Exchange (1)
By the time the sun was high overhead, Jung Seung-hyun had arrived at the Roche Bobois building.
The exterior, where glass and steel were arranged in elegant harmony, rose like a modern gallery in the middle of the city.
From the entrance alone, the luxuriously branded logo dominated the eye, and once he stepped inside, he could see employees moving briskly about.
More than anything, the voices of the customers were livelier than he had expected.
"Welcome. You must be President Jung Seung-hyun of Haesol Textile?"
A female employee came up to him warmly and greeted him.
He seemed to remember her face from the one time he had seen her before.
"Yes. I came because I heard the Versailles Line was being unveiled today. I wanted to see how it turned out."
"Yes, if you go inside, MD Yu Se-rin is there as well, and you can also see the newly released Versailles Line."
"Thank you."
As he walked deeper in, natural light poured through the large panes of glass inside the building, illuminating the luxury sofas and tables in a way that felt effortless.
The ivory-toned Versailles Line sofa stood prominently at the center, already drawing the eye like a work displayed in a museum.
Wow. This is more impressive than I expected.
The place had already been arranged with a lavish blend of colorful furniture and modern design, but the Versailles Line sofa stood out even more than the rest.
Perhaps because of that, people had gathered around it. Singles, couples, customers of all ages took turns sitting down, running their hands over the fabric, and exclaiming in delight.
"Wow... it's really pretty. Exactly my type."
"I thought it would look plain, but the color is really subtle and beautiful."
Listening to their praise, Seung-hyun felt a strange sense of pride.
He had already been pleased to see the pattern he had gone to Paris to find inspiration for turned into a finished product, but hearing consumers respond so well made the corners of his mouth twitch up on their own.
"President Jung!"
A cheerful voice called out.
He turned, and sure enough, Yu Se-rin was walking toward him with a bright smile.
She was sweeping through the venue with more energy than ever, dressed in an elegant suit.
"You made it. Can you see the atmosphere? The Versailles Line is already causing a stir."
"It really is. I was surprised too."
"Just a moment."
Yu Se-rin instructed the staff to serve tea to the customers, then came closer to Seung-hyun again and eagerly explained the situation.
"Most of the people you see here are department store VIPs. We promoted the new art fabric sofa Roche Bobois launched through our customer channel ads, and they all came at once. And once they saw the design, everyone was shocked."
Seung-hyun nodded with a face that was half proud and half awkward.
"Oh, I’m glad it seems to be getting a good response. It looks like it’s selling too?"
"Of course. Quite a few people have already paid and left. And the headquarters has allocated additional marketing funds. A full one billion won. Amazing, isn’t it?"
"Ah... yes."
"It might be too soon to say since today is only the beginning, but I think this may become the most successful line since Roche Bobois launched in Korea."
Yu Se-rin couldn’t hide how excited she was, as if she had been waiting for this moment for a very long time.
In truth, it had been a risky path to choose.
Because Roche Bobois had assigned a huge additional marketing budget to the Versailles Line, a lukewarm response could have dragged her straight into a storm of responsibility claims.
But with results this clearly strong, she was smiling broadly enough to split her face.
"I really hope so."
From Seung-hyun’s point of view as well, it was good for the Versailles Line to do well.
Since the fabric was made from C-rank yarn, every bolt he produced generated substantial profit; the more fabric he could spin out, the more it felt like he was printing money.
But then a question suddenly came to him.
"By the way, how much are you charging?"
He asked casually, and Yu Se-rin’s eyes gleamed as she answered.
"The one currently out is priced at 24 million won. The two patterns coming after that are set at 23.5 million and 25 million won respectively."
"More than 24 million won?"
For a moment, Seung-hyun’s eyes widened slightly.
It reminded him that the fabric Haesol Textile had supplied had never been all that expensive to begin with.
Then how much are they inflating the price compared to the supplied fabric?
It was true that once embroidery, finishing processes, and post-processing costs were added to fabric, the unit price could jump sharply. Still, being confronted with the fact that the final price of this sofa was well over 20 million won left him with a strange feeling.
Is the gap really this big between a fabric supplier and a company that makes and sells the product itself...?
He stared blankly at the sofa, and Yu Se-rin gave a small smile and shrugged.
"That’s the luxury furniture market. If it feels cheap, people won’t accept it as luxury. Customers actually open their wallets more easily when they feel something is expensive."
"...I see. At this rate, the sofas are going to sell like crazy. Congratulations."
"Thank you. It’s all thanks to Haesol Textile producing such incredible fabric."
Yu Se-rin said it with obvious satisfaction, but Seung-hyun’s thoughts had become complicated.
He had realized that it wasn’t easy to make a fortune just by selling fabric.
No, more than making a fortune, it was hard to become a truly big company at all.
Maybe that was why his resolve to make GyeolBit bedding and Lesser Factory succeed had only grown stronger.
Yu Se-rin looked at him and asked, "By the way, we may need more contract volume. How are things on Haesol Textile’s side?"
"Contract volume... if you need it, I’ll review it first."
If it had been before, he would have laughed heartily and said of course. This time, though, he responded rather lukewarmly.
He had created a sofa with enormous marketability by using a pattern that had never existed before through his ability, but looking back, he had realized that he had been the performing bear while the real money-maker stood somewhere else.
"That kind of cold response hurts my feelings."
"No, that’s not it. It’s just that things are a little complicated on our side too."
Seung-hyun deflected, and in the end he wrapped up the conversation quickly.
