Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1209 An out-of-season leather coat is still a leather coat

When Li Long said he was there to buy leather jackets, the people who came to greet him became noticeably more enthusiastic.

"Hello, I am Zhang Xiangdong, the factory manager of Hongguang Leather Factory. May I ask your name?"

"My name is Li Long, and I'm from Ma County. I'd like to purchase a batch of leather coats. Do you have any in stock?"

"A leather overcoat? Yes, yes, yes." Factory Director Zhang paused for a moment, then, nudged by the person next to him, immediately said, "Comrade Li Long, what kind of leather overcoat do you need?"

"As long as it's warm, I don't care about the style." Li Long's requirements were simple. "Of course, the cheaper the better... but I want a leather coat, even a straight-cut one like the ones herdsmen wear."

"You mean, we don't need those leather jackets, the kind made of pure sheepskin?" someone next to me asked, their eyes lighting up. "The kind with a military green fabric exterior and sheepskin lining?"

“Of course, that’s fine too,” Li Long said with a smile. “Like I said, the warmer the better… Of course, we need to buy in large quantities. As you can see, I drove here in a truck. If the items are suitable and the prices are right, buying hundreds or even thousands of pieces won’t be a problem!”

"Hey, you really came at the right time! Come on, let's talk in the office!"

After entering the office, Zhang Xiangdong poured tea for Li Long, sat down, and said:

"Comrade Li Long, if you really want to buy this kind of warm coat, I'm telling you you've come to the right place. Our factory used to be a small enterprise in the regiment, more like a workshop. The reason we started it up was that the regiment had so much hide that it couldn't be used every year, so we thought we could use it to make leather coats, leather vests and things like that, so it could be put to good use."

We're both from northern Xinjiang, and I can tell from your accent that we're not far off either. To be honest, from the beginning until now, we haven't been thinking about how much production we can sell. After all, our technology is what it is. We can handle rough processing, but when it comes to fine processing, we really don't have the technology.

Take leather for example. We've studied tanning and tanning techniques, but those are just basic methods. Like now, when we make leather coats, the kind you want, we tan the whole sheepskin and then sew it together to make a coat.

But what do they say? A sheepskin or cowhide, so thin, can be peeled into four or even six layers! They call it leather, but look at the leather on top… it is indeed leather, but it's so thin! They boast about it being top-grain cowhide, top-grain… a cowhide split into four or five layers, is that still leather? Can it withstand such rough handling?”

Li Long could hear the strong complaints in Zhang Xiangdong's voice.

It makes sense, really. The leather they have is of very high quality, with each leather jacket made from at least one whole sheepskin or even more, but both the selling price and the style are far lower than those leather jackets that come from abroad.

They also tried to imitate the leather jacket styles they heard about, but those people peeled the leather very thin, making it much easier to process. Here, the leather is thick, and it's already quite good if you can peel a single piece of leather into two layers.

So even if you copy someone else's design, the result is a bit of a mishmash, and as the locals say, it's not "displayable" enough, so sales are sluggish.

Li Long understood the reasons perfectly. As people's living standards improved, leather jackets, considered high-end clothing by ordinary people, naturally attracted them to wear fashionable styles.

Northern Xinjiang is relatively less developed than the border region, and information travels slower there. The border region, especially the coastal areas, has a diverse range of clothing styles and is a trendsetter.

Therefore, clothes produced by local leather factories tend to be more old-fashioned and are not popular with young people.

Young people are now the main buyers of leather jackets—when young people get married in autumn and winter, which of those fashionable young men isn't wearing a leather jacket?

Of course, the style also has to be new; old-fashioned leather jackets from that era would be laughed at.

Therefore, the leather jackets from this tannery were not very popular.

This is normal.

Breakthroughs are difficult to achieve; they require substantial investment, such as purchasing new machines and frequent trips to inland and coastal areas to research and develop new styles that are popular there.

Hongguang Leather Factory is just a small factory, how could it possibly come up with such a large investment?
Therefore, it can only get more and more difficult.

“Your leather coats are warm.” Li Long wasn’t doing it for fashion. He believed that Liu Gaolou’s relay of Liu Shanmin’s words was not actually about the new style.

