I'm such a lovesick person.

Chapter 141 Leiyi Clothing
Tuesday, October 12nd.

9:30 am, Leiyi Clothing.

"Brother, a colleague of mine is coming over later and wants to visit your factory. Are you free to accompany him?"

Hua Feng was in his brother's office. As soon as he entered, he explained his purpose and said, "My colleague is young and promising. He has helped me a lot recently."

Hua Xing, with gray hair on his temples, is over 60 years old. He runs a clothing factory that integrates design, production and wholesale, and is quite famous in Linjiang City.

Laiyi's annual sales exceed 100 million yuan, but its profits are relatively low, roughly comparable to those in the hat industry.

In recent years, the industry has been highly competitive, and online stores have emerged rapidly, making it difficult for manufacturers like him who run physical stores to survive.

The rents for the specialty stores that Lei opened in Jiangsu Province were shockingly high, but his sales kept declining, which worried him all day long. He was already considering closing several stores that had been losing money for years.

But even so, he still looked down on his brother Huafeng's hat factory.

The first capital for Huafeng’s entrepreneurship was borrowed from him.

The birch hat business has been in operation for some years, but its scale and output value have never increased, and its situation is not much better than that of his Lei Clothing Company.

He has his own brand - Leiyi, as well as several lesser-known brands, and also does OEM for other brands.

Before the rise of online stores and self-media, Lei Yi had a period of glory, and he also enjoyed a period of glory.

However, his younger brother Huafeng and his birch hat business never had their own glorious moments.

"I'll let Lao Ren accompany you two for a while."

Hua Xing said lightly.

I thought to myself, "Your colleague isn't Qi Feng's Zhuang Dasheng, so why would he be worth my personal involvement?"

"Ren Dongsheng? That's fine too." Hua Feng nodded helplessly.

Wei Lin was coming to visit the garment factory, so of course he wanted his brother Huaxing to come out so that he could look more prestigious, but Huaxing looked down on his colleagues, so there was nothing he could do.

The two brothers actually have a very good relationship. Whenever his birch hat business encounters problems, the elder brother will help out.

Garment factories and the hat industry have a lot in common, including personnel and capital. My brother always lends a helping hand at critical moments. Some other brand customers were also introduced by his brother.

Since he was a child, he has admired Huaxing very much, and he would take the initiative to lower his posture in front of Huaxing.

At ten o'clock, Wei Lin's car appeared at Laiyi Clothing, and Hua Feng and Ren Dongsheng were already waiting.

"This is Wei Lin from Xinlin Hat Industry. I've been relying on his help lately to survive Qi Feng's oppression and exclusion." Hua Feng stepped forward and introduced a man in his fifties. He said to Wei Lin, "Ren Dongsheng, Laiyi's sales manager, is also the person my brother trusts the most."

"You're too polite, Mr. Hua." Ren Dongsheng said with a smile.

He took the initiative to step forward and shook hands with Wei Lin, saying, "I've heard from President Hua that President Wei is young and promising. Seeing him today, I'm sure he's extraordinary."

Ren Dongsheng had indeed heard of Wei Lin's name and had contact with Wei Lin's father.

He knew that after Wei Zhenbang's death, the burden of Xinlin fell on his son Wei Lin, who had been supporting Xinlin all these years.

Before Wei Lin came, Huafeng explained in detail Xinlin's recent actions and the creation of the "Nimo" brand.

Like Ren Dongsheng and Huaxing, he only recognizes the strong in business.

He naturally has a good impression of young people like Wei Lin, who are so young but can survive tenaciously when Qi Feng is engaging in malicious competition.

"Mr. Ren, thank you for your praise."

Wei Lin said politely.

Next, accompanied by Ren Dongsheng and Hua Feng, Wei Lin visited Laiyi's factory workshops, equipment, warehouses, design rooms, and showrooms.

During this time, Wei Lin asked questions from time to time, and Ren Dongsheng only spoke what he could.

Lai Yi occupies an area several times larger than Xinlin and has its own independent design department. In addition to the Lai Yi brand, there are also several other unknown small brands that specialize in retail and wholesale.

The boss Hua Xing is quite resistant to online stores and seems to have some resistance.

However, the sales of the He Lai brand stores have continued to decline in recent years. The profits of many stores are less than the rent, and they are considering closing down.

Like Xinlin, Laiyi also has OEM business, but this is not their main project.

After watching and chatting for a whole morning, Wei Lin could see that Laiyi Clothing was going downhill, and it was a very steep downhill slope.
If Lei cannot find a way out and increase its turnover in the next two to three years, it may not be able to hold on.

"I want to create a sportswear brand specifically for people who train in the gym. For example, I want yoga pants, sports tank tops, long-sleeved shorts, and the materials should be light, breathable, and easy to absorb sweat and dry quickly."

"Have you ever made a product like this in Leiyi?"

After the visit, Wei Lin followed Ren Dongsheng to the reception room and no longer concealed his intentions.

Hua Feng was stunned and said, "Wei Lin, your own factory is doing very well in all aspects of its business. Why do you suddenly want to make clothes? And, such a niche sportswear?"

Wei Lin explained with a smile: "Xinlin is on the right track. There's not much for me to worry about. I just want to do more while I'm still young."

Ren Dongsheng didn't speak in a hurry, but frowned and thought.

