Reborn in 1999: Starting as a black marketeer

After washing up and getting dressed, Wang Feiyang picked up his bag and went out. He did indeed have an appointment to meet with President Gu that afternoon.

If they wanted to find a manufacturer for CK, Mr. Gu definitely had more connections in this area than Wang Feiyang, so Wang Feiyang asked him to introduce him.

This is a good thing, it's like introducing a big client to a friend who owns an OEM factory. Mr. Gu was naturally happy to help, so he readily agreed, saying that he knew the boss who manufactures for CK, and he would help arrange a meeting when Wang Feiyang returned to China.

As for the specifics of the cooperation, Wang Feiyang and the boss will discuss that in detail after they meet.

After going downstairs and grabbing a quick bite to fill his stomach, Wang Feiyang took a taxi to the wholesale market and easily found Boss Gu's shop.

Upon seeing Wang Feiyang, General Manager Gu was extremely enthusiastic, greeting him with a broad smile and shaking his hand firmly. "Haha, General Manager Wang is indeed a young man of great talent! You've established a sales channel in Moscow within just two months. In all my years in business, I've never seen anyone as capable as General Manager Wang!"

"It's just a small business, nothing compared to a big boss like Mr. Gu," Wang Feiyang said modestly.

Mr. Gu quickly waved his hand, "No! What kind of big boss am I? I'm just relying on friends like Mr. Wang to give me face and let me make a living."

To be fair, he was right. In the clothing industry, especially for mass-market goods like this, big clients like Wang Feiyang with sales channels are the true "parents" of manufacturers' clothing.

After all, there are plenty of processing plants, and it doesn't matter whose goods you use. But there aren't many customers with sales capabilities, especially customers like Wang Feiyang who can ship in large quantities overseas. They are definitely highly sought-after by all manufacturers.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, they got down to business. General Manager Gu asked in detail about the situation on Wang Feiyang's side, including feedback on the sales of several batches of Levi's counterfeit jeans in Russia.

General Manager Gu greatly admired Wang Feiyang's decision to stay away from the big market and avoid the price fluctuations, instead choosing to start his own company and develop new clients through online marketing.

After all, you wouldn't dare to do this without some guts...

As for Wang Feiyang's desire to stock more product categories and choose to sell counterfeit CK products, General Manager Gu also thinks it's very reasonable.

After all, CK has a great reputation and started out making denim clothing. Although it has four major product lines, denim fashion is its most important flagship product.

If we're talking about jeans alone, they might not be as famous as Levi's, but their styles are more fashionable and they're more popular among young people.

"CK has several OEM factories in China. I know one of the owners, Mr. Xu. His factory isn't far from mine, and we often have tea and chat together. I've discussed your idea of ​​sourcing goods for sale in Russia with him, and Mr. Xu is very welcoming. After all, the amount of CK products manufactured by him isn't large, and we're not working together anymore. But he controls the patterns and material sourcing channels. A significant portion of the counterfeit CK products on the market are produced in his factory. I'll take you directly to his factory later so you can tour it and discuss cooperation in person."

After making some quick arrangements for the shop, General Manager Gu took Wang Feiyang to the parking lot, got in the car, and drove towards the factory.

More than half an hour later, they arrived at the gate of a factory, greeted the security guard, and drove the car in directly. It seems that President Gu often comes here and is familiar with the people here.

This factory is even larger than Mr. Gu's factory, consisting of three flat factory workshop buildings side by side, with an estimated number of employees exceeding one thousand.

Of course, in the garment manufacturing industry, this is not considered a large factory; at most, it's a medium-sized factory.

After parking the car, President Gu led Wang Feiyang toward the office building. He made a phone call ahead, and President Xu was already waiting for them in the office.

…………

Mr. Xu is in his forties, lean and wiry, and speaks Mandarin with a Guangdong accent. Upon meeting them, he warmly offered them tea and cigarettes.

After a flurry of activity, we finally sat down to discuss business.

"Hello, Mr. Wang. I've heard Mr. Gu mention you before, but at first I didn't quite believe it, thinking he was exaggerating. Meeting you today makes me realize what 'seeing is believing' really means, haha."

"I'm still a novice, and I still need to learn from seniors like President Gu and President Xu," Wang Feiyang could only say modestly.

"I heard from Mr. Gu that you're looking to import a batch of high-quality replicas of CK to sell? And you have very high quality requirements?" Mr. Xu asked with concern.

Wang Feiyang nodded. "Yes, it should be at least 70-80% of the quality of the genuine products in the store. In addition, all the surrounding materials must be complete, such as brochures, posters, roll-up banners, and packaging bags. The quality of these must be on par with those in the store, and they cannot have a cheap feel."

It's not easy to perfectly replicate some big-name products because some hardware or fabrics are exclusive to the brand and cannot be sourced from other channels.

But it's too easy to imitate 70-80% of it, and that would significantly reduce costs.

After all, in any industry, the rule is "you get what you pay for, a penny gets you two points, and a dollar gets you three points." If you lower the quality standards slightly, the cost can be reduced significantly.

However, the materials don't matter. These things are nothing special; you can buy the exact same thing as long as you pay money, and the brand doesn't care too much about them.

Mr. Xu nodded, smiling easily, "That's definitely not a problem. If you want 100% identical, it might be a bit more complicated. But if you only need 70-80%, the production line doesn't even need adjustment; we can start mass production right away. By the way, Mr. Wang, how much are you planning to order this time?"

As he spoke, he took a product catalog from the desk next to him and handed it to Wang Feiyang.

Wang Feiyang looked through them and found that CK had too many styles, which was completely different from Levi's, which relied on a few classic styles to make a name for itself.

He looked up and asked, "Your factory should have a sample room, right? Could I take some photos and send them to the company so the sales team can help me choose the right styles?"

"Of course, I'll take you there right now," Mr. Xu said readily.

Before returning this time, Wang Feiyang specifically borrowed Liu Yingying's newly purchased digital camera, which was prepared for taking samples.

Following Mr. Xu into the sample room, he took out his digital camera and started snapping away.

The styles displayed in the showroom were all carefully selected. Wang Feiyang still needed to pick a few more from them. For a large wholesaler like him, more styles weren't necessarily better; the goal was to ensure that each style would sell well, or at least not be left unsold...

After all, unsold products can't be returned to Mr. Xu, because this is a buy-out order. As long as there are no quality issues with the goods, it's a cash-on-delivery transaction. Whether you can sell them or not depends on your own abilities.