The next day, Zhou Quan and Li Mai went out to select materials.
As a clothing store, they don't need to sell all kinds of materials like a fabric store, and they need to purchase goods in large quantities.
They planned to visit several dyeing shops and select several types of fabrics from each shop. Li Mai had already planned this before they left.
The ready-made clothes in her shop are mainly categorized into men's wear, women's wear, and children's wear.
Then, each major category is further divided into subcategories based on the style of clothing.
The main clothing of the people in this dynasty was the ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) for women, which was worn with quilted outer garments and various capes in winter.
The inner garment consisted of a bralette top and knee-length panties.
In winter, in addition to wearing thicker outer clothing, the scholar's robe would be replaced with a lined shirt, and inner garments would be added on top and bottom, similar to the function of thermal underwear in modern times.
Men's everyday attire mainly consisted of long robes paired with wide belts. Underwear was the same as women's, including undergarments and trousers.
There is also a men's garment worn at home called a shenyi, which is considered everyday clothing. However, it is mostly worn by wealthy people. Ordinary people only have one garment for both home and outside, as they do not have time to change into many different clothes.
Regardless of whether it's men's or women's clothing, the main decoration is embroidery, and the patterns are very diverse. Flowers, trees, birds, fish and animals, clouds, stars and moon can all be embroidered on the clothes.
However, auspicious and divine beasts like dragons, unicorns, and phoenixes can only be used by nobles and royalty.
This is similar to the practices of various dynasties in ancient times.
In terms of materials, most precious fabrics such as brocade and silk are plain with dark patterns, and very few are fancy. Brocade and silk with large floral patterns do exist, but they are generally only for the royal family and cannot be used by ordinary people. The colors are mostly light blue or dark red, and bright colors are very rare.
Most floral print dresses are made of cotton and are worn by ordinary people. The patterns are printed, and the nobles felt that the colors were too messy and impure, and did not reflect their noble status.
Children's clothing styles mostly follow those of adults, with not many cute and playful clothes suitable for children.
When Li Mai decided to open a clothing shop, she planned to work hard on the styles and colors to create her own unique style.
When she first met the head of the Jiang family, she also asked him about it. She learned that there were some regulations on clothing in this dynasty, but not many, and there were no restrictions on the style of clothing.
But most ready-made clothing stores sell clothes that look the same.
This means that there hasn't yet been a bold enough person to lead the trend.
Li Mai decided to be that person.
Two weeks later, Li Mai and Zhou Quan returned home with a full load of goods.
Of course, only part of it is inside the car; the rest is in the storage space.
In fact, the truckload of fabric in the car was only a portion of the final batch purchased from the Zhang family.
They went straight back to the Li family mansion in town and put all the fabric in the room in the main courtyard that they had specially prepared to store the fabric.
This room will be used as a warehouse, and Li Mai will personally keep the key.
Once the shop is tidied up, these things will be moved inside.
Li Mai made a plan: to use the second floor as a garment room to store the stored fabrics.
The ground floor is used as a shop, and a changing room is set up next to the door, with a mirror installed on the door.
There was a mirror too; Li Mai had one in a box in his own space, though it wasn't very big, about the size of a book. But it still looked better than a bronze mirror from this era.
To avoid the mirror being stolen, Li Mai instructed Zhou Lin and the others to leave a space for the mirror when making the door, embedding the mirror in it and then sealing it with wooden boards from the back.
After Li Mai returned, Zhou Lin told her that the door to the changing room was finished and that they were just waiting for the mirror she mentioned.
Li Mai agreed and brought it to them the next day.
Zhou Lin exclaimed in disbelief, "Sister-in-law, this mirror is so clear! Where did you buy it?"
“It was given to you by an old man your brother met by chance,” Li Mai said with a smile.
Zhou Quan, who had suddenly been blamed, turned around and glanced at his wife, smiled helplessly, and nodded to his younger brother.
"This is very expensive. It's hard to find another piece like it in the world. Be careful not to break it. It's fragile," Zhou Quan instructed his younger brother.
Zhou Lin agreed and carefully carried it to the installation site.
“Sister-in-law, I think once your clothing store opens, regardless of whether the clothes are good-looking or not, just based on this mirror alone, your business will definitely become the best,” Zhou Lin said confidently.
Li Mai waved her hand modestly and said, "That's not necessarily true!"
After handing the mirror to Zhou Lin, Li Mai checked the progress of the shelves on the first floor.
After half a month of work, the first floor is not even half finished. Besides the fact that I requested the display shelves to be more exquisite, everything is also handmade. In this era, there are no nails, and everything has to be put together with the help of a mortise and tenon joint.
Carpentry work, especially mortise and tenon joints, is very time-consuming.
In addition to the wall-mounted display shelves on the first floor, she also designed a long rest area in the middle, with long benches back to back, where guests can sit and rest. Once seated, the first thing they see is the clothes on the display shelves opposite.
The display design includes both front-mounted and side-mounted displays. There are also special wooden clothes racks.
The main display area should naturally feature the store's featured items for the current season.
There is also a row of counters in front of the display shelves to separate customers from sales staff, and the counters also make it convenient for customers to look at the clothes up close.
On the handrail of the stairs leading to the second floor, Li Mai planned to find someone with good drawing skills to draw some clothing designs for her.
Of course, someone also needs to be found to wear the painting.
With these arrangements made, Li Mai and Zhou Quan returned home with the fabric they had prepared to make their first batch of clothes.
The next day, she began to organize the embroiderers she had chosen to come to her house to make clothes.
The first batch of clothes should be made when the shop opens.
Li Mai drew the design, and Zhou Tao and Zhao Shi discussed getting the embroiderers to cut and make the first batch of clothes together.
Meanwhile, Li Mai plans to promote the pomegranate-red dress as the main item when the store opens.
To complement this outfit, she also designed a set of pomegranate-red jewelry, and handed the design over to Manager Cui to launch as a piece in February.
Li Mai estimated that her shop would open around mid-February, and asked Manager Cui to launch the Cupid's Pomegranate Red product in mid-February as well.
The red gemstone used in the pomegranate red is similar in color to the stone used in the Cupid's Firework, so Manager Cui doesn't need to worry about the materials.
After Li Mai and Manager Cui finalized these arrangements, they went back to continue with their own business.
Preparations are underway for the opening in mid-February.
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