The western republic is currently facing a severe disaster, both natural and man-made, making it difficult for ordinary people to buy enough daily necessities.

So there's no need to worry about style; as long as it keeps you warm, that's all that matters.

"Okay, we'll bring the samples over now. Wait a minute."

A short while later, several people came over carrying five or six different leather jackets.

They were laid out in a row on the desks, and since there weren't enough desks, some were placed on the coffee tables.

Men's and women's long leather coats, trench coat style. Factory Director Zhang said proudly, "Look, this is our latest style produced this year, a style we learned from the south, and it's currently our most popular product."

Well, it looks pretty much the right thing to do, but Li Long could tell the problem as soon as he touched it. It's the same old problem: the leather is too thick, which makes it impossible to get the design and style right.

It looks alright, but when you wear it, it doesn't look the same at all, just like the difference between what you see on a model and what you wear yourself in later generations.

Li Long smiled and asked:
What's the price of these two outfits?

"Two hundred and sixty yuan."

"Forget it, this doesn't meet my requirements." Li Long skipped over it and looked at the leather vest next.

Or rather, a leather vest—an old-fashioned brown vest with four pockets, not very big, I don’t know if it was inspired by hunting attire, but it looks a bit out of place.

Because it has four pockets, a lot of leather was used, but it looks a bit bulky, and the leather wasn't treated very well; it looks wrinkled.

Wrinkles are a characteristic of genuine leather, but in this case, it indicates that the leather was not properly treated.

"How much is this?" Li Long asked.

"Twenty yuan." Factory Director Zhang turned the leather vest inside out for Li Long to see. "The wool inside is still there, so it will definitely be warm to wear."

"It just makes him seem a bit clumsy," Li Long said.

The price is acceptable. Li Long vaguely remembers that in ten years, such a leather vest could be bought for sixty or seventy yuan.

It uses scraps of leather, not whole hides, so the price is good.

"How much stock do you have?" Li Long asked. "Is it one size fits all, or do you have all sizes?"

"Because it's for wearing underneath, it's one size fits all. Our factory currently has more than two hundred pieces in stock, and we can continue production at any time if needed."

“I want two hundred pieces first, but the price…” Li Long said.

"The price is negotiable. If you want two hundred pieces... eighteen yuan." Factory Manager Zhang said through gritted teeth, "That's close to cost price, I can't lower it any further."

“Okay, deal… Can you squeeze out 250 pieces?” Li Long asked. “If it’s 18 yuan, I’ll take all your stock.”

"I'll go check it out." Someone immediately ran out.

Next up is the men's leather jacket, an older style that still looks a bit bulky, but it should be suitable for tall people.

Li Long asked:

How much is this leather jacket?

Originally, he only wanted to buy that kind of old-fashioned sheepskin coat, the most primitive kind, the kind that imitates the military coats of high-altitude and cold regions.

But he thought that if he brought some leather jackets like these over, they would probably accept them, right?

Let's produce more local specialty products. After all, it's impossible for the area to be entirely populated by ordinary people. Those at the grassroots level can wear old-fashioned leather overcoats, while those with a little more money can wear leather jackets.

Anyway, it's at least better than that old-fashioned leather coat.

"This one? Our retail price is 120 yuan," said Factory Manager Zhang. "If you want more than 100 pieces, I'll make it 100 yuan."

Li Long thought for a moment and said:
"Okay, sure, I'll take a hundred pieces first."

Since we've already taken the leather vest, taking a few more leather jackets won't be a big deal.

The last one was the imitation high-altitude, cold-region leather coat that Li Long saw. It was made of military green polyester fabric, with a whole sheepskin patchwork inside, and the wool was still there.

It's so warm! Just think about it, in high-altitude, frigid regions, winter temperatures can drop to minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius, and the altitude is high too. If the sentries didn't wear coats like these when standing guard at night, they would definitely freeze to death.

Such places are usually border outposts, and there are also infiltration missions in winter. If they don't wear such coats when they are infiltrating, they will inevitably suffer casualties.

When Li Long first went into the mountains to ambush wolves with Harim, he wore a coat like this. Sheepskin has good heat insulation properties, so body heat is not easily lost, and it has a good warming effect.

