Chapter 159 Chapter 159 Two Updates in One

A while ago, every time Huacai Garment Factory launched a new style, similar styles would soon appear on the market. This happened not once or twice, but every time.

This is obviously not a coincidence.

Chen Moer, together with Bai Junwen and Zhao Zhenghui, sorted out the entire production process of the factory and conducted a careful inventory of the warehouse's stock. Strangely, the clothes from their factory were not lost.

That's strange.

If other factories produce the clothes according to the pattern after they are put on the market, there will definitely be a time lag. They have to wait until most of their clothes are sold before the clothes of other factories will be put on the market.

In this case, it will not actually have much impact on them. After all, Huacai Garment Factory has limited production capacity and can only produce so many goods. If other factories take over, it can be regarded as filling the market gap.

Shen Moer even knew who were the companies on the market that were making clothes following the styles of Huacai Garment Factory. There was a street factory and two professional cooperatives led by the streets. Basically, there were these three companies, and they were all small-scale operations. Huacai Garment Factory was eating the meat in front, and they were just drinking the soup.

In fact, these three companies were set up just because they saw that Huacai Garment Factory's clothes were selling well.

Originally, everyone thought that there were so many state-owned garment factories in the capital, and the market was monopolized by the big factories, leaving no room for other factories to survive.

When Huacai Garment Factory came into being, some people suddenly realized that the most important thing about ready-made clothes is not how good the fabric is or how sophisticated the workmanship is, but the style!

Especially after bell-bottom pants, which came from the south, became popular, no matter what kind of fabric they were made of, as long as they were made into that style, people would line up to buy them.

The strength of Huacai Garment Factory lies in the fact that even though they only make bell-bottom pants, their bell-bottom pants are better looking and more fashionable than those of others.

So some people started to set up professional cooperatives, secretly producing according to the patterns of Huacai Garment Factory. Gradually, the number of cooperatives grew from one to three.

Shen Moer thought that these three companies were just following the lead of Huacai Garment Factory, but in fact, they were working very hard and felt that they were getting the most out of it. Although they were not large in scale, they had few employees, so their efficiency was actually very good, and the wages of their workers were not lower than those of large factories.

Shen Moer had someone investigate and verified that the goods were indeed not produced by these three companies. As for the department store and the supply and marketing cooperative, they were also very secretive and refused to reveal the source of the goods. Shen Moer and the others really had no idea what to do for the time being.

Then, just when Bai Junwen and the others were at a loss, the "thief" revealed herself.

The "thief" was neither from the production workshop nor from the warehouse management, but a female worker who handled defective products and scraps of cloth.

No wonder it has not been discovered yet. After all, who would have thought that the problem would arise from an inconspicuous piece of cloth?

This female worker used to work in the workshop. At the beginning of last year, she suddenly developed symptoms of presbyopia and her eyesight deteriorated. She could no longer work in the workshop, so the workshop director asked her to be responsible for handling defective products and scraps of cloth.

The female worker had worked in the sewing workshop of a garment factory for many years. Later, she gave her job to her daughter and went home to do nothing. Later, she joined the Huacai Garment Factory by chance. She had some talent in this area, and with practice, she could figure out how to cut clothes and how many pieces of cloth to divide by comparing the leftovers of defective products.

At first, she was thinking about this just to make one or two pieces according to the style for her family to wear. It would be much cheaper than buying ready-made clothes in a department store.

After being discovered by her daughter who worked in a garment factory, she handed the designs she had come up with to the factory where she worked. The factory then asked her to send the designs to Huacai Garment Factory every time they had new designs.

This time she was exposed because there was a female worker in the factory who was her neighbor. Her child accidentally bumped into her daughter and saw some strange pieces of paper falling out of her daughter's bag. When she went home and told about it, the female worker was careful and discovered it.

The female worker who discovered the incident was smart. She reported it to Zhao Zhenghui without telling anyone.

"Director, what should we do? Should we fire the person?"

Zhao Zhenghui was almost furious. He had spent countless hours investigating the matter, but he never expected that the "thief" was actually Aunt Hu, who handled the waste fabrics.

Aunt Hu was already quite old when she joined the factory. When they recruited her, they said she would be a temporary helper, and if she couldn't handle it physically, the factory would terminate the contract.

Logically, the factory should have fired her because her eyesight had deteriorated and she could no longer work. However, the workshop director heard her say that her old man was sick and her son was unfilial and refused to pay her, so out of kindness he arranged a job for her to deal with defective products and waste cloth.

But who knew that she would turn kindness into enmity and sell out the factory.

Shen Moer glanced at Zhao Zhenghui and asked, "Which garment factory is her daughter's?"

Zhao Zhenghui was stunned for a moment and said, "It's the Capital No. 5 Garment Factory."

