"The chairman's favorite vest appears again"... How much is the padded vest Lee Jae-yong wore at a ramen shop in Japan?

[Financial News] As Lee Jae-yong, chairman of Samsung Electronics, returned home after a business trip to Europe, his outfit has become a talking point.

According to industry sources on the 15th, Lee arrived in the country at around 12:45 p.m. on the 13th via the Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center (SGBAC) in Gangseo District, Seoul.
On this trip, Choi Joo-sun, president of Samsung SDI, accompanied Lee, and the two were reported to have met with major European automakers.
Given that Samsung SDI supplies electric vehicle batteries to several European companies, including BMW and Volkswagen, industry observers speculate that the visit may have included talks on securing additional orders.
As videos and photos released that day spread online, attention unexpectedly focused on the padded vest Lee was wearing when he arrived.
In September last year, a YouTuber posted a video saying they had seen Lee eating alone at a ramen shop while traveling in Kyoto, Japan, and Lee was wearing the same vest then as well.
The vest is believed to be a two-tone wool-blend hooded padded vest from Italian luxury brand Brunello Cucinelli. It is priced at about 5.6 million won, but is currently sold out.
The padded vest style, meanwhile, has become known as Lee’s go-to look for business trips.
On the 26th of last month, when Lee departed to attend the opening of the first overseas exhibition of the "Lee Kun-hee Collection," a trove of donated cultural assets from his late father Lee Kun-hee, he also wore a navy padded vest.
The vest he wore at the time was a men’s wool jersey vest from the 2024 fall–winter season of golfwear brand Lansmere Golf, run by Samsung C&T’s fashion division, with a list price of 990,000 won.
Earlier, during a 2024 business trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Lee wore a gray cashmere vest from Lansmere Golf over his suit.
Later, at the so-called "Kkanbu meeting," he also wore a faux-suede blouson from Lansmere. Priced at 890,000 won, that item sold out after images of Lee wearing it were made public.

moon@fnnews.com Moon Young-jin Reporter