SBENU () was an athletic

footwear Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serves the purpose of protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from ground textures and temperature. Footwear in the manner of shoes therefore primarily serves th ...

and apparel company based in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. Founded on 30 June 2014, SBENU had opened more than 100 retail stores nationwide by 2015. SBENU also expanded its business by becoming a major sponsor of

esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...

in South Korea; at its peak, SBENU was the main sponsor of the BroodWar Sonic league, the

League of Legends Champions Korea ''League of Legends'' Champions Korea (LCK) is the primary competition for ''League of Legends'' esports in South Korea. Contested by ten teams, the league runs two seasons per year and serves as a direct route to qualification for the annual ...

league, the StarLeague and the

Global StarCraft II League Global StarCraft II League (GSL) is a '' StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void'' tournament hosted by afreecaTV and Blizzard Entertainment in South Korea. This event is broadcast up to 2 nights a week. GOMeXp (formerly GOMTV) had hosted it until the ...

History

Originally established under the name Shoe Farm in 2013, SBENU was founded by Hwang Hyo-Jin. SBENU took the letter "S" for shoes and combined it with the ancient Egyptian deity ''Bennu'', which is thought to be the inspiration for the

phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

in Greek mythology. Focusing on building the SBENU brand globally, SBENU and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

agreed to terms of sponsorship in 2015, making SBENU the official footwear brand of the team. Prior to its dissolution, SBENU was sponsoring various celebrities and gaming events, spending about $8.26 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

per year, all the while failing to pay in full to its manufacturers. In 2016, SBENU claimed that the agency "HIKE", which was run by two formerly bankrupt owners that promised to help connect manufacturers with companies, had embezzled about US$7.1 million, and that this had caused the failing of payment to the manufacturers, who should have received their money from HIKE. On 7 October 2016, SBENU announced that it would cease all sales and dissolved.

CF models

* IU *

Song Jae-rim Song Jae-rim (; born February 18, 1985) is a South Korean actor and model. He began his career as a runway model for the Seoul collections of Juun. J, Herin Homme and Ha Sang Beg. He has also appeared in the magazines Bazaar Korea, Vogue Girl ...

* AOA *

Kisum Jo Hye-ryung (; born January 20, 1994), also known by her stage name Kisum (), is a South Korean rapper and actress. In 2015, Kisum competed on the first season of the variety show ''Unpretty Rapstar''. She had previously competed in season thre ...

Esports

''League of Legends''

In 2015, SBENU acquired the ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for War ...

'' roster of Prime Clan, renaming it SBENU Sonicboom before the start of SBENU Champions Summer 2015. The team performed poorly in its first season, finishing in last place and being forced to play in the LCK Promotion Series against Ever to keep their spot in the Champions League. SBENU defeated Ever 3–1 and retained their spot for the next season.

''StarCraft II''

SBENU was the sponsor for the season 2 and season 3 tournaments of the

StarCraft II StarLeague The StarCraft II StarLeague, also known as SSL or S2SL in short, was a large StarCraft II tournament series hosted by SPOTV GAMES that was played offline in South Korea. The tournament series was held in parallel with the Global StarCraft II Leag ...

References

{{Reflist, 30em Athletic shoe brands Sportswear brands Defunct manufacturing companies of South Korea Shoe companies of South Korea Sporting goods manufacturers of South Korea Manufacturing companies based in Seoul Manufacturing companies established in 2013 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 2016 2013 establishments in South Korea 2016 disestablishments in South Korea South Korean brands Sporting goods brands