In 2024 year, IICOMBINED's consolidated sales reached 7891 hundred million Korean won (about RMB 41.5 hundred million yuan), a year-on-year increase of nearly 30%; operating profit was 2338 hundred million Korean won (about RMB 12.3 hundred million yuan), a sharp year-on-year increase of over 54%, with a profit margin as high as 29.6%.
From the perspective of valuation changes, when L Catterton, Luxottica, and IDG Capital invested in 2023 year, the group's valuation was just over 1 trillion Korean won. Two years later, the valuation nearly doubled. The capital market's pursuit shows that investors recognize not just GENTLE MONSTER glasses, but IICOMBINED's methodology of monetizing aesthetics that is continuously replicated across new brands.
TAMBURINS is the test subject of this methodology in the beauty track, and one of the most successful cases.
The brand was founded in 2017 year, initially as a beauty brand incubated within the GENTLE MONSTER group, focusing on skincare and fragrance categories. Unlike the large-scale distribution route taken by most startups on the market, TAMBURINS' initial approach was extremely restrained: no massive advertising, no department store counters, and even the product SKUs were pitifully few—initially only 23 SKUs, covering seven categories including hand cream, face cream, serum, and toner. Behind this restraint is a rather unconventional brand logic: rather than stuffing products onto shelves, it is better to make a limited number of products highly distinctive.
▍TAMBURINS core product matrix image
TAMBURINS' brand philosophy is also constantly evolving. In the early stage, TAMBURINS followed the logic of GENTLE MONSTER, with Unique Sensibility & Artitude as the core concept—artistic temperament is the core of the brand, attracting consumers to visit the store through artistic display spaces and then incidentally purchase the few products on the shelves. But by 2022 year when collaborating with Jennie, the brand simultaneously refreshed its brand identity and philosophy, sublimating from pure artistic sense to a new expression of exploring undefined beauty, allowing the brand to grow more emotional resonance from its artistic temperament. This shift means TAMBURINS is evolving from a brand driven by space consumption into a lifestyle brand with a complete spiritual core.
● The chain hand cream is TAMBURINS' first hit product.
This product did something very clever in design: it attached a retro metal chain to the body of the hand cream. The chain design weakens the functional attribute of the hand cream and amplifies its decorative attribute. Consumers can hang it on their bags like a keychain, carry it with them, use it anytime, and display it anytime.
The chain hand cream also has a clever detail in its design language: it uses numerical codes to distinguish different scents, for example 000 represents a woody tone of sandalwood and patchouli, 7 represents a clean and fresh floral tone, and 421 is a bright citrus tone. This naming method deliberately avoids the poetic fragrance descriptions commonly used in perfumes on the market, using minimalist numerical codes to create a sense of strangeness and curiosity. When consumers post the chain hand cream on social media and add a hashtag #Tamburins000, the brand gains free visual communication.
The chain hand cream became popular very early. For a long time before Jennie's endorsement in 2022 year, the brand almost entirely relied on this one product and store spaces to sustain its popularity. This transformation from function to accessory is actually an extension of the GENTLE MONSTER eyewear logic. GENTLE MONSTER glasses certainly have vision correction functions, but most people buy them for face shaping and fashion sense. TAMBURINS replicated this path with the chain hand cream: hand cream certainly has moisturizing effects, but the first batch of consumers bought it first because it looks good and special, and second because it works well. The two products are essentially a cross-category transplant of the same product philosophy, and the chain hand cream has thus become an absolute iconic item that combines functionality and fashion sense.
The visual language of the chain hand cream has also run through all subsequent TAMBURINS products. The overall packaging is dominated by elegant tones such as white and gold, presenting a low-key yet high-end minimalist aesthetic. The later shell fragrance hand cream continued the chain design concept and launched matching metal pendants, allowing the fragrance to accompany you anytime, anywhere. The chain is not a need of hand cream, but it solves young people's need for ritual and aesthetic expression. TAMBURINS has seized exactly this gap. When a consumer is willing to equip a hand cream with a dedicated chain pendant, the brand has successfully transformed a consumable into a sustainable identity expression.
● The Jennie Effect Ignites
TAMBURINS' real explosion began in 2022 year 9 month. That year, the brand officially announced BLACKPINK member Jennie as its brand ambassador, simultaneously launching its first perfume series, including CHAMO and other 10 new fragrances, with specifications ranging from 10 ml to 94 ml. At the same time, a micro-film "SOLACE: A Trace of Comfort" starring Jennie was officially released. The highly aesthetic color palette in the micro-film and Jennie's dreamlike performance together conveyed an allure interwoven with mystery and sensuality. The timing of this official announcement was also carefully chosen: about three weeks of emotional fermentation were left between announcing the ambassador and the official launch of the perfume series.
This combination of moves achieved a textbook-level effect in brand marketing: a top-tier ambassador, a completely new product line, and a ritual-filled micro-film, all released simultaneously, jointly constructing a complete story. Jennie's performance in the micro-film reinforced the brand's emotional temperament while allowing the brand to quickly penetrate the K-pop fan circle. CHAMO perfume was immediately called "Jennie's perfume" by fans, and a large number of purchasing agents, unboxing videos, and fragrance reviews appeared on social media. The huge Jennie poster outside the Sinsa-dong flagship store quickly became a must-visit spot for tourists in Seoul.
