Chapter 170 Red Gang
School-run factories and workshops.
With the Spring Festival approaching, the school-run factory can finally take a break after working three shifts for several months.
Yesterday, the last batch of fake collars before the holiday were sent out. In the following days, the factory temporarily resumed day shift production, and all mid-shift and night shifts were suspended to allow employees to relax and have a good New Year until the three-shift system is resumed after the Spring Festival.
Today's day shift has ended, and most of the employees in the workshop have gone home. The ones who stayed behind are Li Daqi and Song Yuanchao who had just arrived, as well as Qin Zhengguo, Gu Jie, Ying Caixia, and the factory's best tailor Master Wang and Master Liu, who are good at sewing.
Master Wang and Master Liu are both from Mingzhou. The cutting and sewing skills of Mingzhou people are well-known in Shanghai. As early as the late Qing Dynasty, the famous "Hongbang tailors" were the choice of many people for making clothes.
The so-called Red Gang tailors are not a gang, but a name for a group of tailors who make clothes for foreigners. The origin of this name is quite ancient , and it has to start from the middle and late Ming Dynasty. During the Ming Dynasty, the first foreigners who dealt with China were the Dutch, Portuguese, etc. Since many of the Dutch and Portuguese had red hair, they were also called "red hair".
The term "red-haired" has been used since the Ming Dynasty and has been used to refer to foreigners. This is similar to how the Chinese referred to foreigners as "laowai" more than a decade later. In the late Qing Dynasty, as the country was forced to open its doors and coastal cities became trading ports, these foreigners began to live, work and do business in China. Naturally, they needed to make clothes, but the conditions at the time made it impossible to bring tailors from Europe, so the only option was to ask Chinese tailors to help make clothes.
As a result, the tailors who specialized in making clothes for these foreigners (red-haired people) were called Red Gang tailors. Among the Red Gang tailors, the Mingzhou tailors had the best skills and the largest number of people. The reason was very simple. Mingzhou was one of the earliest trading ports. In addition, Mingzhou was close to Shanghai, and there were many Mingzhou people who made a living in Shanghai. Over time, Mingzhou tailors became the most famous group of tailors in China.
Master Wang has excellent cutting skills, and Master Liu's sewing techniques are unique in the factory. Both of them are veterans in the factory and have worked in the factory for nearly 20 years. However, due to their age, they are no longer on the front line. Their main job on weekdays is to assist Li Daqi in managing cutting and sewing work. You should know that most of the employees in these two positions in the factory are either their apprentices or their children and grandchildren.
Song Yuanchao had specially asked them to stay here today. Both Master Wang and Master Liu were especially grateful to Song Yuanchao, because if it weren't for Song Yuanchao, this factory would have collapsed long ago and would not have been as prosperous as it is today.
Li Daqi has been appointed as deputy factory director. With the appointment, Director Ma took the initiative to gradually let him take charge of the factory. Now Li Daqi has become the actual manager of the factory. This is also the intention of Director Ma to gradually hand over the factory to Li Daqi.
On a wide table, large and small cut fabrics and sample papers were spread out. Master Wang pointed and said, "I re-edited these places. It should be fine this time. Lao Liu, how about you sew it first and then take a look?"
"Okay!" Master Liu picked up the cloth, looked at it for a few seconds and nodded. Then he asked everyone to take the things to the sewing station, found a sewing machine and started working.
Everyone waited patiently, and about an hour later, a pair of freshly sewn bell-bottom pants came out.
Master Liu took the pants, looked at them, walked aside and ironed them, and then handed them to Song Yuanchao. Song Yuanchao took a look at them and handed them directly to Ying Caixia.
"Go and try it."
Ying Caixia has almost become a model for Song Yuanchao and the others these days. She has no idea how many times she has tried on the pants. She took the pants and went to the back without saying a word. Li Daqi had cordoned off an area with curtains near the printing workshop where no one was temporarily there. This served as Ying Caixia's temporary fitting room.
After a moment, Ying Caixia came out wearing bell-bottom pants. Everyone's eyes were on her lower body. Of course, they were not looking at her figure but the pants she was wearing. As Ying Caixia walked, stopped, and turned around in a series of movements, everyone finally smiled.
We have to say that Master Wang and Master Liu have excellent craftsmanship. With just a few modifications, they were able to make trousers that were exactly the same as the bell-bottom trousers that Qin Zhengguo brought back. The workmanship and cutting details were even better than those of Qin Zhengguo's trousers.
"Masters, you have really great skills!" Qin Zhengguo gave a thumbs up to Master Wang and Master Liu with great admiration.
On the contrary, the two masters disagreed. They smiled and said that this kind of pants was not difficult to make. They had a low waist and a short crotch, and the trouser legs were enlarged below the knees. In the eyes of old tailors like them, they were just a variation of orthodox slim-fit trousers. For them, who have been in this business for most of their lives, it was a piece of cake.
However, looking at Ying Caixia walking back and forth in bell-bottom pants, Master Wang couldn't help but frowned: "How can you wear these pants with such big legs?"
"Yes! Why not?" Qin Zhengguo said with a smile: "Look, do these pants look stylish?"
