Red Devils boost sales of red underwear

By Kim Tae-gyu

Staff reporter

Typically, red underwear does not sell well over the hot season but things are totally different this summer thanks to the 2010 World Cup South Africa, which has grabbed the attention of football fans.

A domestic branch of Levi's Bodywear, said Friday that the sales of red undergarments for both male and female customers jumped more than 50 percent in June from the previous month.

The Seoul store is guessing that the Korean team's street supporters, called the "Red Devils" partially due to their unique dress code of wearing red shirts, are responsible for the unexpectedly brisk sales.

The company's revenue here from red female underwear rocketed 54 percent in June from a month ago while that for male underpants jumped 72 percent during the same period of time.

"We did not come up with any fresh marketing campaigns or discount events of late. But the popularity of red underwear started up in May during the lead up to the World Cup matches," a Levi's Bodywear outlet manager said.

"People seem to snap up red underpants or lingerie as they tend to wear red shirts at street cheering sessions. Some young ladies opt to pick up sporty red underwear together with their tank tops."

Millions of people took to streets across the nation while the Korean team was playing its three first round matches. Ballparks and football stadiums with large screens also attracted fans.

About half a million participated in the outdoor cheering events in this week's game with Nigeria even though the kick off was at 3:30 a.m.

Levi's Bodywear will be happy with the Korean squad's performance in South Africa ― advancing to the second round to take on Uruguay on Saturday night local time, the perfect occasion to take to the streets in red shirts and possibly red underwear.

Korea will have a maximum of four more matches including the one with Uruguay if the country makes it to the semifinals.

Together with the red underwear, pizzas and fried chicken restaurants have enjoyed a boom over the past few weeks with people ordering food to be delivered to their homes while watching the World Cup.

Understandably, beer consumption has also shot up, which goes well with fried chicken or pizza.

‘붉은악마’덕에 빨간 속옷 판매급증

별로 인기없던 빨간 속옷이 2010년 월드컵 덕분에 월드컵 팬들의 시선을 사로잡아 판매량이 급증했다.

리바이스에 따르면 빨간 속옷 판매량이 지난 5월 보다 50퍼센트나 급증했다. 여성 빨간 속옷은 54% 증가했고 남성도 72%나 늘어났다.

판매부측은 “다른 어떤 특별한 프로모션이나 세일을 한 적도 없는데 월드컵 덕분에 판매량이 급증한 것 같다” 고 말했다.

빨간 속옷과 함께 피자와 통닭의 판매량도 급증하였고 당연히 맥주와 술의 판매가 급증했다. 또한 콘돔의 판매량도 증가했다는 보도가 있다.