PDLP Chapter 103 Mastering the Craft
Chapter 103 Mastering the Craft
Chapter 103 Mastering the Craft
Wang Yi used to be a senior designer at Balenciaga, where he earned 10 euros a year, which is equivalent to 80 yuan at the current exchange rate.
Logically speaking, this salary would be enough to live a very comfortable life even in Europe. But Wang Yi was ultimately unwilling to accept this. As a Chinese person, she inevitably faced discrimination in Europe and encountered invisible glass ceilings in her career. Therefore, wanting to achieve something great, Wang Yi returned to China, hoping to start her own brand here.
That day, Sheng Mingyue brought Lin Mu to him. Wang Yi recognized Sheng Mingyue; her father was a billionaire and a minor shareholder of Wulin Plaza. Wang Yi looked at Lin Mu and asked, "And this is?"
Lin Mu took his hand and said, "Hello, hello, my name is Lin Mu. I work at Alibaba and am currently a partner of the Yuezhi brand, mainly responsible for operations."
Lin Mu asked, "I heard from Mingyue that you used to work at Balenciaga. Dude, Balenciaga's salaries are quite high. What made you decide to come back to China and start your own business?"
Wang Yi explained, "Because I want to earn more. In Europe, designers who can open their own independent studios earn at least a million euros a year, and top designers can earn tens of millions of euros a year, with personal wealth even exceeding 10 million euros."
Hundreds of millions of euros. But I'm Chinese, and there's no room for upward mobility like that. If I want to move up, I can only look for opportunities back in China.
Lin Mu thought to himself, "Good heavens! He copied Balenciaga's letter socks, and now fate has placed Balenciaga's designer right in front of him. What does this mean? It means that God is supporting him in ruthlessly fleecing Balenciaga."
Lin Mu said, "Isn't this a coincidence? We can cooperate. Let me reintroduce myself."
Next, Lin Mu recounted his achievements, focusing on his Spring Diary and the Three Little Bees.
Wang Yi looked surprised and said, "I also play QQ Farm. How did you come up with the idea of combining e-commerce and games? When I saw this advertisement, I thought this guy was a genius. I never expected to meet him in person."
"I'm not familiar with Spring Day Shop, but I have done some research on pearlescent stockings. Even by my own standards, these stockings are quite nice; they could sell well even in Europe. Of course, some minor modifications are needed. What exactly is this collaboration you mentioned?"
Sheng Mingyue explained in detail that she wanted to invite Wang Yi to join Yuezhi and give him 5% of the shares. She had two needs of Wang Yi: first, to discover niche designers in China and help them develop products in collaboration with Yuezhi;
Secondly, I will help Yuezhi go international and be responsible for its international business. Of course, in addition to stock options, my salary will be calculated separately.
Secondly, they have a small request: they've encountered difficulties in research and development and are unable to bring a flagship new product to market. They want Wang Yi to come and solve this problem and test his abilities.
Wang Yi thought about it and felt that cooperation was possible. He had always wanted to start his own business, so he would treat this as a practice run.
Inside Director Mao's factory, Wang Yi took over the research and development work.
A few days later, a new batch of experimental stockings came off the production line.
This time, Lin Mu knew he was in the mood the moment he saw the stockings. No wonder they were designed by Balenciaga; they were truly top-notch.
The stockings had a crystal-clear texture, and at a glance, they were a generation different from the previous batch. However, Lin Mu frowned as he looked at the words on the screen.
However, before he could speak, Wang Yi took the initiative to say, "This font still has a problem. It has a very obvious printed feel and can't achieve the feeling of growing out of a stocking and being a natural whole. It's too abrupt."
He stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, "It's the craftsmanship that's lacking. We could try using jacquard knitting, but we don't have any machines for that here."
Lin Mu said, "We can buy the machines, but we need to try them out first and see if we can achieve the effect we want using the technology you described."
Factory Director Mao said from the side, "I can ask my friends which factory has this kind of technology."