Although it doesn't look good and is bulky, at least it's warm.

How much is one of these?

"Well... how should I put it?" Factory Director Zhang scratched his head, somewhat hesitant to speak. "What's wrong?" Li Long asked.

"To put it simply, these leather coats are our surplus stock." Factory Director Zhang, considering that Li Long had already ordered so many, said frankly, "The production period was a bit long, and some... well, some are already somewhat damaged."

They were left out for too long without being sold, and then they got bitten by bugs.

There was a time when imitation military uniforms were very popular among ordinary people.

So the leather factory produced a large number of these coats—after all, they were also very practical.

Sales were good at first, but as people's living standards improved, their demands for clothing also increased.

Such coats are only worn when driving a tractor or herding sheep in winter, but they are also quite bulky.

"Now everyone prefers to wear puffer jackets (down jackets), and these sheepskin coats are no longer popular. The ones we have in stock now were produced ten years ago, and the latest batch was produced six years ago."

Li Long understood; selling it at the price it was from back then would be a loss.

He then said to Director Zhang:
"Director Zhang, think about it. If we can sell the products that have been piling up now, we can not only clear the inventory but also make a profit. Otherwise, even if you give these leather coats to the farm cadres as welfare, they might not really want them, right?"

"I'll definitely still want them, but they probably won't achieve the desired effect." Factory Director Zhang was also very frank. "Well, the original selling price was sixty yuan, but it will definitely go up now. If you can buy more than two hundred pieces, I'll make the decision for you and give you eighty yuan."

Despite what Director Zhang said about the price increase, to be honest, a leather coat made from a whole sheepskin after tanning and cleaning is really not expensive at eighty yuan.

"What if I want five hundred pieces?" Li Long said. "Could the price be a little lower?"

He just thought this thing would be popular in Kazakhstan, but whether that would actually be the case remained to be seen.

So he didn't say he wanted to sell all the inventory right away, because if he couldn't sell it, he would lose money.

"Five hundred pieces?" Factory Director Zhang's eyes widened. "Really? Your truck can't hold five hundred pieces."

"Can't you find a car to help me deliver the goods? I'll help you clear out your inventory, and you can cover the shipping costs, right?" Li Long joked.

"If you really want five hundred pieces, then I'll give them to you at the original price, sixty!"

It's time to clear out the inventory. Sheepskin is prone to insects, and some of it is already infested. Camphor balls aren't always effective, even though they're all packaged, we still have to check them from time to time, since we can't possibly stuff camphor balls everywhere.

Then came the accounting. Two hundred and sixty leather vests cost five thousand two hundred yuan, one hundred leather jackets cost ten thousand yuan, and five hundred leather overcoats cost thirty thousand yuan.

In total, Li Long had to pay the factory 45,200 yuan.

Li Long didn't pay immediately; he wanted to inspect the goods first. Although Factory Manager Zhang was very frank, Li Long felt he couldn't just listen to his words; he also needed to observe his actions. It was their first time dealing with each other, and Li Long felt he should observe Zhang's actions as well as his words.

The vests and leather jackets were all in stock and sold individually. After each item was inspected, they were packed into cardboard boxes and loaded onto the truck.

Only the leather coats were packaged in packs of ten, wrapped in plastic woven fabric.

Five hundred items and fifty packages—Li Long didn't check them all; otherwise, he wouldn't have finished checking them all today.

He first checked the appearance, seeing no signs of insect damage, and then randomly opened two packages—the packaging consisted of compressed packaging machines that had been tied together with nylon ropes.

Opening the package simply means untying the ropes to see what's inside.

The strong smell of mutton is quite strong – the sheepskin was indeed processed very roughly.

However, it is indeed made of a single piece of sheepskin, and the materials used are very solid.

Li Long randomly inspected three bags, and then stopped. It must be said that although the workmanship was rough, the materials were really solid, and the bags were relatively well-preserved.

Or at least these fifty packages of five hundred pieces are quite good.

So Li Long readily paid, and Factory Manager Zhang had already called over two trucks.

He was also very happy to be able to clear out this inventory.

While the workers were loading the truck, Factory Manager Zhang came over and asked Li Long:
"Comrade Li Long, we currently have some relatively intact ones in stock, and some that have been bitten by insects. You see... if you need them, we can lower the price..."

