"The ultimate blind date look — an SK hynix jacket for just 40,000 won!"
An SK hynix (000660.KS) uniform, recently dubbed among office workers as the "ultimate blind date look" and a "free pass at luxury stores," has appeared on the secondhand market, drawing widespread attention.
According to secondhand trading platform Karrot on Monday, a user posted a listing the previous day to sell an SK hynix jacket. The seller introduced the item as "the ultimate blind date look" and priced it at 40,000 won.
The jacket shown in the post is a padded style suitable for transitional seasons, with the SK hynix logo clearly embroidered on the right chest. While it has not been confirmed whether the item is an actual company-issued product, the post spread rapidly across online communities and social networking services (SNS) shortly after being uploaded, drawing significant interest from netizens.
While it is common for large corporate uniforms, company merchandise, and holiday gift sets to be traded on secondhand platforms, analysts note that SK hynix items are drawing exceptionally high interest amid the company's record-breaking earnings and soaring expectations for performance bonuses.
SK hynix has recently been consumed in the market as a symbol of a "company that makes serious money." The company operates a Profit Sharing (PS) system that uses 10% of operating profit as its funding source, and as earnings expectations grow, various estimates and memes about the size of employee bonuses are pouring in. In particular, "hynix memes" formed around entertainment programs and SNS are spreading rapidly online.
A segment parodying this phenomenon recently appeared on SNL Korea Season 8. In the broadcast, a shabbily dressed man enters a luxury store, where the clerk initially responds coldly. But when the man removes his outer jacket to reveal a vest bearing the SK hynix logo, the clerk's attitude changes abruptly. The clerk immediately greets him warmly with "Lord hynix?" and the scene became a major talking point online.
Online, reactions such as "Just wearing a hynix vest guarantees blind date success" and "Even luxury stores give you a free pass" have continued to circulate.
Earnings and stock prices have also been on an upward trajectory. SK hynix posted first-quarter operating profit of 37.6103 trillion won, a 405% increase from the same period last year. Revenue during the same period rose 198% to 52.5763 trillion won. Market capitalization also surpassed 1,000 trillion won for the first time in history.
The stock price has continued its sharp rise. As of 8:06 a.m. Monday in the pre-market, SK hynix shares were trading at 1.607 million won, up 11.06% from the previous session, ushering in what is being called the "1.6 million-nix" era.
