Newsroom

(2022-08-19) Global Sae-A Group, a leading yarn manufacturer and one of the world’s largest apparel manufacturers based in Korea, held the building completion ceremony for its second spinning mill in Coris, Cartago, in the presence of President Rodrigo Chaves, Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade Jimena Chinchilla, CINDE’s CEO Eric Scharf, and Korean Ambassador Jin Hae Kim.

The President of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves Robes, who attended the completion ceremony, said in his congratulatory message, “The Global Sae-A Group, which operates factories in over 40 countries around the world, invested in Costa Rica in 2015 and in the seven years since, they have created hundreds of jobs. They have contributed greatly, not only to our Cartago family, but also towards Costa Rica’s development.

Sae-A started business in Costa Rica in 2015 in order to produce quality yarn. Currently, the company has 400 employees and plans to hire at least 200 more over the next few months.              This expansion is due to the completion of the new spinning mill, the second of Sae-A’s three factories in Costa Rica. Its third factory is already under construction, and the company plans to build more factories in the country in the future.

“We decided to invest in Costa Rica seven years ago because of its political and social stability, along with its excellent talent availability. We believe that it was a successful investment,” says Sang Soon Han, Sr., President of Sae-A Spinning. “This second factory is part of our USD 150 million investment plan for Costa Rica, which includes the third factory. The construction for the third factory has already begun and it will be completed by the end of 2023. The second factory introduced a storm water reuse system, and was built as an eco-friendly building and certified as LEED Silver by USGBC. Furthermore, we hope to continue to grow in Costa Rica by constructing a recycled yarn manufacturing factory as well as our fourth factory, in line with the global sustainability trends.”

Founded in 1986, Sae-A Trading, a subsidiary of Global Sae-A Group, has become one of the world’s largest apparel manufacturers and exporters. Currently, 60,000 associates at 40 factories in the CAFTA countries and ten countries in Asia manufacture more than 2.6 million articles of clothing every day with yarn supplied by Sae-A Spinning.

Sae-A Spinning manufactures yarn every day with its cutting-edge technology and the productive labor and talent of Costa Ricans. The yarn is sent to sewing factories to produce finished products for famous fashion brands in the US and Europe.

CINDE’s Managing Director Jorge Sequeira congratulated Sae-A on its impressive growth in Costa Rica. “The company is one of the success stories of our strategy to invest in new regions, as well as a great opportunity to attract investment in other parts of Costa Rica in line with the trends of nearshoring and friendshoring that seek a market close to primarily North America, or its allies with political, social and economic stability.”

The establishment and operation of Sae-A Spinning in Costa Rica is an important milestone for the company as it has become the first company to perform vertical integration in the apparel manufacturing industry for all production processes, from spinning to weaving, dyeing, and sewing. Currently, the company produces 18 million kilograms of yarn per year.

Global Sae-A Group, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, is the world’s largest apparel exporter and manufacturer, with over 60,000 associates across 10 countries, 24 offices and 40 factories worldwide.