Black Label [EN]: Chapter 124

Black Label 123

124. Opportunities Come All at Once (2)

Meanwhile, at that same time, Jaeseung was touring the factory complex in Deokidong with Director Song.

Currently, ‘TaeYang Corp’s production capacity alone couldn’t handle all the distributed volume. They were outsourcing a massive 80% of the total sales to external manufacturers.

Equipping a production line capable of handling all the volume was like a warm-up for jumping into a bigger game.

They needed to set up the production line as quickly as possible.

If there was a really good property, he was even thinking of signing the deal and concluding the lease agreement today.

After looking around at a few factories on the market, Director Song sighed and asked in a low voice,

“Boss, let’s take it easy. Maybe it’s because I’m getting old, but my legs are already shaking.”

“We haven’t even seen half of them yet, and you’re already like this? Shouldn’t you start preparing for retirement soon?”

“What, you punk? Retirement? I’ll be clinging to my director title until my coffin closes, so don’t even think about it.”

After a few trivial jokes, Director Song looked down at his watch and continued,

“By the way, aren’t you curious?”

“About what?”

“Sales, reactions…”

Jaeseung waved his hand, cutting off Director Song, and replied.

“I’m sure it’s selling well. You seem to have rested enough, shall we get moving again?”

“Damn it, you really have no humanity. No humanity…”

Even as Director Song grumbled, he diligently followed behind.

“I am curious too.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

After a moment of silence, he shrugged and shared his thoughts in a nonchalant tone.

“But just staring at the sales graph doesn’t make the sales go up, does it? If that were the case, I would be sitting in the office all day, just staring at the monitor.”

Just as Director Song sarcastically said, “Easy for you to say,” the phone in his pocket started vibrating continuously.

Bzzzz-.

It was a text message from Lee Kangjun, who had been dispatched to the Yeonnam-dong store for monitoring purposes.

[Boss, do you have time to talk right now?]

[It’s urgent.]

Something about it… maybe it was just his imagination, but even the text message seemed to convey a sense of urgency.

He immediately pressed the call button and held the phone to his ear. After a moment of ringing,

– B, Boss!

Lee Kangjun’s voice came from the receiver. His voice was trembling violently.

Suddenly, anxiety struck. He couldn’t help but feel a chill down his spine, wondering if an accident had happened or if there was a problem.

“Kangjun, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”

– No, no, it’s not that…

As he silently waited for Lee Kangjun’s reply,

Director Song, with a worried expression, silently mouthed, “What’s wrong? What happened?”

He didn’t know the whole story yet, so he couldn’t answer.

He shook his head and switched the call to ‘speakerphone’ mode.

Soon, Lee Kangjun, having taken a moment to compose himself, calmly began to explain in a more composed tone.

Starting with the fact that the manager of the famous idol Kwon Jihoon had visited the Yeonnam-dong store, and continuing with all the details of the conversation they had in the warehouse.

Kwon Jihoon.

Although not currently, he was a celebrity with such immense influence that he would soon be listed alongside Samsung Group’s Lee Kunhee as one of ‘The 100 Most Influential People in the World’ selected by Hypebeast [a popular online media platform covering fashion, culture, and lifestyle].

He felt that this was a clear opportunity. A golden opportunity to imprint the brand name ‘Wallflower’ in the minds of the general public.

At a glance, Director Song was just punching the air and cheering.

After taking a few deep breaths, he tried to answer in a nonchalant tone.

“Kangjun, I think it would be better to talk about the details later in the office.”

Perhaps because of the sudden big opportunity, he started to feel nauseous.

Then, it suddenly occurred to him that success was similar to rolling a snowball to make it bigger.

How big has my snowball of success become now?

Without having to go out and hustle, good opportunities are coming to him on their own.

Quickly and naturally, like iron filings attracted to a magnet.

* * *

Leaving the thoughts about Kwon Jihoon for later, he looked around the properties until dusk, but couldn’t find a suitable place to rent and had to return to the office.

After the car stopped in the office parking lot, Director Song got out of the driver’s seat and started rambling.

“Let’s take our time and look around until we find a place we really like. It’s not like the factory sites are only in Deokidong. There’s also the Paju area, and if we look towards Seoul, there are plenty of factory sites.”

Jaeseung nodded in agreement, and Director Song put his arm around his shoulder and replied.

“Yeah, well. They said they’d contact us if more properties come up, so let’s just wait a little longer.”

After getting on the elevator, he immediately took out his smartphone and started checking fashion communities. He wanted to check the ‘reviews’ of customers who had visited the Yeonnam-dong store today.

As he was browsing the bulletin board, Director Song, who was looking over his shoulder at the smartphone screen, clicked his tongue and said.

“Wow, there are already sales posts… ?”

Surprisingly, every time he pressed the refresh button, a new sales post was being posted.

The selling price of this collaboration jacket product was set at exactly ‘499,900 won’ [approximately $375 USD based on current exchange rates].

Even this was set at a much higher price than the cost, considering the special nature of the collaboration product.

However, resellers were reselling these products at a price of at least 3 times, up to 4 times the original price.

Moreover, some sales posts even had comments asking to purchase the products.

[Real-time, Pics Included/ This ‘Wallflower x Ryu Seung-ho’ collaboration jacket has also appeared on Japanese auctions.]

└ Just in case, I checked and it’s also on eBay. As expected, Korean resellers’ drive is something to acknowledge.

