Saranghaeyo

Saranghaeyo is a South Korean niche fragrance house based in Seoul, founded in 2020 by the photographer and entrepreneur Sung Soo Kim [10]. Its name comes from the Korean 사랑해요 ("I love you"), and the company frames its scents around love of self, of beauty, and of Korean culture. The brand, abbreviated SRHY, operates under the legal entity RXAP Korea Company Limited [1] and produces both perfumes and hand creams, all formulated and made in South Korea.

The house is often placed within the wave of Korean niche perfumery that emerged in the early 2020s. In editorial coverage it is described as a more introspective, story-led alternative to the more theatrical Seoul fragrance labels, and remains an active, expanding brand.

Sung Soo Kim founded Saranghaeyo in 2020 in Seoul. Before starting the company, he spent sixteen years working in the perfume divisions of major luxury multinationals; several sources, including LE MILE Magazine, describe him as a former LVMH executive [11]. His background in photography shapes the brand's stated approach, which centres on turning specific personal moments and Korean cultural references into scent. The founder has summed up this idea as "my perfumes are a link to my origin".

Sources are consistent on the founder's identity but differ on the spelling of his name. The company's own site and most editorial coverage give it as Sung Soo Kim [1], while the niche-fragrance blog Fragrans in Fabula renders it "Sung Sao Kim" [9] — a spelling that appears only there and is best read as a typo.

Saranghaeyo is owned and operated by RXAP Korea Company Limited, a Seoul-registered company with its office in the Gangnam district [1]. Sung Soo Kim is listed as chief executive and Jinam Lee as chief product officer. The company's online business registration number records a 2020 registration in Seoul, consistent with the founding year cited across sources. No acquisitions or sister brands are recorded.

The brand describes itself as being "for those who love themselves, love beauty, and love Korea," and its stated mission is to capture moments and memories and turn them into scents. Each fragrance is presented as a small sensory journey tied to a place or feeling, and products carry a heart symbol for love and a link symbol for connection to others.

A defining part of the positioning is its deliberately Korean identity. According to LE MILE Magazine, Saranghaeyo avoids the international collaborations common to many Korean fragrance houses, drawing instead on personal Korean cultural references, and the founder works from a modest 1960s office building away from the main commercial districts [11]. The same coverage frames the brand as the introspective counterpoint to more spectacle-driven Seoul labels such as Tamburins and Borntostandout, emphasising a sense of timelessness over experiential retail.

Saranghaeyo's range spans perfumes and a smaller line of hand creams. The perfumes carry numbered, evocative names such as 71. Series A, 61. Believe In Capitalism, 30. Breeze of Shine and 91. Chocolatic Nchnt, the last described in editorial coverage as built on sweet-bitter contrasts. The hand creams echo the same naming, including 10. Vanilla Bloom and 32. Flower S. The collection was originally marketed as menswear and now sits within a unisex framework.

Two production details recur across coverage. The company says its fragrances are refined through a traditional slow-fermentation method, described by Fragrans in Fabula as roughly two months of maceration in stainless-steel tanks at low temperature to add depth and naturalness [9]. Retailer editorial from Niche Beauty reports a high perfume concentration of 27 to 34 percent, aimed at longevity [12].

The size of the perfume line is reported differently depending on the date. Editorial features from 2024 to 2026 describe a collection of fourteen perfumes alongside five hand creams [9][10]. The brand's own fragrance page lists a larger set of around sixteen items, including a discovery set and three launches marked as new [2]; the difference reflects products added since the earlier write-ups rather than a genuine disagreement.

Saranghaeyo states that its products are fully vegan and that its packaging is designed around recyclability. According to the company, its bottles use high-purity glass to ease recycling, the labels are made to peel away without residue, and the outer packaging uses FSC-certified paper. All formulation and production are carried out in South Korea.

Saranghaeyo has drawn coverage in specialist and culture press rather than mainstream awards. Retail in Asia profiled it as "a niche Korean fragrance on the rise" [8], and LE MILE Magazine featured it in a survey of Seoul's emerging perfume scene. No awards or celebrity associations are recorded in the available sources.

Saranghaeyo is active. Its website continues to list new perfume launches and operates a reservation system for its Seoul showroom, and its products are distributed across South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, the United States and several European markets, including Italy, Germany and Austria. Editorial coverage through 2024–2026 consistently treats the brand as a rising rather than an established name.