"It's so cheap!" Huang He was secretly shocked. He had prepared to acquire the clothing at a minimum price of around three yuan, as the first batch of clothes for his flagship store was wholesaled at about five yuan each. He originally thought that a price of around three yuan was already very low.
He never expected that upon arriving at the factory, he would discover the prices were even lower, with the cheapest clothes costing as little as one yuan.
Well, Boss Huang seemed to have forgotten that the cost of one of his wallets was only slightly over one yuan.
"If that's the case, then the profit from the clothing blind boxes is even greater than I imagined!" Boss Huang licked his lips and then said, "Can I see the clothes?"
"Of course!" Qu Wei nodded and personally opened a packaging box in area A, taking out a few pieces of clothing.
The packaging for these clothes was quite simple, just a white transparent plastic bag containing a bundle of thin garments.
A large box, one meter square, contained 8 different smaller boxes, and each of those smaller boxes held at least a hundred pieces of clothing. This showed just how thin these clothes were.
Boss Huang opened the packaging and took out the clothes. Touching them, he immediately knew that the fabric was not of very good quality, and it was also thin. Looking at it spread out, it was a sleeveless top with a wide neckline, easily slipped on. No wonder the cost was only one yuan per piece; with the ability of Wenzhou merchants to minimize costs, it was indeed achievable.
Some might be surprised, thinking that buying clothes now costs fifty or sixty yuan, so how could there be clothes for one yuan a piece?
First, this is 2001. The wholesale price of a common sleeveless top in the clothing market was only around five yuan per piece. More importantly, clothing products are very prone to backlog. For every piece of clothing sold, perhaps two or three pieces go unsold. The cost of these unsold clothes must also be borne by the consumers. Coupled with the fact that the most profitable part of the clothing industry is the various clothing retailers, this is not surprising.
Afterward, Huang He looked at the area for two-yuan clothes and found that the clothes here were much better. The styles had expanded from the previous single type of short shirts to over a dozen different clothing styles, divided into men's and women's, though the fabric was still the same.
In area C, the clothing styles were much more numerous. The backlog of goods included at least a hundred different types of clothes, ranging from simple shirts to dresses, spring and autumn shirts, and so on. In short, any clothes under 100 yuan in the market could be found here.
Areas A, B, and C had the largest accumulation of various clothing items. In areas D and E, the number of clothes was much smaller. The clothes in area D even included men's suits, which were the most substantial in terms of material among clothing. These were genuinely costly items. As for some of the other clothes, just by looking at them, one would think they cost at least several hundred yuan.
"That's strange!" Boss Huang was somewhat surprised upon seeing this. "President Qu, to be honest, your products are good, the styles are complete, and the prices are cheap. Your goods should sell easily, so why are they unsellable and in such a predicament?"
Huang He was indeed quite surprised because he genuinely felt that the cost-effectiveness of these products was very high and they shouldn't have ended up in this situation.
"Well, the reason is very complicated... Actually, you'll know if you look at the clothes in area E!" Qu Wei said with a slight blush. Huang He's curiosity was piqued, and he walked over to area E, where the cost was as high as 200 yuan per piece.
Unlike the simple packaging in other areas, these clothes were all packaged in what resembled gift boxes, and the surfaces of the boxes were treated with hot stamping, making them look like works of art.
Huang He, having dealt with many box manufacturers, knew that the production cost of such a box was not low; one box probably cost around two yuan, enough to get two pieces of clothing from here.
When Qu Wei opened one of the boxes and successively pulled out three drawer-like sub-boxes, Huang's estimate for the packaging box price rose to around three yuan.
However, when the clothes inside were revealed, Boss Huang was truly dazzled. Inside was a set of Hanfu, a pale yellow gauze garment paired with a rouge-red underskirt, with various traditional Chinese patterns on the fabric, and embroidered with sewing tools.
Additionally, at least twenty-three accessories were sewn onto the skirt.
And in a small box inside, there was even a sachet and a round fan to complement the outfit.
"Is this... Ming-style?" Huang He blurted out. In his previous life, Boss Huang liked watching young ladies on Bilibili, especially those wearing Hanfu. Therefore, he was quite familiar with Hanfu styles and spoke out involuntarily.
"Ming-style? Meiji Restoration? This isn't Japanese clothing!" Qu Wei said with some anger. What angered her the most was someone mistaking her clothes for those of another country.
"No... you've misunderstood..." Huang He shook his head. The term "Ming-style" probably hadn't even originated in 2001, as it emerged with the popularity of Hanfu.
"What I mean by Ming-style is the official attire of the Ming Dynasty. This should be the female attire from the Ming Dynasty in our Chinese traditional clothing!" Huang He explained.
"Yes, Mr. Huang, you can actually recognize the origin of my Hanfu. Oh my goodness, this is the first time in history! Besides clothing experts and professors, you are the first person to recognize it!!" Qu Wei's expression was filled with immense joy, feeling as if she had met a kindred spirit.
"Yes, such Hanfu is truly beautiful. It must sell for at least two to three thousand yuan!" Boss Huang exclaimed. This set of Hanfu was not inferior to many Hanfu he had seen in 2021, and in some aspects, it was even more outstanding, filled with the aesthetic beauty of the fusion of design and tradition. Such clothes would cost at least two thousand yuan on Taobao.
"Two to three thousand? Even if listed at a cost price of 200, no one would buy it..." Qu Wei's expression instantly dimmed. Then, with a wry smile, she said, "To be frank, you asked me earlier why our factory couldn't continue operating. It's because of these Hanfu. I invested all the company's funds into this batch of Hanfu. I never expected not a single piece to sell, even when later sold for 200. The one piece I managed to sell was returned by the customer, who said they had no face to wear it out and could only appreciate it at home."
"As you can see, this is why our 'Liushang Qu Shui Caiwei Shi' failed!"