A few days later, Director Mao found a textile factory with jacquard knitting technology. They spent some money to borrow the factory's special knitting machines and produced a small batch of letter socks.
Lin Mu breathed a sigh of relief upon receiving the batch of letter socks he had been longing for; this was exactly the effect he wanted. The letters and stockings blended seamlessly, with no sense of incongruity, and the textures on both sides were identical.
After receiving the stockings, Lin Mu handed them to Sheng Mingyue and said, "Mingyue, try them on."
Sheng Mingyue went to the fitting room, put on stockings, and came out. Sheng Mingyue herself has a mature and sophisticated aura, which matches the style of the lettered stockings perfectly.
When she walked out, everyone's attention was drawn to the letters on her stockings, which became a powerful eye-catcher. Then, people's attention shifted from the stockings to Sheng Mingyue's leg shape, and then to her entire body.
Wang Yi said, "The actual effect is even better than I expected, and it is especially suitable for runway shows."
Lin Mu thought for a moment and said, "Once the mirror room in the Moon Weaving shop is finished, Mingyue, you can go inside and take a picture and post it on social media as a sample for our customers."
Sheng Mingyue accepted the men's compliments with grace and said, "Lin Mu, how about opening an online channel on Tmall? I think a brand like Yuezhi, which focuses on youth, fashion, and accessible luxury, would be a good fit for Tmall."
Lin Mu nodded and said, "Okay. But we must open physical stores first, lay a solid foundation with offline stores, and then open online stores, otherwise the brand's image will drop. Also, we need to be careful about the choice of platform. Tmall is fine, JD.com is fine, but other online stores are not suitable."
After some discussion, Wang Yi took his leave, as he needed to meet with his designer friends in China to discuss collaborations. Once Yuezhi opens its store, letter socks will be the flagship product, but the store can't rely on just that one category; in any case, 100 SKUs are still necessary.
Wang Yi went to handle the product selection, while Lin Mu and Sheng Mingyue began promoting Moonweaving overseas.
Lin Mu took a few days off from Alibaba. At that moment, the performance of the three little bees was booming, and Lin Mu himself had a few days of annual leave that he hadn't taken. He successfully got his leave approved.
Lin Mu and Sheng Mingyue arrived in France, and as soon as they landed, they immediately began working.
Sheng Mingyue had already resolved the issue of choosing a location for the pop-up store.
The Champs-Élysées in Paris.
This is a famous fashion street in Paris, as well as a well-known shopping center. Land here is extremely valuable, and a large number of fashion brands have clustered here.
Because of high rents and intense competition, new stores are springing up here in droves, and stores are also closing down in droves.
Sheng Mingyue found a closed-down boutique and rented it for a week for 1 euros.
At this moment, Sheng Mingyue was in charge of the shop's renovation, with help from her father's people. Lin Mu, on the other hand, was in charge of recruiting actors. After making some inquiries, Lin Mu went directly to the guild to recruit people.
He found the person in charge and said, "I need 100 people, working one day a week. How long will it take you to find people here?"
Lin Mu's words were translated by the French translator to the person in charge, who said, "Sir, you can come anytime if you need it. The daily wage is 60 euros per person."
Lin Mu sighed, "No wonder it's Europe in 09. The benefits are outrageous. Even a job with no technical requirements pays the same as half a month's salary in China in just one day."
Lin Mu said, "Okay, contact me again in two days. I'll give you the advance payment first."
Just then, someone nearby said, "Sir, our entertainment company can also do this kind of work. We have many character actors here. Wouldn't you like to have some eye-catching handsome men and beautiful women in your team to attract attention?"
Lin Mu thought about it and thought it was a good idea. He asked, "How are your salaries calculated?"
The other party quickly replied, "Oh, sir, this is Paris, you know, the hourly wage is always higher than elsewhere, and we are an entertainment company."
We charge based on demand.
"Take a look at this list of actors specializing in portraying characters."