As he gave off a strangely heavy mood, Yu Se-rin no longer pressed him and went back to receive customers.
Seung-hyun stood there for a long while, watching the sofa and the customers gathered around it, before he finally disappeared.
*
Three days later.
Lesser Factory’s online advertisement, launched with a single click, began airing in earnest.
People seeing the name Lesser Factory for the first time on SNS channels and fashion communities left comments like, "Where did this brand come from?"
Inside the Lesser Factory office, everyone watched the live order numbers on their monitors with quiet tension.
At the moment, only a small number of visitors were coming in through simple searches, and the number of concurrent users was not especially high either.
"Since it’s the first day, it’s quiet after all."
"I guess the data will really start building after a month."
Designer Lee A-young and the marketing team encouraged each other with smiles.
Although the sales graph was barely moving, they had already agreed to run another promotional campaign soon, so for now they decided to be patient.
Standing by the window in the office hallway, Seung-hyun let out a short sigh as he looked at the statistical graph on his laptop screen.
We could keep going like this, but... should I use Cha Hee-ju?
Cha Hee-ju passed through his mind.
They were still at the beginning, and it would be fine to let things grow slowly like this, but leaving a weapon that was practically begging to be used and not using it felt like a problem too.
Of course, if he was going to accept her request, he would have to pull one line out and enter the pattern separately.
The production of the Versailles Line fabric for Roche Bobois was almost finished, so it was a point worth considering...
"It feels a little awkward to meet and talk about it directly..."
Seung-hyun thought that explaining the brand in detail somehow felt tacky.
Beauty was something you had to feel, not explain.
As he tapped his fingers idly, he soon packed several garments into a shipping bag, printed out the address, and attached it.
Then he sent them off with the delivery driver along with the clothes that had already come in as orders, though there were still not many of them.
*
A few days later, at Mirae Department Store headquarters.
Cha Hee-ju, who was working in the Product Division office, suddenly received a package delivery.
"Ms. Cha Hee-ju, this is a personal package."
"A personal package? Who sent it...?"
The box was marked with Lesser Factory as the sender, and the sender’s name was listed as Jung Seung-hyun.
Jung Seung-hyun? That Jung Seung-hyun?
At once, Cha Hee-ju remembered the textile company president who had begged her so desperately not long ago, and she quickly tore open the shipping bag with a knife.
"...Clothes?"
The contents were clothes.
A beige sweatshirt and a skirt were neatly wrapped in a transparent plastic bag.
A stylish Lesser Factory logo was printed small on one sleeve, and a price tag hung there by itself. Even together, the sweatshirt and skirt came to less than 50,000 won.
"You made high-end bedding, but the clothes are cheap?"
When she touched the fabric with her fingertips, it felt softer and more substantial than she had expected.
They’re selling a sweatshirt made of this material for around 20,000 won?
Hee-ju bit her lip in surprise.
Unable to hold back her curiosity, she rushed into the restroom in the break room and tried the clothes on immediately.
She had worried the size might not fit, but he had sensibly sent exactly the right one.
She struck a few poses in front of the mirror, then nodded slightly and murmured, "The fit isn’t bad when I put it on. The waist line comes in a little, and the embroidery around the sleeves and the bottom of the skirt is cute too. More than that... what is this fabric?"
The outer layer was a little stiff yet sturdy, while the lining was soft as silk.
Before wearing it, she had thought it was just an ordinary SPA brand outfit, but once she put it on, it felt soft and warm, which she liked very much.
And what she liked most of all was that it had no excessive accents and was simply easy to wear.
That meant it would match well with almost anything, and that the low price would feel extremely attractive to consumers.
"I really don’t get it."
He had made bedding good enough to bring the vice president of Blanc des Vosges all the way to Korea, and yet his clothes were this high in quality while still being inexpensive. It was hard to believe.
When she checked the price tag again, it read, "Sweatshirt 29,900 won, skirt 19,900 won."
"The price is definitely low, but..."
At that moment, the restroom door opened and another employee came in.
"Oh? You changed clothes?"
At the question from a coworker in the same department, she gave an awkward smile.
"It’s from a company I know, so I tried it on. What do you think?"
"Hmm, it’s nice. Simple, but kind of cute. How much is it?"
"The sweatshirt is 29,900 won."
"Oh, that’s pretty good."
"Right?"
After checking the fit in the mirror for a while longer, she changed back into her own clothes.
Carefully folding the outfit and placing it back in the box, Hee-ju understood Seung-hyun’s intention to some extent.
He wanted this brand, Lesser Factory, to enter the store.
Instead of bringing in a PPT about the fabric, the design, or the brand philosophy, President Jung Seung-hyun had simply sent the clothes and made her try them on.
"Ha, what should I do?"
Giving a bedding shop a space was one thing, since it didn’t take up much room and leaving one section empty wasn’t a problem. Clothes were different; the size of the store mattered.
To provide a space big enough for this kind of merchandise, she would need at least 50 pyeong, and she couldn’t think of a place willing to give her that kind of area.
Besides, even if a brand at this price point came into the department store, once commissions were taken out, there wouldn’t be much profit left to keep.
Just when she was running out of answers no matter how she thought about it,
"Ah!"
She came up with a brilliant idea like a bolt of lightning and sent a message to the contact information she had previously saved for President Jung Seung-hyun.
A thin curve appeared at the corners of her mouth after she sent the message.
"This way is better than the department store."
Thinking she had found a two-for-one solution, she smiled to herself.
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