Lesser Factory (1)
The studio on the second floor of Roche Bobois in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam.
“A little brighter!”
“Should this part be in shadow?”
“Tone the color down a bit.”
Yu Se-rin was busy shooting the sample Seung-hyun had left behind, working in tandem with the photographer.
And there was one more person who had quietly come over to watch them.
Gang Mo-hyeon, who always seemed to wear a smile at the corners of his mouth.
But his face, as he stared at the sample fabric the photographer kept hammering away at, had stiffened like a student sitting through a class he could not follow.
“Oh? Looks like the clients have left?”
Yu Se-rin, who had been exchanging impressions with the photographer on set, noticed Gang Mo-hyeon and asked.
Her expression was noticeably brighter than before, now that she had fallen completely in love with the sample brought from Haesol Textile.
“Yes.”
“How much in sales have you already stacked up? You’re moving so fast I can’t keep up.”
Gang Mo-hyeon knew perfectly well that if she truly could not keep up, she would not be saying something like that.
“This must be the sample fabric Haesol Textile sent over, right? But once payment is received, the furniture maker is selected, and the finished goods actually start arriving at the showroom, even at top speed that’s three weeks to a month. Isn’t that too late?”
“That’s right. It does seem too late.”
Yu Se-rin answered with a faint smile.
A smile that seemed to say it might be too late, but could he possibly still beat her anyway?
Under other circumstances, he would have snorted and tossed off some light joke like, “At this quality, I’d say I’m the one in danger.” But after seeing the sample’s quality, he could not quite get the words out.
“Then I hope you get good results.”
After Gang Mo-hyeon left, Yu Se-rin was alone with the photographer again, and she lifted one corner of her mouth.
“Hmph. You’re the one who’s going to get crushed.”
Yu Se-rin had never once backed away from a fight that came walking toward her.
So this time, too, she had no intention of simply doing her best and accepting the result. Her only thought was to win, no matter what.
Using the photos and sample fabric, along with a bit of market analysis, she began drafting in detail how Jung Seung-hyun’s “European-style art fabric” could be applied to Roche Bobois furniture.
Once the formal proposal was uploaded, she gathered the necessary documents and wrote them up in the form of an official notice.
“Six months left? Then I’m definitely winning.”
After checking that the notice had gone up properly, Yu Se-rin did not doubt her victory in the slightest.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Ever since Michelle Lacroix’s SNS post went up, the phone at Haesol Textile had not stopped ringing.
Chief Hwang Seok-jae, in particular, had taken five missed calls while he was already in the middle of a ten-minute conversation with one buyer.
“I’m sorry. Large orders are difficult, and full-scale production won’t be possible until July.”
“If you place the order now, then it won’t be until July that we can...”
This was because the many buyers who had already exchanged business cards at Maison & Objet had all started requesting orders at once.
By this point, even Hwang Seok-jae had moved beyond the simple pleasure of seeing orders pile up.
“President, for now, I think it would be better to standardize the European importers by country and set a fixed term. Once the brand grows and sales increase, establishing a local subsidiary later would be much more profitable.”
“A local subsidiary? Could that really happen?”
“The response right now is far from ordinary. Because these are finished goods, if we make it so they are handled only as a premium department-store line rather than in discount shops, I think the sales could come in at a level far beyond what we’re imagining now.”
“Hmm... I see. I’ll think about it. For now, we can choose a good company from among the buyers contacting us.”
“Back when anyone willing to sell our product came along, we would have been thrilled. Now we can even compare profit ratios and make the selection ourselves. That’s all thanks to that chairman.”
“It is.”
He was completely unlikeable when I first met him, and yet look how much he’s helping us.
People really do not know until they’ve had experience with someone.
Of course, Seung-hyun had no idea what the man’s true motives were, but it was undeniable that, up to this point, he had been a great help to Haesol Textile.
Besides, he had made the top model post that message on SNS, and all LVMH headquarters did was send a message. They had not made a single direct call.
Still, if they ignored every overseas order outright, there was a risk that when they eventually ramped up bedding production later, the momentum would have gone flat.
When the water was this favorable, he needed to at least row once or twice. The problem was that the factory equipment had its limits.
Seung-hyun called in Factory Manager Park Han-soo.
But then...
“The textile factories are idle right now because they’ve got no work. Wouldn’t it be better to pass the Aero Coolbreeze production over to them?”
“Ah... would Hanil Global allow that?”
“I can’t say for certain. But if we can transfer only the Aero Coolbreeze volume, then a significant number of lines will be freed up, which would make Art Fabric and bedding production possible. The bedding equipment is already coming in, and the samples are getting this kind of response. Waiting until the second factory is completed would be... a waste.”
“Understood. I’ll look into it.”
Seung-hyun first instructed them to focus on Aero Coolbreeze production until he heard back from Yu Se-rin.
After that, he arranged a visit to Hanil Global headquarters.
The reason Hanil Global was desperate to produce more Aero Coolbreeze was that, because of their contract with Haesol Textile, they could not freely allocate the volume elsewhere.
Part of Aero Coolbreeze’s technology belonged to Haesol Textile, after all.
If they were given permission to disclose that to outside parties without any special conditions, Seung-hyun figured they would have no reason to object.
That evening, after handling his backlog of emails in the president’s office, Seung-hyun was about to head out early when he noticed Factory Manager Park Han-soo at one corner of the factory, working with a group of employees to churn something out in earnest.
“Manager Park, you’re still not off work?”
