Robert Cianflone | Getty Images
Athletes from South Korea attend a welcome ceremony at Gangneung Olympic Village on Feb 7, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea.
In the lead up to Friday’s Winter Olympics opening ceremony, there has already been one winner: a certain style of long padded jacket.
The winter jackets are padded with goose down, among other materials, and end under the knees, and they came under the spotlight after a limited edition version made for the Pyeongchang Olympics went on sale in South Korea last year.
Hundreds of shoppers formed winding queues outside Lotte Department Store outlets in the country when the official Winter Games souvenir jacket went on sale last year, local media outlets reported. Just 30,000 of those jackets, which were available in black, grey and white, were made.
Part of the craze was due to the relatively low price of 149,000 Korean won ($137) at which the Pyeongchang jackets retailed — a fraction of the luxury versions of the jacket’s price. Down coats from brands such as Italian label Moncler or Canada Goose typically retail for more than one million Korean won ($920).
Shinsung Tongsang, which manufactured the Pyeongchang souvenir jacket, saw its stock pop last year amid the hype, online news site Quartz reported. By Thursday, shares of the company had pared some of the more than 30 percent gains made in November.
