pertwk Chapter 102 Paris Letter Sock Design
Chapter 102 Paris Letter Sock Design
Chapter 102 Paris Letter Sock Design
Lin Mu said, "Besides advertising and marketing, there's still room for improvement in the design of your shop."
He pointed to a vacant space in the corner that hadn't been renovated yet and continued, "You can partition off 20 or 30 square meters, or even 30 or 40 square meters, to create a mirror room and lay a red carpet on the floor."
"The future belongs to the era of self-media, where everyone is essentially an independent media outlet, just like QQ Space and blogs are today."
"We want to create a photo spot to encourage customers who come to buy stockings to take photos. Once they take photos, it's like they're promoting our products for free."
"Think about it, the people who come to your store to buy high-end stockings must be people who have spare money and love to dress up. In their respective social circles, they are considered to be at the forefront of fashion, like little celebrities."
"Also, since your store hasn't opened yet, build a barrier outside and open a small door in the barrier to make it easier for workers to come and go."
"Then this barrier can be used as a promotional window for GG (Golden Boy) ads. You can put a GG ad on it that says, 'China's New Fashion Power, Louis Vuitton's Strongest Rival.'"
Sheng Mingyue pondered for a moment. Lin Mu's plan was very clear: if they followed the original plan, they could make money relatively steadily; but if they followed the new plan, the future potential would be hard to estimate, and there might be a very high ceiling.
Sheng Mingyue chose the latter without hesitation. Anyway, her family was rich, and even if she failed, her father would not abandon her.
A few days later.
A two-meter-high barrier was erected around the shop's facade. The barrier was made of sheet metal, with a cloth covering it. The promotional posters on the cloth were designed by GG Design Company.
It was a very special white, looking high-end and sophisticated, without a hint of cheapness. On the white background, a line of text was printed in special black lettering: "China's New Fashion Power, Louis Vuitton's Strongest Rival."
The reason I didn't write the "horrifying" "Louis Vuitton's strictest father" is because there's a time lag in the publicity. The publicity in France hasn't been planned yet, and writing that sentence in advance would easily confuse people and make me look like a clown.
Once the shop was fenced off and its promotional slogans were displayed, it instantly became the most eye-catching presence in Wulin Square.
In 2009, no one could have imagined that a store could come up with such a creative idea during the renovation phase. What's even more interesting is that this is a prime location, and the advertising slogan directly "challenged" the international chain brand Louis Vuitton, which immediately attracted the attention of many people of all ages.
Nangong Xiaoxiao and her group of friends passed by. With Yang Xiaofang's help, Nangong Xiaoxiao also opened her own Taobao store, but she took a different path from Yang Xiaofan, focusing on personalized trendy brands.
Nangong Xiaoxiao comes to Wulin Square every day to see if any niche designers or boutiques have new arrivals.
If there are any nice new items, she buys them, puts together a nice outfit and accessories, posts it on her personal blog, and then uses the blog to drive traffic to her Taobao store.
Over the course of that month, she received several hundred orders. Although the number of orders wasn't large, the profits were substantial, with high average order value and net profit. In 2009, she could earn 1 yuan a month.
Just then, they passed by Sheng Mingyue's shop. One of the girls saw the promotional slogan and scoffed, "Xiaoxiao, look at this shop, what a big mouth they have! It's such a publicity stunt!"
Having started her own business, Nangong Xiaoxiao's way of thinking is already different from that of her working girlfriends.
She thought to herself: The owner of this store is really talented. He knows how to use the location and the traffic of big brands to promote himself.
Moreover, she had never seen a business model like this before, starting its advertising campaign during the renovation phase. It perfectly capitalized on the downtime and whetted everyone's appetite. She was genuinely curious about what kind of store it was, with such an arrogant tone.
"No way, I have to take a picture and post it on QQ Space so I can vent to my friends and family." The girl took out her iPhone, snapped a photo, and said.
Nangong Xiaoxiao laughed and teased her, telling her not to do that, as she quite admired the shop owner.
Then, a thought flashed through her mind, and she suddenly realized something: In fact, the desire of passersby to complain or even curse is also a kind of traffic.
Meanwhile, at Director Mao's factory, the three were discussing a collaboration on letter socks.
The cooperation plan is as follows: Lin Mu will provide the design sketches, and for every pair of stockings sold, he will receive a 2% design fee.
Factory Manager Mao was in charge of OEM manufacturing and earned OEM fees; Sheng Mingyue's brand "Moonweave" (English name MOONWEAVE) acted as the brand owner, earning the largest share of the profits, but also bearing the greatest risks.
Before them lay the first handmade sample of custom-made letter socks.
Lin Mu picked up the sample and shook his head repeatedly. Putting aside the fact that the stockings were of the wrong texture, the spacing between the letters on the lettered stockings was inconsistent, the font was also unattractive, and it looked utterly tasteless.
Keep in mind that these socks cost 199 yuan a pair. Don't think that's too expensive. Balenciaga's letter socks originally cost 1000 yuan a pair, and at their peak, they even sold for 5000 yuan a pair.
Of course, Moonweave is a high-end fashion brand that focuses on the concept of accessible luxury. It cannot be compared with top luxury brands, but it is absolutely unacceptable to set the price too low.
Lin Mu said, "These socks are definitely not good enough. Have the workshop send them back to be remade. Try a few different materials for the stockings, and make the font smaller. As for the font style—" He scratched his head; this was proving much more difficult than he had anticipated.
He found the font online, but there are very few English fonts online, even paid ones. After finally choosing one, the printed result didn't meet his expectations.
Lin Mu added, "The font isn't working well either. Did something go wrong during printing? Why don't we make a batch first, select the one whose font best matches our expectations, and use it as a template for mass production?"
Upon hearing Lin Mu's words, Factory Director Mao immediately arranged for the workshop to make a new batch of socks.
The next day, Lin Mu passed by the factory on his way home from work. A new batch of stockings had been made, and dozens of pairs were laid out on the table.
Looking at the stack of stockings, Lin Mu frowned. There wasn't a single pair that satisfied him in this batch.
He stretched out the stockings and examined the printed letters carefully, muttering to himself, "This font is really strange, why is it still not right? And the texture of these stockings is so different from what I expected, not clear and translucent enough."
The designer standing nearby retorted in a low voice, "But we've already used the latest and best technology, and the stockings we sell on Taobao are made with this kind of material."
Lin Mu said, "Springtime Shop's stockings cost 20 yuan a pair, while Yuezhi's cost 200 yuan a pair. Of course, the craftsmanship can't be the same. We need to strive for excellence and put in a lot of effort to pursue that 1% improvement. You might have to work hard during this period; we'll refine them further."
Factory Director Mao quickly said, "I'll give you double the overtime pay for the work you do during this period."
The designer's face immediately lit up with a smile: "Such a good thing?!"
At this moment, Sheng Mingyue spoke up, "Lin Mu, how about we find a great designer? I know an international designer who used to work at Balenciaga. He's involved in R&D and production, and he recently returned to China to see if there are any opportunities to start his own brand here. However, it's very expensive to have him design a single item, basically around 10 yuan, and that doesn't even include copyright."
Lin Mu thought for a moment. With his design skills, he could barely manage to run a Taobao brand, but he was clearly inadequate when it came to the high-end, accessible luxury level. He definitely needed to find a professional. He said, "We can talk to him and see if we can exchange some resources."
On the other side, the designer on Director Mao's side turned pale upon hearing this, and muttered to himself: No, does his double overtime pay still count?