Chapter 450 Fashion Design

After Old Master Qian finished his cup of tea, Manager Yan quickly refilled it for him.

"The porcelain vase was inscribed with Dahe Zhaoshi, so they guessed it was also made by Lady Sui. But they were a step too slow, hahaha!" The old man beamed with joy. "This is a product exclusively sold by my Qian family. They can't get a share of it, so they can only wait in line to buy it."

Cheng Wanwan was embarrassed. This old man looked very serious and steady, but now he was like a naughty boy.

She coughed and said, "The skincare products caused a sensation as soon as they hit the market, which will definitely attract the envy of others. Some merchants may buy them in large quantities and then resell them at high prices. In order to avoid this situation, I think we can introduce a purchase limit policy, limiting each person to two or three sets at a time, to prevent other merchants from profiting from it."

Old Master Qian immediately gave a thumbs up: "Madam Sui, you are so clever. This way, the reputation of the Zhao family of Dahe will not be ruined by these people."

The two continued to discuss the details.

Finally, Mr. Qian proposed increasing the daily production. Currently, the daily output is one hundred to two hundred bottles, which is not enough to sell.

"No rush." ​​Cheng Wanwan seemed very calm. "When a new product is launched, it will inevitably encounter one problem or another. The problems haven't been exposed yet, so we can't be so eager for quick success. Let's take it slow and enjoy the process."

She asked Wu Xiaochui to bring over the warehouse logbook and said with a smile, "Currently, there are more than 800 sets in the warehouse. We limit it to 100 sets per day, which can last for eight days. After eight days, we will arrange for someone to come and pick up the goods."

Grandpa Qian nodded; this was the only way to proceed for now.

After seeing the Qian family off, Cheng Wanwan took a stroll through the glycerin workshop. To be honest, the process of glycerin purification and processing is much more complicated than the soap-making process, which is why daily production has always been low. However, the complexity of the process also means that it is unlikely to be imitated. In the future, once there are substitutes for soap, the glycerin industry will be the only source of income.

She carefully observed each process, recorded the steps that could be improved, and then went back to the book to slowly figure them out.

Meanwhile, Cao Yingying also got busy.

The first batch of silkworms in the mulberry garden have finished spinning silk and making cocoons, and the second batch is coming next. The number has expanded dozens of times, and currently at least thirty people are needed.

Twenty people raise silkworms, and ten more people process the previous batch of silk, which needs to be woven into cloth.

Cao Yingying took a brush and wrote down the requirements for hiring on a piece of paper. After finishing, she handed it to Cheng Wanwan, who was reading a book beside her: "Mom, can you take a look and see if this is feasible?"

Cheng Wanwan glanced at it and said, "There's nothing too serious. It's just that Kong Xiuniang isn't very familiar with the people in the village. We'll have the old lady go over and give her some advice."

Cao Yingying obediently agreed. She paused for a moment, then spoke again, "Last time, a batch of gauze my father bought was dyed badly. It was only after my mother reminded him that the loss was recovered. I was thinking, could we deliberately dye it that color and make clothes to sell?"

“Intentionally dyeing a gradient color requires a lot of skill. Can your Cao family’s dye shop do that?” Cheng Wanwan said seriously. “Actually, ready-made clothes can be very profitable. You don’t necessarily have to make clothes in that particular color. As long as the style is novel and outstanding, why worry about people not buying clothes?”

In modern society, most people sell ready-made clothing. For well-known brands, a single garment can cost hundreds of thousands of yuan, and there are always plenty of people eager to buy it.

The premise is that the workmanship is excellent, the tailoring is exquisite, and the style is novel enough. If it can be made unique, there is no need to worry about it not selling.

Cao Yingying propped up her chin. "I've noticed that the styles of clothes worn by the ladies are actually pretty much the same, with only variations in color, embroidery, and details... What if I come up with a new and unique style, but it's not accepted by the ladies? What should I do then?"

“That means you didn’t design from their perspective.” Cheng Wanwan picked up a charcoal pencil and casually drew on a piece of paper. “Do you remember Miss Wu who came to the village a few days ago? She was more plump than average and always walked with her head down in the crowd. It was obvious that she was self-conscious about her figure. If you could design a dress that could cover up her figure, do you think she would buy it?”

As she spoke, a set of clothes appeared on the paper.

Because it was drawn casually, it's rather rough, but you can still see the details—the waistline of this dress is very high and slightly tapered, with a tie at the waist, and the hem is deliberately drawn smaller to contrast with the shoulders, being slightly narrower than the shoulders.

"Raising and cinching the waist will visually slim you down," she said, pointing to the sketch. "The natural width of the skirt hem must be less than the shoulders, otherwise it will make the wearer look bulky. Also, the color of this skirt needs to be considered..."

Cao Yingying was extremely surprised.

She simply altered an ordinary dress, and it definitely made her look slimmer. Her mother-in-law is amazing!

Listening to Cheng Wanwan's rambling on and on, she suddenly had an idea: "Some ladies are relatively short, so could we raise their waistline?"

Cheng Wanwan laughed: "You can even apply what you've learned to other situations. It seems you've already understood what I meant. Think about it carefully and see if you can design a few outfits."

"Thank you, Mother!"

Cao Yingying took the sketch and began to study it seriously.

Seeing her second daughter-in-law so earnest, Cheng Wanwan felt comforted. With her second son and Yingying around, there would be someone to take over this huge business when she could no longer work.

When Zhao Ergou returned in the evening, Cao Yingying was still working on her drawing.

She grew up in a secluded room and was proficient in all the arts, including music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. She originally used a brush to paint, but after seeing Cheng Wanwan use charcoal pencils, she also switched to charcoal pencils. Charcoal pencils do not need to be ground and do not wet the paper, making them particularly convenient for drawing. No wonder she always saw her mother-in-law writing with charcoal pencils. She also kept some for later use.

She drew many, but was not satisfied with any of them, so she crumpled them up and threw them on the corner of the table.

"What are you so engrossed in?" Zhao Ergou suddenly spoke up. "You didn't even notice I was back."

Cao Yingying was startled, gave him a reproachful look, put down her charcoal pencil, rubbed her shoulder and said, "Today I was preparing for the recruitment of people for the mulberry orchard. I chatted with Mother for a while and got some inspiration. I want to finish this as soon as possible, show it to Mother tomorrow, and then take it to Kong Xiuniang to see if she can make it..."

Zhao Ergou glanced at the sketch and roughly understood what it was about to do.

He reached out and massaged Cao Yingying's shoulders: "I'll massage your shoulders, you continue drawing."

"I can't concentrate with you here." Cao Yingying gave him a push. "Your older brother is still busy in the fields. Why don't you go help him?"

Zhao Ergou rubbed her head: "Then draw slowly, rest when you're tired, don't push yourself."

He went to the yard to help Zhao Dashan, but his feelings were complicated.

His wife's dowry was more than he could ever spend in a lifetime, yet she still worked so hard; he needed to work even harder too.

The restaurant franchise deal must be finalized by tomorrow.