He frowned: "Is it because we got that batch of equipment? But we have only signed the contract for the equipment, and there is no sign of it yet."

Shen Moer shook her head. The fact that they got that batch of equipment was also a reason, but the main reason was probably that the performance of the Capital Fifth Garment Factory had declined sharply.

She was not like Zhao Zhenghui, who grew up in China under the planned economic system and had no awareness of market competition. She grew up in the capital of Daliang, and had seen a lot of competition between big merchants in the capital and struggles between imperial merchants in the court.

For the sake of profit, even life and death is possible, let alone just stealing a clothing style?

At present, state-owned factories and collective enterprises still account for the majority. In two years, when there are more private enterprises, the competition in this area will only become more intense.

The most important thing in this incident is not that Aunt Hu sold out the factory. What is important is that it shows that the original calm and independent status quo of the industry may be broken.

Shen Moer has always been a person who doesn't offend others unless they offend me. Since others want to engage in a business war with her, she naturally won't let it go.

She whispered a few words to Zhao Zhenghui. At first, Zhao Zhenghui looked like he was wondering if this would work. But as he listened, his eyes lit up and he clapped his hands and said, "Okay, let's do it! If we don't teach them a lesson, they'll think we're vegetarians!"

After Shen Moer arranged the matter, she didn't care about it anymore. She returned to school and focused on tutoring and reviewing.

During this period, Huacai Garment Factory launched a new winter clothing line.

The factory attaches great importance to this new style. It is said that several factory leaders held several meetings on this matter before finally deciding on the style. They also referred to some clothing magazine from the United States. In a word, it is very fashionable and will definitely be popular.

This word spread in the factory, and many workers said that it was no wonder that Director Shen came to the factory so frequently during that period of time. It turned out that he was here to order new models.

There are also rumors that in order to promote this new style, the factory spent a large amount of money to order a batch of expensive fabrics from the textile factory, and planned to concentrate on producing this style from the next year to the New Year, striving to make this style the first choice for new year clothes for women in the capital.

Then, not long after, as expected, the crisp tweed fabric was distributed to various workshops, and each workshop began to work overtime to produce it.

Within two days, the Capital No. 5 Garment Factory received the cloth drawings for the new clothes. After having the best craftsman in the factory cut them, several factory leaders frowned at the finished clothes.

Why does this dress look so weird?

These people have been immersed in the garment industry for many years and are not completely without their own vision, so after seeing the ready-made clothes in front of them, they all had a suspicion that "Hua Cai wants to become the first choice for new year clothes for women in the capital with this stuff."

However, the successes in the previous times made them hesitant to believe in themselves.

After all, they have actually brought back a lot of sales by imitating Huacai's clothes.

Moreover, since its establishment, not a single clothing style of Huacai Garment Factory has failed. Every style sells very well. The only difference is whether it sells very well or sells exceptionally well.

After ten minutes of silence, someone finally couldn't help but speak up: "Is this possible? This fabric is not cheap."

If they are stuck with the products after they are produced, it will make their already poor performance even worse.

"It's really hard to say. Some of the designs they released before seemed a bit out of line, but they sold quite well. But this one is short on one side and long on the other. It seems even more out of line. Can lesbians really like this kind of thing?"

There was originally a female comrade in the leadership team of the Capital No. 5 Garment Factory, namely Deputy Director Niu who was previously involved in an impersonation scandal. After Deputy Director Niu was arrested and sentenced, a new deputy director was sent from above, but he was a male comrade. Since then, there have been no female comrades in the factory's leadership team.

A bunch of grown men really can't understand this.

Let them decide, what does style matter? For winter clothes, isn’t it enough that they are warm and dirt-resistant?

Some people also said: "It's hard to say. Take those bell-bottom pants for example. Do they look good? They are a good pair of pants, but the legs are made to look like bell-bottom pants. Not only does it waste fabric, but it also lets air in. They look good, but they don't. They look weird. But not only lesbians like them, but gay men like them too. Can you understand?"

That seems to be true.

Those bell-bottom pants are indeed weird.

Could it be that young people nowadays like weird things?

Several people looked at each other, feeling a little confused.

"How about finding a lesbian to ask?" Someone said, "Find the most fashionable lesbian."

Then the factory office went to find a female comrade who was famous for being fashionable in the factory. This female comrade worked in logistics, had short curly hair, wore heavy makeup, and wore the most popular bell-bottom pants and bat shirt. It was quite cold and she didn't even wear a warm coat.

Seeing a woolen coat with different lengths of front and back in the conference room, the female comrade's eyes lit up and she said, "This coat is very special!"

What she pursues is fashion and uniqueness. This coat is a bit large, what later generations call a loose coat, and the front and back pieces are irregular, which looks very "design-conscious" and very much in line with her aesthetic.

