Seoul Fashion Week (2)
In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.
A motorcycle rolled into the Haesol Textile factory, dropped off a thick, oversized bundle wrapped in plastic, got a signature, and disappeared again.
It was a quick delivery from the Hanil Global clothing factory.
Everyone gathered around with eager eyes, waiting to see how the clothes had turned out, and Factory Manager Park Han-soo deftly tore open the wrapping and took the garments out.
The unusual texture looked both substantial and breathable at once, and even the surface structure seemed built to absorb sweat quickly and scatter it away. At a glance, it felt unmistakably like summer golf wear.
“Thank you for all your hard work.”
“The staff all worked hard.”
Park Han-soo smiled brightly as he looked over the golf apparel made from the sample fabric.
Seung-hyun did too.
When he had first been drawing up the sample fabric, he had not fully understood it, but once a proper garment came out of the clothing factory and he saw it in finished form, he could finally feel, in a real and concrete way, what Haesol Textile had made.
It was so interesting. Why had he never understood that feeling when his father was still alive?
Manager Park lifted the men’s golf wear against his own body for a moment, then grinned.
“Hanil Global’s technology really is something. They’ve controlled every tiny detail, so there’s no room for mistakes in the process.”
“Right. Since it came out like this, all we can do is hope it sells well this summer. It looks like it would fit you, Manager. Take it. I don’t need it.”
“Ah, no, sir. You should keep it.”
“I don’t play golf. And it’s not really my style.”
The Aero Coolbreeze fabric that Haesol Textile and Hanil Global had developed together had finally finished its pilot production run not long ago.
For nearly a month, Seung-hyun and the employees had been tied to the site day and night while they ran the equipment.
Thanks to that, they had been able to produce the Aero Coolbreeze samples for golf wear on schedule, and the product had been completed under Hanil Global’s golf brand, Motion-X.
“Now there’s only one thing left. How much attention it gets at this trade show.”
After an all-nighter, Park Han-soo turned to Seung-hyun with a face as clear as morning dew.
“It’ll go well. More importantly, how’s Daeryung Trading doing? They came by again yesterday to pick up extra design samples.”
Surprisingly, Daeryung Trading seemed ready to place an additional order for GyeolBit art-fabric sofas.
Even after excluding the 3,000 yards to be delivered to Lime Design, they were ordering another 3,000 yards, openly showing their ambition to push art-fabric sofas aggressively within Korea.
What was most surprising of all was their plan to open an offline store in Nonhyeon-dong to promote Aureum.
For Haesol Textile, there was no reason to oppose any of it; it was a highly promising development.
“Yes, they said they’re choosing five out of the fifteen additional samples to move forward with. Honestly, at this rate, I’m starting to wonder if Haesol Textile is going to put up a whole building. Hahaha!”
He laughed heartily, seeming even more excited than Seung-hyun himself.
“I’d really love for that to happen.”
By making art fabric from C-grade yarn, the material cost stayed at less than half, while the unit price remained close to that of premium European fabric, so the more they produced, the more the profits grew exponentially.
On top of that, they had installed nearly 700 million won’s worth of equipment to automate the art-fabric line, but by the following month it looked as if it would more than cover the installation cost.
So Manager Park’s joke about building a whole building was not really a joke at all.
For Seung-hyun, then, the continued collaboration with Hanil Global was less about expecting sales and more like a kind of insurance.
“Then go and do well.”
“Me? What exactly am I supposed to do? Everyone else will handle it.”
Since he had already seen the clothes that would be shown at the trade show, he didn’t think there would be anything to catch him off guard at the exhibition.
This time, he was going as a supporting player, so he went alone.
When he arrived at the Seoul Fashion Week trade show venue, the place was chaotic from the entrance onward.
The hall was alive with colorful lights and flashy music, and the many booths for fashion, sports, and leisure companies were laid out in a dazzling spread.
On one side stood Taesung Apparel’s golf brand, VEANT, with all the confidence of a flagship display.
