Model and TV personality Joo Woo Jae has revealed that he once ran a fashion business that generated monthly sales of 30 million won (approximately $22,000), leading him to believe he had earned enough to last a lifetime.
On June 1, a video titled “The Most Underrated Person of 2025: Joo Woojae, the 40-Year-Old Kazehaya” was uploaded to the YouTube channel Fairy Jaehyung.
In the video, Joo recalled a moment from his college days when a candid street photo of him went viral, causing a surge in visitors to his social media. Noticing interest in the clothes he was wearing, he decided to open an online clothing shop. “I figured I could just sell clothes similar to what I usually wore,” he said.
Joo took a leave of absence one semester before graduation and launched the business using only a tripod for self-photography. While he received no orders on the first day, word spread through social media, and he ended up making 30 million won in the first month. “I tried it for one more month and made similar numbers. That’s when I thought, ‘I’ve made enough money to last me a lifetime,’” he laughed.
Host Jung Jaehyung was impressed by Joo’s business instincts, commenting, “Your sense for timing is sharp.” Joo reflected, “I was scared, but I threw myself into it. Looking back, I think I was really brave back then.”
Joo also talked about expanding his career into radio DJing and modeling after the online shop. He began alongside now-popular names like Jang Kiyong and Byun Wooseok but said, “I realized right away that I wasn’t going to be the best from the start.”
Despite branching into broadcasting, he faced constant questions about his identity. “In the entertainment world, I was just ‘that model,’ and in the modeling world, I was ‘just a broadcaster,’” he said. “Since I was street-cast, there was a lot of jealousy early on. I even heard that some designers told people not to cast me.”
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