You know what, when she puts the coat on, it matches her short curly hair and flared pants very well.

The female comrade said with a smile: "Leaders, why don't you sell this dress to me..."

What she wanted to say was that if someone else changed to her, they probably wouldn't like it either. She just happened to like this style. But before she could finish her words, Gao Yong, who was sitting at the top, waved his hands repeatedly: "I just asked you to come here and try on the clothes. Okay, take them off and you can go back."

After a pause, he added: "Don't tell anyone when you get out."

The female comrade didn't understand what these men were doing, but since she was told not to tell anyone, she naturally didn't say anything, so she took off her clothes and left.

As he walked, he muttered, "It's so rare to see a suitable piece of clothing, why isn't it for sale?"

After everyone left, several people in the conference room looked at each other and sighed in their hearts at the same time, what kind of taste do young people have nowadays? Why do they like such weird things?

No matter how much we lament, the clothes still need to be produced as soon as possible.

Huacai Garment Factory is so confident about this style, and the most fashionable ladies in the factory also like this style. This style is a sure win!

So in the following period of time, both factories began to work as hard as they could. In the blink of an eye, it was New Year's Eve, and both sides started delivering goods to department stores and supply and marketing cooperatives.

Normally, the Capital No. 5 Garment Factory would wait until the clothes of the Huacai Garment Factory were on the market, and then deliver the goods to the department stores and supply and marketing cooperatives a few days later, so as not to expose the "nails" they had buried in the Huacai Garment Factory.

But this time, Huacai Garment Factory didn't know why and kept delaying the delivery. Capital No. 5 Garment Factory didn't want to miss the New Year's Day peak period for citizens to buy new clothes, so it waited and waited, and finally gritted its teeth and went ahead and delivered.

As a result, they started delivering goods, and Huacai Garment Factory also started delivering goods.

People from the sales department of the Fifth Garment Factory even met people from Huacai in a department store in a certain district. The people from the Fifth Garment Factory felt a little guilty, so they unloaded the goods, counted the quantity, and then left without a second thought.

The people from the purchasing department of the department store were guarding the door of the warehouse, facing the Huacai Garment Factory alone, and felt a little helpless.

The Capital No. 5 Garment Factory copied Huacai's styles, and they knew it very well. But who can blame Huacai for its insufficient production capacity? There weren't enough to sell!

Moreover, the Fifth Garment Factory is an old state-owned factory after all, and its relationships in all aspects are relatively comprehensive. They are all state-owned units in the capital and can be considered brother units. It is understandable that they favor the Fifth Garment Factory.

It was still a bit embarrassing to be caught in the act by Huacai’s people.

The people at Huacai didn't seem to notice his embarrassment at all, and asked with a smile: "Which factory is that? Why don't you check the style and quality before they deliver the goods?"

The comrades in the purchasing department were suddenly even more embarrassed. Indeed, although the styles and quality of Huacai Garment Factory have always been very good, because the other party is a state-owned enterprise, they have always conducted more detailed inspections.

Although such differential treatment is actually an unspoken rule, it is really embarrassing when someone asks you about it directly in the face.

He could only laugh it off: "Well, they have already sent samples before, and we have a long-term purchase and sales agreement. If there are any problems, they can be returned directly, so there is no need to check too carefully."

Huacai, who is usually quite worldly-wise, was inexplicably a little stubborn today and kept on harping on this matter: "We have to do random inspections, right? We're not in a hurry here, how about you open one and check it?"

The people in the purchasing department were having a headache and thought to themselves that it was not their problem since the styles of both companies were the same. If you wanted to see it, they would show it to you.

So he quickly opened a package and took out a black wool coat.

"This material is really good, delicate and crisp. This coat will definitely look good..."

Before he could finish his words, his coat was shaken off and he stopped talking halfway.

The people in the purchasing department stared at the clothes in front of them, their eyes almost popped out.

No, what the hell is this?

Why is this dress short on one side and long on the other? What kind of good person would buy such weird-shaped clothes?

The people at the Huacai Garment Factory bit their lips to hold back their laughter. After a long pause, they finally asked in a normal, puzzled voice, "Why does this dress look a little bit special?"

People from the Purchasing Department: “…”

It's not special, it's not so special that it can be classified as strange costumes.

The people at Huacai Garment Factory pretended to be puzzled and asked, "Is this style popular recently? Does your department store like to sell this style recently? Oh, then our factory may not be able to keep up with the trend this time. Our clothes are still a little conservative."

The person from the purchasing department: "No, no, no, this kind of, uh, special ones may be liked by some people, but they are definitely only a minority. We mainly sell simple and elegant styles..."

Halfway through his speech, he suddenly realized: "You, the styles of your factory are different from theirs?!"