After that, TAMBURINS' celebrity collaboration lineup continued to expand, successively signing artists such as Byeon Woo-seok and Stray Kids member Felix. In 2024 year 8 month, the brand announced Byeon Woo-seok as its ambassador, simultaneously launching the Sunset Glow series with rose as the main note, and the products quickly sold out.
It is worth noting that TAMBURINS does not just put celebrities' faces on advertisements, but highly integrates the celebrities' temperament with the brand's aesthetic language. What Jennie brings is not only traffic but also an emotional anchor, establishing a clear memory coordinate for the brand in the fragrance market.
● Retail Space as Art: From Store to Exhibition Hall
Beyond products, TAMBURINS also continues the group's DNA in the creation of retail spaces. Each of its flagship stores is an independent work of art, not a standardized product sales point.
The Seoul Seongsu flagship store uses "Viewer in the Garden" as its spatial theme. The building's exterior retains only the original concrete frame, while the interior uses winding curved white walls and concrete sculptures to create an atmosphere reminiscent of a solitary cave.
The Shanghai flagship store officially opened in 2024 year 10 month, located in a standalone triangular-roof building on North Shaanxi Road in Jing'an District. The facade is dominated by soft light purple and white, and a giant rose art installation breaking through the ground is placed in the garden, complemented by elements such as rose thorns, roots, and flowers, interpreting the multiple facets of petals. The inspiration comes from the brand's first rose fragrance, the Evening Glow series, creating a striking contrast through soft color collisions and the raw concrete building.
▍TAMBURINS Shanghai Store
These spaces themselves do not carry a strong sales purpose; you can even walk around without buying anything. But their existence firmly engraves the brand's aesthetic image in consumers' memories, and further makes purchasing TAMBURINS products a continuous experience of visiting art spaces. In 2021 year, TAMBURINS opened its first store in China on the fourth floor of HAUS SHANGHAI, using a wall art installation called TWIG made of branches to overlay luxury and primitive experiences. In 2025 year 12 month, TAMBURINS opened its first Southeast Asian store at HAUS NOWHERE in Bangkok, further replicating this spatial methodology to international markets. In terms of expansion pace, TAMBURINS has also maintained restraint consistent with its brand tone. Even though the brand's popularity remains high, as of now TAMBURINS has only 9 independent stores in Asia, including 5 in South Korea, 2 in Japan, and 2 in China.
No high-growth story lasts forever. In 2025 year, TAMBURINS' revenue was 1525 hundred million KRW, approximately 8 hundred million RMB, a year-on-year decline of 7.3%. This is the brand's first performance correction after explosive growth.
The reasons for the correction can be viewed from both internal and external dimensions. Externally, Korean cosmetics have encountered overall challenges in the Chinese market. Chinese consumers' enthusiasm for Korean cosmetics has noticeably cooled compared to a few years ago, and local fragrance brands such as To Summer, Documents, and melt season are rapidly rising, while international niche perfumes are also accelerating their entry into the Chinese market. Korean fragrance brands caught in the middle face much greater competitive pressure than three years ago.
Internally, TAMBURINS may need to answer a question: when consumers' novelty shifts from chain designs and giant installations back to the fragrance itself, how strong is the brand's scent competitiveness? From some consumer feedback, some of TAMBURINS' popular fragrances have been complained about for having relatively short longevity, or after returning home, the fragrance experience is not as captivating as in Korean stores. This indicates that the brand may still have room for improvement in fragrance research and longevity technology.
In addition, TAMBURINS' pricing strategy is also worth observing. A chain hand cream is priced between two hundred and three hundred RMB, and a 50 ml perfume is priced between six hundred and eight hundred RMB. This price range happens to be the battleground between Chinese emerging fragrance brands and international niche fragrances. If product strength cannot continuously support this price, consumer loyalty may be tested.
The story of TAMBURINS is essentially an experiment in re-evaluating the consumer goods industry with aesthetic standards. It proves that in a fragrance market with severe functional homogenization, design sense, spatial narrative, and celebrity effect can still build strong brand premiums. But at the same time, the performance correction in 2025 year also reminds the market: growth driven by visual impact will not last forever. When consumers' attention gradually returns from the shell to the content, the competitiveness of the fragrance itself will become the true touchstone.
For the industry, TAMBURINS' inspiration lies in the fact that the new generation of consumers buying fragrances is no longer just buying a bottle of pleasant-smelling liquid. They are buying an aesthetic identity, an emotional comfort, and even a ticket to enter a certain community. If a brand can establish connections on these emotional dimensions, it may break through the ceiling of the category.
IICOMBINED's capital story continues, and TAMBURINS' growth experiment is far from over. What is truly worth observing next is what new things this group can bring to continuously attract the attention of young consumers worldwide as aesthetic novelty gradually dulls. The result of this experiment will directly affect the final return on ZWC Partners' investment and will also provide a case worth long-term tracking for the entire fashion consumer industry.