Lesser Factory (4)
Not far from Chungmuro, where Haesol Textile was located, a small office with a modern interior came into view.
Along one wall stood a panel emblazoned with a large Lesser Factory logo, making it clear at a glance that this was no extension of the old Haesol Textile.
This would soon serve as the main office for the Lesser Factory team.
Young employees focused on design, marketing, and PR began arriving one by one, setting their desks and laptops in place. Along the walls, magazines about fashion and branding, along with sample fabrics, were lined up in neat rows.
The hires, some brought in on experience and some fresh out of school, stood a little awkwardly in place, wearing stiff expressions as they tried to find their seats.
“Wow, the atmosphere here is so nice.”
“Seriously! It’s completely different from Haesol Textile’s headquarters.”
Employees who had already been to the headquarters factory once sat down at their desks with excited faces, imagining how they would decorate their spaces.
If Haesol Textile had once had the image of a production-centered midsize company, this Lesser Factory office now gave off the unmistakable feel of a startup.
“Shall we start the first meeting?”
The employees gathered in a tight circle in the narrow space set up as a conference room.
At the front, a large screen hung on the wall, and in front of it Lee A-young was turning through her presentation slides, looking a little tense.
She had been asked by Seung-hyun to step forward first and present as the senior designer, and that had left her slightly nervous.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Lee A-young, and I’ll be handling the overall design direction for Lesser Factory. It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”
Her face burning red with embarrassment, she moved on to the lines she had prepared.
“Um... Lesser Factory actually started with the work uniforms for our factory staff.”
A-young gave an awkward little smile and brought up the next slide.
There, keywords like practicality, relaxed curves, and youthful sensibility were listed in a row.
“As you can see, I’m not someone who received formal fashion training. So I thought that, in a way, I had my own kind of ‘everyday-life-centered design.’ The workwear and T-shirts we made before got a surprisingly good response.”
The employees’ eyes lit up.
“The clothes are genuinely pretty.”
A-young turned even redder, but she quickly straightened her back and kept explaining.
“Thank you. That’s why I want Lesser Factory to become a brand loved by the public by combining that sense of comfort with small, charming details. And if we add Haesol Textile’s strengths, like functional fabrics and Dual-Tex, I believe we can reach an even higher level.”
The final slide displayed the Lesser Factory logo in large letters.
The words Lesser Factory, wrapped in soft beige curves, gave off a look that was both charming and trendy.
“Good. Well done, A-young.”
Only then did Jung Seung-hyun step forward before the employees and bring up the latest fabric sample images on the screen.
“As you saw when you went to headquarters, Haesol Textile has been working hard to grow our art fabric and bedding lines as well. But I see Lesser Factory as another challenge and another opportunity for Haesol Textile.”
As he clicked through the slides, introductions to Dual-Tex and various other functional fabrics followed.
“The key point of Lesser Factory is that we take functional fabrics and express them through designs that are youthful and accessible. Clothes with the same freedom of movement as sportswear, but stylish enough for daily life too. That’s what we’re making. So our slogan is this.”
He advanced the slide, and the words Your Everyday, Elevated appeared in large type.
“This line can be interpreted in a few different ways. It can mean raising the quality of your everyday life, or making every day more valuable. It can also mean elevating the dignity of the ordinary.”
The employees smiled, clearly liking the slogan the young company president had put together.
If this clothing company, just getting started like a startup, had seemed strange or lacking in taste, they would have had good reason to worry. But it wasn’t like that, and that made them feel at ease.
After taking one look at the new hires, Seung-hyun continued with a smile.
“We’ll start small, but we won’t stay online forever. You should all understand this: Haesol Textile is a company that received investment from the world-renowned luxury group LVMH. Even if it weren’t Lesser Factory, Haesol Textile would keep growing. But you need to make Lesser Factory into a brand that doesn’t fall behind any of the other brands under Haesol Textile. No, you need to make it one of our flagship brands. We have to grow together. I believe in all of you. Congratulations on joining the company, sincerely.”
Clap, clap, clap!
The employees applauded enthusiastically, exchanging hopeful looks with one another.
Seung-hyun wasn’t sure how the result would turn out, but he was confident.
He had that certainty because of the product value of the clothes stacked neatly in the warehouse, waiting for consumers.
*
Jean-Louis Bregg’s expression was far from pleasant the moment he arrived at Incheon International Airport.
He simply had no liking for the fact that his business trip destination had changed from Japan to Korea.
And the fact that he had been sent here to buy something he had never even seen only added to his irritation.
“Hmph. What on earth was Bernard thinking, making a decision like that...?”
Not long ago, he had attended a dinner with Delphine, Bernard Arnault’s eldest daughter, and he had thought Bernard’s investment in a Korean textile factory was a serious mistake.
He couldn’t understand why Bernard had put seven million euros into a fabric brand whose name he couldn’t even remember and couldn’t pronounce properly.
He even thought the order he was now being given to import bedding from that unpronounceable brand was a consequence of that investment.
The money had already gone in, so now they were being forced to generate sales and somehow pull out more than they had put in.
That was why his mood was so poor the moment he arrived in Korea.
“Good afternoon. I’m Hwang Seok-jae, in charge of finance at Haesol Textile.”
Seeing the man waiting for him at the airport only made him feel worse.
What did they take him for, sending out just one man who looked older than him to receive him?
Still, the man was dressed in luxury brands from head to toe, so he clearly wasn’t completely ignorant about fashion...
