As the founder of TOUCH GROUND, Young Choi studied Footwear Technology in a university in Korea, and right after his graduation, set his foot into the sneaker business by creating his own brand - TAKI183 by Young Choi.
During his 7-year career as a footwear MD in NIKE and NEW BALANCE , Young Choi launched megaseller shoes in Korea. He is a sneaker collector with more than 2,000 pairs of sneakers and over 500 sneaker-related books, and is also the founding member of magazine STREET FOOT, which is a footwear magazine.
In the 1970s~1990s, President Young Choi was especially interested in sneakers. His homage to vintage sneakers led him to the foundation of TOUCH GROUND.
Partnerships : young@touchground.co.kr
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Hi. I am Young Choi, President of TOUCH GROUND. I launched the sneakers brand TAKI183 by Young Choi through a collaboration, and worked in NIKE KOREA and NEW BALANCE KOREA for 7 years as a footwear MD.
I am both the President and Creative Director of our brand. My job is not just to make decisions – as a footwear specialist, I lead the brand in the right direction and also participate in product design, design concept, marketing, sales, and any other business that is related to our brand.
It is an American vintage lifestyle brand that mainly produces footwear and hats. TOUND GROUND especially makes products in homage to the vintage products that were released in between the 1970s and 1990s by reinterpreting the products in TOUCH GROUND’s own style. In order to make this happen, we recruited the best employees over a long period of time. In the designing department, we have a designer who used to work for Converse, and in the footwear pattern department, we have a designer who used to work with Asics vintage sneakers. Our development department develops samples from a sneaker factory in Korea before the manufacturing process, Many domestic brands were founded in Korea, but only a few of them were acknowledged globally. TOUND GROUND, with its slogan “Aim for the best and nothing less”, puts its effort into creating a brand that can make myself and our customers proud.
I decided to launch a brand a long time ago, but I couldn’t think of a logo or name that could go with my dream brand. When I told my friend about my concerns, he suggested that I come up with something related to ‘taking one’s first step’ since it is a footwear brand. So the brand was named “TOUCH GROUND”, meaning that one’s foot touches the ground. However, the bigger concern was: our brand was going for the 1970s American vintage style, and that style needed to go together with the products. Logos take a large part in vintage sneaker designs, so my opinion was that if the logos did not go along with the shoes, it didn’t matter how great the design was. I shared this thought with Mac Park, who was a designer at Converse back at that time, and he came up with a sketch that solved my problems. The initial logo became the main logo of TOUCH GROUND, which is being used until this day.
Footwear is a very specialized area. So it is not a business that can be started with money and no knowledge. I chose Footwear Technology as my major because I was desperate about footwear, and the knowledge I obtained from my studies has become very useful in this business as I meet specialists and communicate with them. Also, the merchandising skills I obtained from my experience in NIKE and NEW BALANCE, which are global brands, helped me dream of something more valuable than a domestic brand. Most of all, I love shoes no matter the sales amount, and this love has made me collect more than 2,000 pairs of shoes and over 500 footwear-related professional books. These books have become my greatest asset in founding and developing TOUCH GROUND.
Of course, I have more weaknesses than strengths. One shoe has to go through numerous factories and employees, and as I run this brand, I have to deal with a great load of work and communicate with more people than I imagined when I was a merchandiser. I cannot do two things at once, so if I get stuck on something, someone has to remind me of my schedule. Fortunately, the other founding members of TOUCH GROUND know these strengths and weaknesses and provide me with help.
TOUCH GROUND started in Korea, but I think of Korea as the brand’s show room as well as its home country. The larger stage is in the overseas market, and we are developing more samples in order to satisfy the needs of overseas buyers. Also, TOUCH GROUND, rather than selling more shoes, emphasizes the meaning and story contained in each shoe. So we have set customizing and collaboration as our unique feature, and have built a separate design studio. In the studio, many design collaborations with footwear brands as well as other fashion culture brands are being conducted.