The people at the Huacai Garment Factory narrowed their eyes and then laughed, "You must be joking. How can the styles of our factory be the same as theirs?"

He curled his lips and said, "How can a community-run enterprise like us make such a trendy style?"

People from the Purchasing Department: “…”

He knew that he had said the wrong thing accidentally, so he tried to make amends by saying, "I just thought that this style was popular in your factories recently. Forget it, let's not talk about this. What style is your factory's? Take it apart and have a look. Brother, I'm not inspecting. We don't play favorites. I'm just purely curious about the style of your factory. You know, every style your factory produces sells very well..."

His attitude became very enthusiastic, but there was no other way. The batch of goods from the Capital No. 5 Garment Factory was obviously not good. They estimated that they would have to rely on the goods from the Huacai Garment Factory during the year end.

There are so many department stores and supply and marketing cooperatives in the capital, and the production capacity of Huacai Garment Factory is limited. If he doesn't say a few good words to people quickly, people may deliver less goods and there won't be enough goods to sell, and customers will all go to other stores.

All state-owned units are undergoing restructuring, and so are their department stores. Their performance will be linked to year-end bonuses and benefits.

The staff at Huacai Garment Factory seemed to be completely unaware of the other party's arrogance. They smiled and opened a package of goods and took out two clothes: "We have two styles this time, one long and one short. The fabrics are both very high-end woolen."

He shook out his clothes. "Look, this long one is very neat and elegant. I heard from our factory manager that fashionable girls in Eagle Country and Beautiful Country like to wear this kind of coat with leather boots. It looks very good. And this short one is a little more heroic, but it is also very good-looking. It is also very convenient to wear. You don't have to worry about the hem of your clothes getting caught by the wheels or dragging on the ground when you bend over to ride a bike."

"Both styles are good-looking. It all depends on personal preference. We have several colors here, so whether you are a heroic lesbian or a gentle and quiet lesbian, you can pick the style you like."

"Also, our factory manager said that these two types of clothes can be matched with the clothes and pants we released earlier. Comrades who have already bought them can wear one set directly. It will definitely make you look good when visiting relatives during the New Year."

People from the Purchasing Department: “…”

It's like this every time.

Every time.

The people in the sales department of Huacai Garment Factory are really good at talking. Every time they send a new style, they will talk a lot about how to match them. They are obviously big and strong men, but they can talk about these things with great knowledge.

Sometimes people in the purchasing department feel that the salespeople in their department store cannot sell goods as well as they do, and if they were allowed to sell the goods at the counter themselves, they might be able to sell even better.

However, I have to admit that the styles produced by Huacai Garment Factory are really good every time.

The cuts of these two tweed coats, one long and one short, are very simple and neat, but there are some careful thoughts in the details. For example, the cuffs of the coats are embroidered with dark patterns with silk threads of the same color, which makes the clothes look more upscale.

This dress is made of good fabric and has fine workmanship, so it's certainly not cheap.

However, the period around the Chinese New Year is also the time when people are most willing to spend money on clothes. Such a high-end tweed coat will definitely make you look impressive when worn, whether you are going on a blind date or visiting relatives and friends. It goes without saying that it will sell very well.

The people in the purchasing department immediately became more enthusiastic: "Brother, how about you send us another batch of goods tomorrow? It's almost New Year's Day, and I guess this amount of goods will definitely not be enough to sell."

Originally I thought that as long as there were goods from the Capital Fifth Garment Factory, that should be enough, but it turned out that what the Capital Fifth Garment Factory brought was nothing.

The people from Huacai Garment Factory also laughed it off, neither agreeing nor refusing.

After everyone left, the person from the purchasing department sighed, "How slippery."

He picked up the clothes from the Huacai Garment Factory and looked at them again, then picked up the clothes from the Capital Fifth Garment Factory and looked at them again. He looked here and there, and the more he looked, the more puzzled he seemed.

Then an idea flashed in his mind, and he slapped his thigh, suddenly realizing: "The Capital Fifth Garment Factory copied two pieces of clothing into one, right?!"

"No, the people at the Capital Fifth Garment Factory are all stupid. Even if they copied it wrong, don't they think there's something wrong with making such a weird-looking piece of clothing?!"

I can't even copy correctly, there's really no hope!

The price of this woolen fabric is not low, and the Fifth Garment Factory seems to have produced quite a lot this time. This might be a problem!

That evening, in the small conference room of the Capital Fifth Garment Factory.

It was still the same group of people, but this time, what was placed on the conference table were no longer strange-shaped clothes, but two beautiful tweed coats, one long and one short.

After a suffocating silence, Gao Yong, who was sitting at the head of the table, suddenly grabbed the teacup on the table and smashed it to the ground: "Damn it, we were fooled by that bitch Shen Moer!"

The cup broke into pieces and the tea spilled all over the floor.