The next day.
When Wen Ci woke up, the sky was still dark. She got out of bed, walked to the window, and drew back the hotel curtains. Outside was the Huangpu River of Shencheng. Although she hadn’t stayed at the Peace Hotel last night,
she had still found a place near the Bund.
Xu Jinghe had said that among all the hotels in Shencheng, besides the Peace Hotel being the safest, only those around the Bund were relatively secure.
The hotels around the Bund weren’t as expensive as the Peace Hotel.
But they still cost nearly a hundred yuan per night.
Wen Ci’s heart had ached when she paid the bill last night.
One night at a hotel on the Bund was equivalent to losing a warm and practical sweater.
Suddenly, the room’s landline phone rang. Wen Ci walked over to the bedside and picked it up. “Who is this?”
“Xu Jinghe. I was wondering if you want to wait until nine o’clock and come with me to the mall to see the latest styles from the South? Or should we go straight to the factory?”
Wen Ci replied, “Let’s go straight to the factory.”
She had already seen the popular Hong Kong styles around the Bund last night; almost all the men and women out shopping were wearing the latest Hong Kong fashion.
Half an hour later, Xu Jinghe arrived by car to pick up Wen Ci.
Wen Ci asked directly, “Last night, I carefully observed people wearing Hong Kong-style clothes. The material of their clothes looked very rough. Why is that?”
“To seize the first-mover advantage.”
The market required seizing opportunities early. But as more and more manufacturers joined in, the first wave to enter the market would be eliminated. Their goal, however, was simply to make a quick profit.
His aim in the garment business was to develop high-quality products.
To that end, he had specifically visited Hong Kong and discussed with manufacturers there. His factory had already started producing premium Hong Kong-style clothing. The stockpile of old clothes was taking up too much space.
“Manufacturers from the first wave have poor quality. They’ll eventually be blacklisted by consumers, but they will have made their quick profit already.”
Wen Ci understood.
After an hour and a half drive,
they arrived at Xu Jinghe’s garment factory. No sooner had they gotten out of the car and started walking towards the factory office than an employee came over to report to Xu Jinghe:
“Boss, good timing that you’re here. There’s something I wanted to discuss. Regarding that pile of old clothes in our warehouse, I’ve thought of two ways to handle them. First, sell them at a low price to the market. Although Hong Kong styles are popular now, the quality of our clothes isn’t bad; they’re just slightly older styles.
The other option is to completely dismantle all those old clothes and use the fabric to make new styles. Boss, what do you think of these two ideas?”
The employee reporting didn’t dare look directly at Xu Jinghe. Seeing the boss remain silent, he took two of the old garments from the warehouse out of his bag and said,
“Boss,look, the quality of these clothes is really good.”
Wen Ci examined the clothes in the employee’s hands carefully; the quality was indeed good. However, completely taking these clothes apart and reusing the material for new styles would cost more in labor.
Xu Jinghe glanced at Wen Ci and asked, “Sister-in-law, confident about making money?”
Wen Ci smiled: “I wouldn’t dare guarantee anything before seeing the clothes from your factory. But now I can assure you, this batch will definitely make money.”
The quality was better than that from northern garment factories, and the price was lower.
When the time came, they could not only sell retail on the streets but also supply clothing to various department stores. Just by promoting it as a limited, first-come-first-served opportunity, they could make money.
“How about I give you 200,000 yuan worth of goods first, to test the waters?”
“Deal!”
Xu Jinghe said she needed to pay half upfront as a deposit.
The employee looked confused. “Boss, so that batch of clothes in the warehouse has found a destination?”
Xu Jinghe nodded and said unhurriedly, “Yes, A’Ze. What do you think about taking that batch of clothes from the factory to the North to sell?”
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