KAZUA's Perspective on Increased Human Leisure/Sports Time Thanks to AI - Part 1 -

Episode 1: Getting Started

Hello. I'm Mike Choi, the CEO of KAZUA, a specialized sports brand focused on soccer and futsal. Simply put, I'm someone who finds the combination of **'traditional work methods'** and new AI technologies that enhance work productivity and efficiency, leading to superior customer service and enriched experiences, incredibly fascinating, rather than just focusing on 'current technology'**.

With the rapid advancement of various AI technologies, I believe that businesses within the 'sports apparel and equipment' market, including the one I'm a part of, will start to seriously consider how to leverage these technologies to improve productivity and operational efficiency.

Moving forward, I'd like to discuss with you on durumis how AI can assist in fostering a new kind of 'side hustle' within the leisure and sports realm, where individuals can pursue their passions and interests, rather than AI replacing human jobs in the market KAZUA operates in. This 'hobby-meets-profession' approach can potentially help people find more fulfilling and rewarding experiences.

Sportswear DTP Business within the PoD Business

First, 'KAZUA', a leading South Korean soccer and futsal brand, primarily focuses on providing customized uniform services. We receive bulk orders for DTP (direct-to-garment printing) uniforms, design them according to the customer's preferences, and deliver them in carefully packaged form to the team.

The printing method allows for almost limitless design freedom, catering to the customer's (team's) specific requirements. Unlike traditional, pre-patterned uniforms that often require expensive patches (rubber or embroidery) and additional numbering or name printing, our DTP approach enables us to create unique designs and personalized names for each individual uniform, even in single orders. This is essentially a form of PoD (Print On Demand) business, and the South Korean market is still in its early stages of adopting this model for apparel and goods. However, the PoD market is experiencing rapid growth globally. Research suggests that the market size is projected to reach USD 39.4 billion (approximately KRW 50.29 trillion) by 2030, expanding at a remarkable 26.1% year-on-year. This signifies the continuous growth and increasing demand for the PoD market both internationally and domestically.

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(The PoD market in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at a CAGR of 27.9%).

However, my experience with KAZUA's sports uniform PoD service hasn't felt as cutting-edge as the growing market size might suggest. As mentioned earlier, the ordering and production processes still largely rely on 'traditional work methods.' This approach has led to a significant challenge: the 'time' it takes for the process – customer→PoD company→manufacturing facility→PoD company→customer – extends indefinitely whenever issues arise in any part of the process. To overcome this, a 'productivity and efficiency improvement' solution is critical, and the first step we considered was leveraging 'AI technology'. This issue is a two-way problem and requires a technological solution even more urgently. AI is my hope for a solution.

Returning to the topic of 'custom soccer uniforms', the most crucial element in the 'custom'** realm is **'customer communication'**. And it’s about how we establish communication channels with our customers and guide them seamlessly towards the **'GOAL (completion of production)'** without any inconvenience. Because we have a diverse range of customers, we must have multiple communication methods to cater to them. KAZUA currently employs and strives for 'online channel' communication. We use chat consultations to interact with customers, share information about designs, confirm order completion, and provide **After Service**. Fortunately, the trend of utilizing this method has helped customers accumulate experience, and I believe that they feel comfortable with it.

In the next episode (Episode 2), we'll delve deeper into methods to enhance the PoD service by minimizing the number of steps involved in customer communication and improving productivity.

Thank you for reading.

[KAZUA - Mike Choi]

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