Under a large sign reading “VEANT SUMMER GOLF”, luxurious displays and photos of famous models were lined up in order.
And a little farther away was another golf-wear booth that caught the eye. Hanil Global’s Motion-X brand was being promoted on a grand scale there.
At first, this booth looked slightly smaller than Taesung Apparel’s, but the long banner reading “Cool and Comfortable - Aero Coolbreeze” was drawing plenty of attention.
Seung-hyun slowly looked around.
Countless people moved through the venue, along with buyers searching for products that could make money.
How many of them would leave with the name Haesol Textile firmly stamped into their minds?
It was an exciting sight, one that made his heart beat a little faster.
*
Executive Director Kim Ho-yeol had come to the venue from early morning to check the booth interior for VEANT, Taesung Apparel’s latest golf-wear line.
The champagne-toned stage and pastel advertising panels stood out first.
The glamorous lineup that famous influencers would wear had just arrived and was still being set up.
“Executive Director, this season’s VEANT golf wear is fully prepared. The concept is Elegant Swing, and we’re targeting women golfers in their thirties and forties directly. Overseas buyers will love this refined color palette and the details.”
Team Leader Noh Chae-sang quickly pulled out his notebook and began explaining this season’s product line and marketing points.
“First, in terms of design, VEANT abandons the usual harsh neon colors and instead combines elegant pastel tones with a high-end sensibility. The newly introduced Summer Excel fabric features quick-dry performance and UV protection.
“Also, rather than women in their twenties, the main target is women golfers thirty and up. The key is to outclass Hanil Global’s Motion-X with design.”
Executive Director Kim Ho-yeol nodded and took a sip of tea. From an hour or two before the event began, he had been walking through the booth, carefully examining the clothes on the mannequins.
The colors are definitely softer and more refined. The details are solid. It’s enough to make an impression.
As the stage preparations neared completion, Team Leader Noh came over again to report.
“Executive Director, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about Hanil Global’s Motion-X. There had been rumors last month about some new material or another, but since the preparation period was so short, I think it may just be flashy packaging this time. I believe our VEANT golf line will be ahead in both reputation and design.”
“Hmm.”
Kim Ho-yeol answered with a bored look, but inside, Hanil Global was still a little irritating.
They had always been competitors, and even if Taesung was far ahead in the domestic market, he knew well enough that Hanil Global had been doing quite well with an overseas-facing strategy.
Still, we did sink money into VEANT this time... Nothing should go wrong.
He glanced around the event space.
By around nine in the morning, exhibitors and buyers were already coming in one after another.
Each brand’s booth had been decorated with flair, and golf wear, sportswear, and leisure goods were arranged like stage props, all designed to catch the eye.
“Ah, and what about Haesol Textile?”
Kim Ho-yeol narrowed his eyes and looked at Noh Chae-sang.
Startled, Noh forced himself to calm down and said, “I hear... their sales are expected to rise steadily for the time being...”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk... at this rate, who am I supposed to trust to handle anything?”
“I’m sorry.”
“What? Art fabric? Forget it. Let’s stop paying attention to that now.”
“Understood.”
After gathering together a few pieces of information learned through a former employee who had quit, Team Leader Noh had finally figured out what fabric they were dealing with.
They were supposedly making something called art fabric out of nothing but C-grade yarn, and the problem was that it had succeeded in overseas exports.
A considerable amount of it, too.
Having watched everything go awry, Executive Director Kim Ho-yeol now wanted to cut off all concern about Haesol Textile.
Kim In-hyuk would no doubt keep pestering him, but as long as he played along loosely, that idiot would soon be fooled without even realizing it.
Honestly, even if he managed to ruin Haesol Textile, what would he really gain? At most, a pat on the back from Chairman Kim for having “bought the land cheap.”
The more he tried to do, the more tangled everything became, and all he got out of it was a loss of face. He had decided to stop caring altogether, but once his self-respect had been so thoroughly crushed, anger kept bubbling up in flashes.
Wasn’t that how men were, after all?
