The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2021–2025
Samsung C&T launched Cotelor for millennial women — ended it after four years
Cotelor was Samsung C&T's own knitwear brand for women in their late 20s, launched October 2021. Profitability missed; after the SS 2025 season, it ended.
Samsung C&T Fashion · 2025-06-30
What happened
In October 2021 Samsung C&T Fashion launched Cotelor, an online-centric private label for millennial women aged 25 to 35. The name means 'small house' in Finnish; the product was knitwear in proprietary yarns — comfortable daily wear at reasonable prices — and the brand even got a pop-up at The Hyundai Seoul in February 2023.
Profitability fell short of expectations, and the brand's review arrived in the middle of a Korean fashion slump: operating profit at 38 listed apparel companies fell 16.4 percent in 2024, then another 15.6 percent in the first quarter of 2025. Samsung C&T evaluates its private labels every three to five years; Cotelor did not survive its. Production stopped at the end of 2024.
The brand ended after the Spring/Summer 2025 season, roughly four years after launch, with remaining inventory cleared at discounts over 50 percent on SSF Shop. The company called it routine: private brands are judged on consumer response, and 'given how quickly fashion trends change, ending the brand is a natural decision'.
Why it happened
- An online-first private label without a strong point of difference couldn't clear the company's profitability hurdle in a shrinking market.
- Samsung C&T's three-to-five-year brand review cycle cut without sentiment once the numbers were in.
- The industry slump accelerated pruning: with listed fashion profits falling double digits, anything marginal went first.
The lesson
A big parent is no shield for a small brand. Samsung C&T gave Cotelor four years against its own profit hurdle; when the numbers missed during an industry slump, the review cycle ended it.
Aftermath
Samsung C&T Fashion shifted resources to overseas expansion and imported brands — Captain Sunshine and FitFlop launches followed — as Korean fashion majors ran a second wave of cleanup over their remaining inefficient labels, Maison Kitsuné Golf and Label C having already gone the same way.
Sources
- CEO Score Daily — "Samsung C&T Fashion ends own brand 'Cotelor' after 4 years", 30 June 2025 (launched October 2021 for women 25–35, 'small house' in Finnish, proprietary-yarn knitwear; production ceased end of 2024; ends after SS 2025; stock cleared at 50%+ off on SSF Shop; private labels assessed every 3–5 years)
- Apparel News — "Major fashion companies quickly cutting inefficient brands", 3 August 2025 (Cotelor discontinued 2025; 38 listed firms' operating profit -16.4% in 2024, -15.6% in Q1 2025; second-wave cleanup of online-era brands)
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