“Ah, President... before we run the new line, I produced a little more Dual-Tex for the staff to use.”
It was the fabric they had failed with, the one they were still refining and had not yet managed to perfect.
He had been glad they were turning it into staff welfare by making fabric for the employees and that Yoon Jung-mi was sewing it into clothing for them, but...
“Seeing you keep making it like this, I guess the employees really do like it.”
“Of course. They don’t just like it because it’s free clothes. It’s genuinely comfortable. I tried it myself, and it’s sturdier than most clothes, it doesn’t wrinkle much even after washing, and more than anything, it dries sweat well while also keeping you warm. That’s why everyone keeps asking for more.”
“Good. Just make sure to track the yarn consumed accurately.”
“I’ll keep a proper record.”
Using up yarn this way for employee welfare was more profitable for the company than paying cash bonuses.
Even when considering the bonus they might have given Yoon Jung-mi for making T-shirts, it still made sense.
“But... since the fabric is incomplete... the seams don’t come loose or anything, do they?”
“There is some of that, yes, but after actually wearing it, nothing especially noticeable stood out.”
Seung-hyun touched a section of the fabric right there on the spot.
Durability = 90.3%
Weaving Precision = 80.1%
Product Value = 80.2%
“Hm? That’s a little different from what I expected...”
The texture he felt at his fingertips was clearly within the Dual-Tex category, but it was much more flexible and lighter than the version he had originally designed.
Of course, the product value was only barely above 80 percent.
And yet when the fabric was turned into clothing, its product value jumped above 90 percent, which was fascinating.
He figured the lower weaving precision and product value probably came from the fabric itself still being incomplete.
“Did you change the yarn, by any chance?”
“There was no need to make it overly premium, so I adjusted the polyester ratio in the outer layer a bit. It made it cheaper.”
“Hmm. It does feel a little rough and springy...”
“We kept the inner lining cotton, so it’s actually better for workwear. And A-young said that once the cost came down, it got better.”
“Did she? I see... all right.”
It was clearly impressive, so before heading home, Seung-hyun sent A-young a message.
Could I take a look at the sketches you’ve designed so far?
Right now?
She replied immediately.
Normally, he would have told her to just bring them tomorrow, but for some reason he wanted to see them right away today.
Would tonight be possible?
A moment later,
Should I come to the company?
At her reply, Seung-hyun frowned slightly, then sent back a message.
I’ll come near your place. Is there a cafe nearby?
Yes, thank you. I’ll send you the location.
Seung-hyun headed straight to the place A-young sent him.
It was a neighborhood cafe frequented by locals, a perfectly ordinary franchise branch. He ordered a drink and waited, and before long A-young appeared.
She was wearing a comfortable hoodie, though surprisingly it was made from the company’s Dual-Tex and had Lesser Factory printed across the chest in English.
She was holding a large sketchbook in both hands, and the shy little smile on her face made it obvious she was a little embarrassed to show it.
“You came... Here it is. Some of these are from special requests employees made, and some are just things I drew because I was bored...”
“I just ordered a drink to be easy on you. Have some.”
“It’s fine. I eat anything.”
“A sketchbook, huh...”
“Is it weird?”
“These days people usually work on a pad, so it’s a little unusual. But it doesn’t matter. Why would the tool matter?”
“...”
Seung-hyun said it did not matter, but A-young, too embarrassed to speak, bit her lip and stared at his face as he studied her designs.
For his part, Seung-hyun was quietly admiring what she had made.
T-shirts, hoodies, pants, and more... most of them were built around a workwear concept, but every single one of them had the phrase Lesser Factory stitched or printed on it.
Why does this...
What had impressed Seung-hyun was not that the designs were wildly innovative, nor that they were strikingly sophisticated.
They were ordinary, familiar designs with only the details changed a little, and he was amazed because he could not figure out why their product value had come out so high.
Some reason I don’t know.
Something that made people respond to it so strongly...
At the very least, one thing was clear.
That slightly imperfect but undeniably functional fabric, combined with details that looked almost insignificant, had lifted the product value.
The details certainly lacked an artistic feel, but in the eyes of the public, they had to read as appealing.
He even wanted to learn how she had come up with those details, and how one would go about sharpening them.
Seung-hyun took a long sip from his fruit juice and asked her, while she watched him nervously.
“Have you studied design like this before?”
“No, not really...”
“Then where did you learn the basics?”
“When I was little, I used to watch YouTube and follow along... At one point I was actually preparing to apply to an arts college. But then I found out there were genius-level people who were way better than me, so I gave up right away and switched back to studying.”
“Ah...”
She probably felt just as bewildered by the situation as he did.
She likely did not think her own designs were anything that extraordinary, so it made sense that she had no idea why this president was making such a fuss.
“President, is there some problem?”
There was a wary curiosity in Lee A-young’s eyes as she asked.
“A problem? Not at all. Hmm... But tell me, have you ever thought about making something like this a little more systematically?”
At that, Lee A-young looked completely lost.
“Systematically... I’m just working at the company as a part-timer.”
“Exactly. That’s why I want to give you a proper chance. I’m talking about creating a new brand.”
“A brand? What...?”
Seung-hyun pointed to the English lettering on the chest of the hoodie she was wearing.
“That. Lesser Factory. What do you think?”
“Huh?”
“I’ll make you the designer. I’ll even let you study. So let’s make this together.”
She stared at Seung-hyun in a daze, her eyes unsteady.