South Korea’s leading liquor maker Hite Jinro Co. has revived a vintage feel to its flagship soju brand Jinro with the 70s’ original design to its packaging to ride the latest wave of “newtro” or return of the retro.

The newtro, which is a combination of “new” and “retro,” has been the latest buzzword in the Korean retail market as the styles of the 70s and 80s are captivating young and trendy customers in the country. Keeping up with the latest fashion, Hite Jinro is releasing a new Jinro that uses its old bottle and label design but with fresh interpretations.

The newtro Jinro comes in a clear, blue-tone bottle instead of its iconic green color. The label design also adopted the style that was used in the past with its brand logo image of toad clearly visible. The company, however, made the newtro Jinro lighter with an alcoholic content of 16.9 percent to appeal to young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks.

The new vintage style Jinro soju is scheduled to hit the market on April 25. It will be available in 360-milliliter bottle only.

Earlier in 2017, Daesun Distilling Co., a liquor maker that primarily sells its products in the southern part of the country around Busan, released a soju with a vintage style packaging. Its vintage style soju was an instant hit, selling 1 million bottles in just 10 days after its launching and 200 million bottles in a year, which was a rare case for a regional soju product.

By Lee Duk-joo and Cho Jeehyun

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