SBENU () was an athletic

footwear Footwear refers to garments worn on the feet, which typically serve the purpose of protective clothing, protection against adversities of the environment such as wear from rough ground; stability on slippery ground; and temperature. *Shoes and si ...

and apparel company based in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. 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, played individually or as teams. ...

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'' tournament held in South Korea from 2010 to the present. It has been hosted by afreecaTV since 2016; GOMeXp (formerly GOMTV) hosted it from 2010–2015. Blizzard Entertainment was involve ...

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 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, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

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: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

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 (; February 18, 1985 – November 12, 2024), also known as Song Jae-lim, was a South Korean actor and model. Starting in modelling, Song had a career as an actor in K-dramas. Early life Song was born on February 18, 1985; his m ...

AOA Aoa, AOA, or AoA may refer to: Government * Agreement on Agriculture, a World Trade Organization treaty * Administration on Aging, a health agency of the United States * Angolan kwanza, the currency of Angola * Auxiliary Organizations Associatio ...

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

Esports

''League of Legends''

In 2015, SBENU acquired the ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 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 ''Warcraf ...

'' 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.

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