"I've found a sales channel and plan to try it out. If it works, I'll probably come back to you in less than a month, not only to clear out your inventory, but also to place orders with you so you can continue production."

The factory manager was very generous, and Li Long didn't hide anything, saying, "So it depends on my sales situation."

Factory Director Zhang understood; he decided to wait and see.

He then stopped talking.

They had originally planned to treat Li Long to a meal after loading the truck, but Li Long declined.

Just kidding, it's over 100 kilometers away. We need to hurry back to Ma County. We don't know anyone here, so we shouldn't stay.

So they came in one truck and came back in three trucks. Li Long and Liang Shuangcheng each carried a leather jacket—Li Long had the kind that cost over two hundred yuan, and Liang Shuangcheng had the latter kind that cost one hundred yuan.

Director Zhang meant that this was a trial outfit for Li Long.

Li Long was fine with it, but Liang Shuangcheng was pleasantly surprised. He didn't mind that the style was old-fashioned; after all, it was a leather jacket!
If the weather weren't still cold enough, he would have put it on right away.

By the time the car arrived in Ma County, it was almost dark. Fortunately, there were still quite a few people around. There were a few vendors who hadn't left yet, and they helped unload the goods. Li Long settled the two truck drivers who had come to the guesthouse, and it was already dark.

Next, we just have to wait for Bai Xiuming's cotton shoes.

Four days later, Bai Xiuming arrived. Actually, he had arrived in Wucheng two days earlier, but the shoes hadn't arrived yet, so he waited in Wucheng for two more days until the shoes arrived, and then hired a truck to bring them over.

"Three thousand pairs of cotton-rubber shoes and one thousand pairs of cotton-leather shoes. The cotton-rubber shoes are still ten yuan a pair, but the style is a bit outdated, I guess you won't care about that. The cotton-leather shoes are a bit more expensive, forty yuan a pair, mainly because the materials are better."

Hearing Bai Xiuming's words, Li Long went to check it out. There was nothing wrong with the cotton-padded rubber shoes; the cotton-padded leather shoes were more expensive than before, but if the materials were truly solid, it wasn't unacceptable.

The main reason is that prices are rising rapidly now, so it's normal for shoe prices to increase.

Sure enough, the cotton-padded leather shoes looked very sturdy. Although the style was a bit old-fashioned, at least they weren't the kind of extremely thin leather covered with cardboard that Director Zhang had complained about.

Li Long inspected some more and found them to be quite good. There were several styles, but none of them seemed to be trendy. Li Long guessed that these were probably inventory items that Bai Xiuming had acquired.

It doesn't matter anyway, we'll just take it to the west. People there aren't picky anymore; as long as it keeps their feet warm, it's better than wearing single-layer shoes.

Unload the goods and calculate the payment.

“I’m planning to buy two more cars from you,” Bai Xiuming said. “One Volga and one Lada. I saw some in your carport up ahead. What’s the price…?”

"Of course," Li Long said with a smile. "The Volga costs 70,000, the Lada 50,000, and the cost of your shoes can offset some of that. You just need to pay me the rest."

The two Volga motorcycles currently in stock are a bit old, but in decent condition, so Li Long didn't ask for a high price.

"I want to see the car." Bai Xiuming didn't agree first; he wanted to see the car first.

He's been driving Li Long's car for over a year now. He might not be considered an experienced driver, but he knows quite a bit, so I'll have to take a look first.

Li Long naturally had no objections; he believed Bai Xiuming would agree.

"By the way, how many watermelon seeds do you have here now?" No one has come to buy watermelon seeds from Li Long this year, but Li Long is not in a hurry.

We didn't collect much, so we'll leave it for now.

"Not much, maybe ten tons?" Li Long thought for a moment, not quite sure.

"So little?" Bai Xiuming was somewhat surprised.

"Well, we don't plan to harvest on a large scale anytime soon, and there aren't many people planting it either," Li Long explained.

Bai Xiuming was somewhat disappointed, but he decided to look at the car first.

Harvesting melon seeds is official business, while driving is private business; private business is more important.

(End of this chapter)