When some guy you thought was worse than you at soccer slipped past you in a class match and scored a gorgeous goal.
The shame of your own ridiculous fall, and the jealousy you felt watching everyone cheer for the friend who had scored.
He had been swept up in those emotions when he was young, but now he was old enough to know they did not matter.
So he worked hard to keep himself under control, trying not to be ruled by feeling.
When the official opening time arrived, invited influencers and a few reporters gathered in front of Taesung Apparel’s booth.
As the model stepped onto the stage in VEANT golf wear and demonstrated an elegant swing, gasps broke out.
“As expected, it looks luxurious but still practical.”
“The design really stands out. The colors are so pretty.”
Executive Director Kim Ho-yeol smiled and looked back at Team Leader Noh Chae-sang.
“Good. A strong start. At this rate, we should get plenty of attention.”
As he had expected, the early response was not bad.
Several overseas buyers also showed active interest.
But after a while, the atmosphere in the venue shifted in a strange way.
Suddenly, it was obvious that the crowd was drifting toward Hanil Global’s Motion-X booth next door.
When you ran a booth at a trade show, people clustering around one spot whenever an event kicked off was perfectly normal.
Kim Ho-yeol, paying it no mind, was about to leave the exhibition hall to meet a representative from a global luxury brand attending Seoul Fashion Week.
And yet even he became curious enough to pass by the Motion-X booth on his way out.
But then,
“This is a new material co-developed by our Hanil Global and Haesol Textile.”
“We call it Aero Coolbreeze. When you wear it, it suppresses the rise in body temperature and efficiently wicks away sweat, keeping you comfortable.”
Haesol Textile?
Hanil Global alone was enough to make the veins at his temple stand out, so why was the name Haesol Textile coming up again?
In that instant, a young man stepping away from the back of the booth after finishing a Q&A session with reporters came into view.
Jung Seung-hyun.
The representative of Haesol Textile, one of Taesung Apparel’s major suppliers, was collaborating with Hanil Global?
...Damn it, why is this bastard here?
His face hardened in an instant.
Jung Seung-hyun caught his eye for a brief moment, then smiled faintly and continued explaining to the buyer in English.
“By forming an air layer through a lightweight double-weave structure, it quickly releases sweat and heat in the summer...”
Sometimes people were like that.
They would stake their lives on something, depending on how they saw it, even when it was practically nothing.
Pulling out a weapon because someone cut in front of their car, or smashing a remote because the other person had been watching only the channel you hated...
When some hidden switch got flipped, a person’s behavior might not be rational at all.
For Executive Director Kim Ho-yeol, that infuriating smile was exactly that switch.
So he said something he would normally never have said.
“That level of moisture absorption is something any sportswear has, isn’t it? Don’t dress it up like some great technology just because...”
Only after the words left his mouth did Kim realize he had gone too far, but the water had already been spilled.
Thinking there was no point in continuing the argument, he turned to leave.
“If you’re curious, would you like to see?”
He heard the young man’s voice and turned around.
To his astonishment, Jung Seung-hyun, the representative of Haesol Textile, smiled and reached toward the drink held by the foreign buyer.
“Let me buy you a fresh one.”
Without waiting for permission, Seung-hyun smoothly took the juice from the buyer’s hand and, shockingly, poured half of it over the shiny mannequin’s head.
“Whoa!”
“What the--”
Not only the buyers, but even the Hanil Global staff at the booth, were stunned.
Seung-hyun tapped the mannequin’s outfit a few times, then shoved his hand inside to show that the juice had been fully absorbed.
“Ooh--”
Everyone was still staring in amazement when
“Aero Coolbreeze isn’t just sweat-resistant. It also has an anti-stain coating, so sticky liquids spread easily and are absorbed and evaporated without trouble. Executive Director, that level of moisture absorption is something any sportswear has, right? How about VEANT?”
Seung-hyun held out the remaining juice toward Kim Ho-yeol, whose face had turned bright red, and Kim could not say a word.