"It's spirited, but this is too... Besides, women's trouser zippers have always been opened on the right. Now they are opened in the front like men's. Isn't it a bit too much?" Master Wang asked kindly.
"But, Master Wang, you don't know that this is how people dress abroad now. Foreigners are different from us. Men and women wear the same clothes. It's normal."
"Old Wang, you are just a tailor. You must have remembered the rules of our tailoring business. Only if the owner thinks it is good, it is really good. Besides, I think these pants are very good. Of course, my craftsmanship also plays a very crucial part." Master Liu on the side was not as conservative as Master Wang. On the contrary, he was very proud to see Ying Caixia wearing the bell-bottom pants he had just made, and was very satisfied with his craftsmanship.
"Okay, maybe I'm old and my ideas are outdated. Anyway, as long as you young people think it's good, it's fine." Master Wang smiled and nodded after hearing this.
Song Yuanchao calculated that the cost of a pair of bell-bottom pants would be higher depending on the fabric. Good fabrics such as wool and fine spinning would probably cost more. Corduroy and denim could be used for slightly worse fabrics, and there would be other fabrics as well.
Song Yuanchao basically chooses good materials, which is very conscientious. If he uses worse materials, the cost can certainly be further reduced, but Song Yuanchao does not want to do that. People who buy things are not blind to whether they are good or not. What's more, the popularity of bell-bottom pants is about to begin. If Song Yuanchao wants to be the first to drink the soup and drink it comfortably, there is no need to save money too much in this regard.
In addition to bell-bottom pants, Song Yuanchao also asked two craftsmen to make some jeans and denim jackets. The samples were all brought over from Guangzhou by Qin Zhengguo, and they were authentic Hong Kong products.
The craftsmanship of the two masters is impeccable, and the things they made are indeed good. Moreover, Song Yuanchao, who has the vision of future generations, helped to guide and modify a few details, and the products are even better than the samples.
It was getting late, and it was already past eight o'clock in the evening. The workshop would have to start work tomorrow. Song Yuanchao looked at the time and decided to stop here for today. He asked everyone to pack up their things, especially the cutting samples, because making these clothes in the future would rely on these samples, otherwise the efforts of these days would be wasted.
Song Yuanchao planned to have a quick meal with the two masters before leaving, but the two masters refused, saying that they had already prepared the meal at home and it was getting late so they had to go home early. Song Yuanchao had no choice but to send them off first. After they left, Song Yuanchao thought about it and took Qin Zhengguo and the others to the small restaurant where he met Zhang Yong last time.
It was already half past eight when they arrived at the restaurant, and the business was almost over. But since Song Yuanchao and his friends had come, the boss naturally welcomed them. Moreover, the boss had met Song Yuanchao last time and knew that he was Zhang Yong's friend. He was very happy that he brought his friends to dinner today to show his support for him.
After greeting the boss, Song Yuanchao didn't even look at the menu. He smiled and said that there were only a few of them and he would just let the boss decide what dishes he could cook.
"This restaurant is good, better than the state-owned restaurants. It would be hard to find it without your guidance. Yuan Chao, do you know the owner of this restaurant?"
"I've met him once. The boss is Zhang Yong's childhood friend, and Zhang Yong also has a stake in this restaurant." Song Yuanchao sat down at the innermost table with everyone else.
"No wonder, Zhang Yong is such a smart guy, he even runs a restaurant." Qin Zhengguo had dealings with Zhang Yong before. It was he who received Zhang Yong when he went to Yangcheng last year. The two were very familiar with each other and he laughed immediately.
After sitting down, smoking a cigarette and chatting for a while, the food and drinks came up one after another. Song Yuanchao had been here before but had never eaten the food here. He picked up the chopsticks and asked everyone to try it. He first picked up a piece of braised beef and took a bite and praised it. The beef was really well cooked, fragrant, glutinous and tasty. No wonder Zhang Yong was so confident before.
They ate and talked, and everyone present was their own family. There were no other customers in the restaurant at that time. After the boss served the dishes, he knew they were talking about something and walked away.
"Daqi, you should contact manufacturers more often these days to look for accessories, such as buttons, zippers, etc. If you can't find suitable ones, ask if you can specify their production, and then calculate the cost carefully." After taking a sip of wine, Song Yuanchao said to Li Daqi.
Li Daqi nodded and said, clothes and pants are all made, and the fabrics are no problem, especially denim, which can be fully guaranteed for the factory. Don't forget what the school-run factory used to do? It originally made labor protection products, and labor cloth is the most common material in labor protection products, and labor cloth is a kind of denim.
Of course, there are still some differences between the work cloth produced by several textile factories in Shanghai and good denim. The difference lies in the count and textile technology. However, this difference is not a big problem at present. You can choose work cloth with softer fabric and thinner weight to use.
The fabric and production are fine, so the only thing left is the accessories.
Compared to today's clothing, many of them use buttons, including pants. Whether it is bell-bottom pants, jeans, or denim jackets, zippers are the most commonly used one besides buttons. Moreover, both buttons and zippers mostly require metal. But nowadays, metal buttons and zippers are rare on the market. The latter are often used in places such as briefcases, and you can still find them if you look for them. But the former are different. Plastic buttons are usually used the most at present. It is not that this kind of button cannot be used, but it looks awkward when used.