└ I lined up late today and couldn’t even see the collaboration jacket and came back empty-handed, but there were many foreigners. Westerners, Chinese, Japanese, etc….

└ Wow, the jacket on eBay. Someone just won the bid for $2,120.

└ Wow, the price has quadrupled in half a day.

[Honestly, at this point, shouldn’t the Wallflower designers be drug tested? Besides the collaboration products, the quality of the S/S [Spring/Summer] season products is insane….]

└ Totally agree. Designer Lee Jaeseung’s style feels a bit more refined after going through Alexander King’s creative director position.

└ Anyone know where the haters who said they were greedy and overreaching went?

[‘Wallflower x Ryu Seung-ho’ Florence Jacket, Paris Jacket for sale. Guaranteed lowest price at the moment.]

└ I sent you a message. I want to buy it.

└ Is it sold?

└ If the deal falls through, please contact me. 010-22sa2-3sa18.

└ 2222, I’ll try my luck too.

While he was looking at the smartphone screen with a serious expression, Director Song poked him in the side and said in a playful tone.

“Now that it’s like this, should we just take out all the reserved stock and sell it when the price is high?”

“That’s not a bad idea either.”

Without releasing all the stock, they had been keeping 300 pieces of each type separately. Also, in the case of the Prism model, 20 pieces were kept separately.

This was to gain an advantage in negotiations with the approximately forty select shops that were currently in partnership with them, by utilizing the reserved collaboration products.

Now that they had succeeded in generating a hot response, it was clear that they would be able to place Wallflower’s products in prime locations with the condition of stocking just a few pieces.

In addition, they were planning to break into the department store route based on the reserved stock.

He was confident that it would be possible to proceed with the contract by offering the condition of stocking collaboration products.

Ding-.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, he immediately started walking quickly towards the office.

Soon, he entered the design room with Director Song.

Clap clap clap clap-!

The employees greeted them with applause. Lee Kangjun, who had returned from the Yeonnam-dong store around early evening, was also among them.

Soon, Director Song said, “Stop, stop,” and started waving his hands.

As the applause gradually subsided, Director Song swallowed the saliva that had filled his mouth and asked in a slightly trembling tone.

“Anyway, tell me the sales first. I’m dying to know.”

The fashion world is also essentially a jungle of business made up of numbers.

Whether the community’s response is good or bad, the only honest and important indicator is sales.

Soon, Lee Kangjun smiled brightly and continued.

“The collaboration products were completely sold out around 4 PM. If there were no purchase amount limit or entry limit, they would have been sold out in the morning.”

Director Song pounded his chest a few times as if frustrated and asked back, “No, so what’s the sales amount?”

“The closing time hasn’t come yet, so I can’t calculate the exact amount…”

After a moment of silence.

“I think we can barely enter the 150 million won range [approximately $112,000 USD].”

“What? 100 million? Is that the amount only from the Yeonnam-dong store?”

Lee Kangjun nodded and replied, “Of course.”

Then, he immediately took out a business card from his wallet and handed it over, continuing.

“Boss, this is Kwon Jihoon’s manager’s business card. He said he would connect you if you contact him.”

While he was briefly looking at the business card he received, the employees started chattering like baby birds.

“Surely there won’t be a company dinner on a day like today, right?”

“Should we tell Ryu Seung-ho in advance?”

“Beef! I want to eat beef!”

As he put the business card in his wallet and was about to answer, the phone in his pocket started vibrating again.

He took out his phone and checked the number, it seemed to be a call from overseas.

‘Who is it?’

After raising his palm once, he put the phone to his ear and left the design room.

And then.

– Lee, it’s me.

“Oh? Mark?”

It was a call from Mark Jacobs, who had prepared for the Parsons·F.I.T competition together.

“It’s been a while, how have you been?”

Mark Jacobs, who said, “Let’s skip the trivial greetings between us,” started to continue in a slightly excited tone.

– I called because there’s ‘big news’. Ah, I saw Wallflower’s new products. They’re really amazing.

“Oh, you saw them? Thank you.”

– Saw them? I even bought them. I saw the listing on eBay and won the bid for $2,120. I’ll probably have to wait 2 weeks to receive it.

Suddenly, he remembered the post he saw on the community site earlier. A post about someone winning the bid for a listing on eBay for $2,120.

“Thank you so much. By the way, what’s the big news?”

– Are you ready to hear it?

“Yes, please tell me.”

Mark Jacobs, who said, “Listen carefully,” slowly continued.

– The haute couture outfits we showed at the competition have been nominated for this year’s ‘CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America)’ [a non-profit trade association of over 500 American fashion and accessory designers] Haute Couture Award.

CFDA Awards.

It was the most prestigious award ceremony among the various award ceremonies in the American fashion industry.

Even if they didn’t win the award, the fact that they were nominated was enough to promote their achievements and gain recognition.

After successfully launching the collaboration product, several opportunities are knocking on the door one after another.

First of all, the possibility of entering the men’s clothing corner of domestic department stores is in sight. Discussions about working with the famous celebrity ‘Kwon Jihoon’ have been mentioned, and even the nomination for the 2013 CFDA Haute Couture Award has been made.

Is it that opportunities come all at once like this?

– Hey, Lee. Lee? Are you listening? You didn’t have a cardiac arrest and collapse, did you?

He was speechless and could only stand there blankly.

At that moment, only Mark Jacobs’ voice flowing from the receiver was echoing softly.