Blind Founder Builds Shoe Brand Where Deaf Artisans Craft Every Pair

Like other advanced economies, South Korea requires workplaces above a certain size to hire people with disabilities. Yet some companies still fail to meet the legally mandated ratio. Against that backdrop, a social cooperative that creates jobs for people with disabilities offers a different model for disability employment. Yoo Suk-young, 64, the blind founder of Guduman-deuneun-punggyeong, met with The Seoul Economic Daily on the 27th at AGIO, the company's handmade shoe store in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong District, Seoul. "Providing cash or daily necessities to people with disabilities is necessary too, but the best welfare is giving them a job so they can live paying taxes," he said. Until a few years ago he could distinguish light and the movement of people, but he is now close to total blindness. Still, he reads documents and exchanges messages using a computer speech synthesizer and the voice features on his iPhone. When traveling outside, he relies on a support worker. "People with disabilities simply have physical difficulties or disadvantages in daily life — they should not be written off as people who cannot do things," he said. "Please see us as economic actors." His retina developed problems after he entered middle school, and he eventually lost his sight. As a student he was scolded by a teacher who asked why he was making things so difficult, and he even heard his mother say that he must have sinned in a past life and should go off and die. "The looks and the words from people hurt more than the disability itself," he recalled. Even so, he drew strength from a neighbor who told him he had a good voice and spoke well, and should try to become a broadcast announcer. His father also built up his independence, having him do chores such as chopping fodder for the cattle. The turning point came in 1986, when he began working in radio. He had sent a postcard to CBS asking the station to recruit volunteers to help blind people on summer vacations, and instead received an invitation to appear on air himself. He went on to report on the realities facing people with disabilities, and two years later served on the special coverage team for the Seoul Paralympics. After building a 12-year career in broadcasting, he said, "By supporting myself with my own work, I overcame my sense of shame and found my self-esteem." He later served as director of a general welfare center for people with disabilities in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, where he organized cultural programs for deaf people — but almost no one signed up. What they urgently needed was a workplace to earn a living. Recalling that deaf workers once made up about 40% of production jobs in Korea's shoemaking industry, he hired six deaf employees in 2010, while still serving as center director, and took on the challenge of running a handmade shoe factory. He had neither experience nor capital, but after repeatedly courting master shoemaker Ahn Seung-moon, he took AGIO's first step. After many twists and turns, there were some successes, including a delivery of 300 pairs to a convent, but good intentions alone could not overcome the barriers of the market. He ran in every direction, but the company lost out in competition with famous brands. Writer Rhyu Si-min and others, moved by the cause, served as promotional models free of charge, and during the 2012 presidential race, candidate Moon Jae-in also bought a pair at a shoe sales event at the National Assembly — but it was not enough. In the end, the Paju factory closed in 2013, three years and eight months after its founding. More painful than the tens of millions of won in debt was the fact that he had inflicted the pain of job loss on the disabled workers alongside him. "There was no sign language interpreter back then, so there were many misunderstandings and conflicts inside the company, but we overcame them and promised each other we would live with dignity, paying taxes — and I could not keep that promise," Yoo said. "It hurt even more that the employees were the ones consoling me, telling me I had worked hard." He later enrolled in a graduate school of special education in a spirit of taking on a new challenge. The miracle came four years after the shutdown. In May 2017, shortly after former President Moon Jae-in took office, the presidential office called looking for a pair of AGIO shoes for him to wear on a trip to the United States. But the artisans had already scattered, so Yoo had no choice but to decline, and he wept for a long while on his way to church. A few days later, the media captured photographs of the former president paying his respects at the May 18th National Cemetery, wearing worn AGIO shoes with a cracked sole. They were the pair he had bought himself as a presidential candidate in 2012. Once they became known as "the president's shoes," support poured in for AGIO. After much deliberation, Yoo went to see Rhyu Si-min, whom he had first met in 1989 during his reporting days. Rhyu told him the president had laid the groundwork for sales, so they should try again, and that he would handle publicity. Yoo set out to restart the business. He formed a social cooperative and, using about 200 million won each from member contributions and advance orders from the public as seed money, launched "AGIO Season 2" at the end of 2017. Rhyu, along with celebrities including Lee Hyori and Yoo Hee-yeol, actively took part in promotion without modeling fees. Made with genuine leather and sturdy materials and finished with care, most AGIO handmade shoes sell for 200,000 to 300,000 won. Patina custom shoes, made after precise measurement of the customer's feet, cost 590,000 won but draw high satisfaction. The company sells much of its output online, but in April it opened its first offline store outside the Seongnam factory, in Seongsu-dong. "With handmade shoes, the more you hammer, the closer they come to the foot," Yoo said proudly. "If ordinary shoes make the foot fit the specification, AGIO makes the shoe fit the person's foot." Even after the relaunch, however, crises continued because of inexperienced management and the COVID-19 pandemic. Suffering from insomnia and obsessive symptoms, Yoo stepped down as chief executive in 2021 and moved in 2023 to serve as director of the Seoul Gomduri Sports Center. Having regained his health, he returned to AGIO in March this year. AGIO now employs 24 people, including 16 deaf employees along with master shoemakers and sign language interpreters. His plan is to build a company where 30 deaf employees work with stability, and to help them grow into master artisans. He also dreams of taking his employees on their first overseas trip next year, the 10th anniversary of the relaunch. "I will build a social enterprise that sells quality shoes at reasonable prices and turns a profit without fail," he said with a broad smile. "And if people would each wear just one pair of AGIO shoes, our deaf employees will be able to go on living happy lives as members of society."