After a while, he suddenly stood up and said, "Boss Wei, let's go to the showroom again."

Wei Lin said, "Okay."

Ten minutes later, the three of them returned to the exhibition hall.

Ren Dongsheng took out a pile of clothes from a small warehouse next door and showed them to Wei Lin: "Is this this?" Yoga pants, women's sports bra, short-sleeved long shirts, and men's vest shorts.

Wei Lin's eyes lit up with surprise. He touched the fabric and its texture and said, "The quality is very good."

"The quality is indeed good, because the materials are specially selected and the cost is relatively high, so the price is naturally not cheap." Ren Dongsheng smiled slightly and said, "But I just can't find a way to sell it."

"Mr. Wei, you want to enter this niche market, so you must have a long-term habit of practicing."

Ren Dongsheng asked.

Wei Lin nodded.

"Have you heard of the brand Qingque?"

Ren Dongsheng asked again.

Wei Lin shook his head and immediately opened his phone to check. He noticed that Qingque was a brand similar to Muscle Shark, targeting urban men and women who trained in gyms, yoga studios, and Pilates studios.

Qingque has its own brand website, flagship stores on Taobao and JD.com, and its own account on Douyin.

After observing for a while, he realized that Qingque had no reputation at all, and the sales of its flagship store, online store, and even Douyin had not improved at all.

"Mr. Hua, Qingque was invented by Shanshan." Ren Dongsheng looked at Hua Feng.

"Shanshan?" Hua Feng touched his head and said, "I heard that she ignored my brother's objections and insisted on creating her own brand, independent of Leiyi. Is that it?"

Ren Dongsheng nodded slightly.

Hua Feng immediately explained to Wei Lin, "Shanshan is my niece, two or three years older than you. She studied fashion design abroad. After returning to China, she's been trying to get Lai Yi's online store up and running, but there's been no progress. She even had a bit of a fight with my brother over this."

"In a fit of anger, she left her company, created her own brand, and directly abandoned the physical store to focus on online sales."

"but……"

Hua Feng hesitated for a moment and said, "My brother said she was just messing around and nothing happened. This made the relationship between father and daughter even worse."

Wei Lin smiled and said, "I want to see her."

There are no major problems with Qingque's design, materials, and quality.

This brand is not well-known and its sales have been slow to pick up, but the product meets Wei Lin's expectations.

Therefore, Wei Lin wanted to meet Hua Hongshan in person to have a talk.

He wanted to create his own brand and needed to recruit additional talent in this area, so he had to start a new company.

If there was something readily available and the price was not too high, he would naturally feel much more relaxed.

"Hongshan is not in Laiyi. Her company is in Dexin Building. Her company is responsible for material selection and design, and sends samples to our factory for production. In addition to design, she is also responsible for brand promotion and sales." Ren Dongsheng explained.

"Very smart." Wei Lin nodded with a smile.

What Hua Hongshan did is just like when he founded the "Ni Mo" brand and then handed it over to the factory for OEM, while he was solely responsible for the brand itself.

Production is too troublesome, profits are low, and costs such as personnel and equipment are high.

Many brands do this at first, and only consider setting up their own factories after reaching a certain scale.

There are even big brands that have never thought about setting up factories. They always look for manufacturers to produce their own brand products, completely abandoning the low profits of factories.

"Dexin Building, 19th floor, Qingque Clothing."

Ren Dongsheng gave the address and apologized, "Boss Wei, I'm busy and can't go with you there. It's the same even if Boss Hua is there, or not, since Shanshan is his niece after all."

"Wei Lin, I'll go with you." Hua Feng said with a smile, "I haven't seen her for a while."

"Forget it, Uncle Hua, you've been with me for most of the day. I'll go talk to her myself." Wei Lin declined.

……

Leiyi, office building.

"It's strange to say, but President Wei is particularly interested in the Qingque that Shanshan created. He's already headed to Dexin Building." Ren Dongsheng approached Huaxing and explained Wei Lin's visit. He concluded by saying, "President Wei is young, polite, and seems quite nice."

Hua Xing frowned. "There's nothing wrong with the quality of Shanshan's Suzaku, it's just a bit too expensive, and sales are terrible. I told her not to choose such fine fabric and to lower the price, but she refused to listen!"

No matter how much they quarreled or made a fuss, Hua Hongshan was his daughter after all, and his only child.

He naturally cares about everything about his daughter.

"If Mr. Wei also wants to do this, then he'll be Shanshan's competitor." Ren Dongsheng pondered for a moment and said, "From what your brother said, Mr. Wei is capable and has made Xinlin a great success. If he's really determined to do this, he might be able to do better than Shanshan."

Hua Xing said expressionlessly, "Hua Feng is making such a fuss, but who knows if what he's saying is true or not? Wei Lin didn't start Xinlin on his own, he just relied on the factory and the key personnel left by his father. Without his father's support, how can you let him try to build Xinlin from scratch?"

It is difficult for true first-generation entrepreneurs to look down on the second generation.

Unless the second generation is outstanding enough to elevate the first generation's career to a new height.

"Mr. Wei didn't ask your brother to accompany us. Should we call Shanshan and tell her?" Ren Dongsheng asked.

"She hasn't called me for several days and she didn't come home for dinner. I won't call her." Hua Xing snorted.

……

(End of this chapter)