“Haesol Textile? Where are the others?”
“They’re waiting at headquarters. I’ll escort you comfortably to the company...”
“No need.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m tired, so I’ll rest at the hotel and meet you tomorrow. Is there some reason we absolutely had to meet today?”
Jean-Louis Bregg, the Executive Vice President in charge of overseas business for Blanc des Vosges, the bedding supplier designated by LVMH, made his displeasure plain.
But Hwang Seok-jae, who had many years of experience behind him, answered without the slightest sign of fluster.
“Ah, I see. Understood. I’ve already reserved a hotel, so let’s head there.”
Hwang Seok-jae had him check in at the prepared hotel using a car that had already been waiting.
It was a five-star hotel, but for someone who normally drifted in and out of hotels around the world as if they were his own home, it wasn’t especially moving.
He simply relieved the fatigue from the long flight with a sauna and some edible food.
He did, however, think the extra-soft, fluffy duvet was exactly what one would expect from a five-star hotel.
After enjoying a long rest in a rare comfortable bed, he came down for breakfast and found that the older man from yesterday was already waiting in the lobby.
“Shall we go?”
“Let’s.”
His expression turned sullen again as he followed Hwang Seok-jae.
Noticing that face, Hwang asked, “Did you sleep well last night?”
“Well enough, I suppose...”
“That’s a relief.”
After that, Hwang made an effort to continue the conversation by asking various questions, but Jean-Louis stuck to short answers, making it clear he had no interest in talking at length.
Hwang did not take offense.
His former auto parts company had seen cases like this many times over—no, far worse than this.
Of course, having been on the finance team, he hadn’t experienced them personally, but he’d heard plenty about them.
So he was able to take Jean-Louis’s sour mood in stride.
After about twenty minutes, they arrived at the company, and Jean-Louis’s face hardened even more.
It was surprising enough that the office was in the middle of Seoul, but above all else, the factory was far too small.
Especially from a European point of view, the exterior was too straight, too cold.
Its indifferent face seemed to refuse even a hint of sentiment, and he was already losing affection for it without even stepping inside.
“This way, please.”
“...”
From that point on, he didn’t even bother to speak.
The interior was no different.
Jean-Louis simply could not see where LVMH had found anything to admire here.
“Welcome. I’m Jung Seung-hyun, the CEO.”
When he saw the CEO, he was at a loss for words.
He had been told the man was young, but seeing him in person, he was younger than expected—far younger.
No, at this point, it would be more accurate to call him boyish.
“That’s surprising. Truly...”
Jean-Louis Bregg kept repeating exclamations that clearly carried a negative meaning.
Seung-hyun didn’t have much experience, but he could tell the man was radiating negative aura from head to toe.
Still, he didn’t care.
Even if Jean-Louis refused to import it, other places wanted GyeolBit bedding.
Since he didn’t think this one man’s eyes represented all Europeans, he smiled calmly and said, “Would you like to look at the products? First, what level of bedding does your company supply to department stores?”
It was a perfectly reasonable question, but Jean-Louis frowned.
“I don’t think it can be defined by just one thing.”
That was it.
In other words, even giving a one-line explanation seemed like a bother.
At that attitude, Seung-hyun recalled the phone call he had received the day before.
It had been Antoine from Loro Piana, who had warned him that Jean-Louis, whom he would meet today, was narrow-minded, prickly, and stubborn, so he should be prepared.
He said it would probably be hard to win him over.
When Seung-hyun asked why he had deliberately chosen such a French importer, Antoine’s answer had been a masterpiece.
“Luxury is exactly what makes even someone who hates you completely get moved.”
In other words, even if the person disliked him, he should win their heart with GyeolBit bedding.
Easy to say...
So Seung-hyun decided not to push himself too hard.
If Jean-Louis liked it after seeing it, fine. If not, there was nothing to be done.
He brought out the freshly produced bedding and spread it out in front of him.
“What do you think?”
A white base that shimmered with a glossy sheen, black embroidery that carried an Eastern sensibility without becoming excessive, and a texture so smooth it seemed ready to slip through the fingers.
Just looking at it made one think of luxury.
Jean-Louis, who until then had worn a dull expression like a child pouting in a corner, widened his eyes the moment he saw the GyeolBit bedding and reached out to touch it before he even realized what he was doing.
“Hmm...”
“Well?”
“...”
He did not answer rashly.
He seemed to be inspecting the delicately quilted duvet with great care, as if looking for any flaw, however small.
Seung-hyun let out a quiet laugh and asked, “Did you sleep comfortably last night?”
“Well, yes.”
“I’m glad. The duvet you covered yourself with last night is the one you’re touching right now.”
At Seung-hyun’s words, he snapped his head around.
“That duvet from last night was this one?”
“Yes. We changed it without saying anything to the hotel. But I was certain you wouldn’t have asked them to replace it.”
“This is...”
“There was no embroidery, and no proper quilting either. So how did it feel?”
Jean-Louis Bregg looked at Seung-hyun, who was smiling serenely, for a long moment, then burst out laughing.
“Hahaha, you win. Fine. I’ll admit I was biased. I can’t deny that last night was the most comfortable, most restful sleep I’ve had in a very long time. I have no choice but to acknowledge it.”
He felt a sincere sense of admiration and thought that Bernard and Antoine’s judgment hadn’t been wrong after all.
Maybe the one who had been mistaken was him.