I Became a Clothing Designer in Another World - Chapter 40

Finding a building ended easier than expected.

Even in the expensive capital city of Hwangdo, there are always properties being urgently sold off, and since I was looking for a building with some flaws, they turned up quickly.

So I sent letters to some people who had listed properties on the bulletin board, and the very next evening, letters containing their long, drawn-out stories came flying in.

Since the stories of people urgently selling their buildings were all pretty much the same, I skimmed over the emotional appeals and started looking for the person who had written down the conditions most honestly.

"Ah, greetings, I am Benion Harvey, Junior Baron."

"Pleased to meet you, I am William Henry Howard, Honorary Knight."

The place I chose was a four-story building on the outermost edge of Hwangdo, on the border between residential and commercial areas.

They were selling it for 70% of the average market price, so I went with a firm resolve, but it wasn't as bad as I thought.

"As I mentioned in the letter, apart from the slightly unfavorable location, there are no other major flaws."

There was a sewer passing nearby, and the location was not great because it was in a corner, but since it was going to be used more like a factory than a store, it wasn't a problem.

It was well-maintained, the size was fine, and there weren't any particular flaws with the building itself...

"It's not bad."

It looked good to me.

Of course, since I don't know much about buildings, I glanced at Francis, who had come with me.

"What do you think?"

"Hmm..."

Francis, who had been examining the place here and there with sharp eyes, narrowed his eyes at my question and pondered for a moment before cautiously answering.

"I think there won't be any problems if we find a good caretaker."

"Hmm~ is that so?"

Since we had to have a caretaker anyway, it was practically a positive answer close to approval.

I smiled and looked at Baron Benion.

"It looks good, so let's sign the contract right away, would that be alright?"

"Ah, yes, it's fine."

I immediately took out two sheets of paper from my pocket.

"Please check it over, and if there are no problems, we will fill in the blanks and put our seals on it right away."

"Ah, yes..."

Baron Benion, who had received the paper, stared at it as if he would bore a hole through it, reading the words as if savoring them.

After his eyes moved up and down about twice, Baron Benion lowered the paper slightly and cautiously opened his mouth.

"Um... Sir William."

"Yes, please speak."

"There is nothing wrong with the contract, but..."

"Yes."

"I know it's strange to say this when I'm about to sell the building, but..."

"Yes, and?"

"We have nowhere to live if we leave here..."

"Hmph~"

I let out a small groan and scratched my head.

"Well... then, stay on the top floor for the time being and take care of the building."

"Thank you!"

I added a few more lines to the contract and resolved it humanely.

_

I've put in a job advertisement and found a building, so the last thing left is to secure a supplier for the materials.

But I've put this off for a bit in the future.

I can't help it because I can't proceed with the contract without knowing how much material I need.

And even if I buy it right now, I'll have to keep it for a few months, and the warehouse prices in Hwangdo are no joke.

Therefore, until I'm somewhat prepared, I need to focus on other things besides the merchant guild.

Since I haven't even set a specific goal yet, I needed to use my remaining time to flesh it out.

First of all, the customers I'm targeting are primarily nobles.

There may be far more commoners, but the market value of nobles, who readily buy clothes whenever trends change, is higher than that of people who buy clothes once a year, if that.

What about the unit price?

A high-end corset costs tens of gold, but a chemise that commoners wear roughly costs tens of coppers, which is about a 1,000-fold difference.

And nobles wear both corsets and chemises.

One snap of a noble's fingers surpasses the purchasing power of 1,000 commoners, so it's right to consider nobles first.

And once I win over the nobles, it's as easy as breathing to promote new clothes to the commoners afterward, so it was more important than anything to target the nobles.

Nobles and wealthy people are objects of admiration, and everyone has a subtle desire to be like them.

Especially those who live near the wealthy, like servants.

Servants also have families, so rumors about the underwear that nobles wear will naturally spread, and what if I release a cheaper version of similar underwear in a few years?

That's it.

So how do I win over the nobles?

I honestly don't have an answer to this, so I was thinking of just making a lot of different things.

If I put out a variety of things like that, I'm bound to get lucky with one.

What if it's not popular?

Most nobles have custom-made clothes, so there's no such thing as dead stock, so if I don't have anything to put out other than samples, all that will happen is that flies will buzz around.

I can neatly fold it up and make something new.

Of course, the first one has to be a success if I want to do something like this.

Who's going to wait for the clothes of a guy who's failed from the start?

Of course, no one would be interested in the first work of an unknown guy, but I'm not just some nobody right now.

Even though I'm unknown in the design industry, I have a lot of recognition due to various things that have happened recently, so if I make good use of this and blow up one thing properly, I can earn several lives' worth of coins.

And I was just in time to prepare to release a suitable guy as my first hitter into the world.

A bra.

Even though the sample size is small, it has received favorable reviews from some women, and it's a garment that can properly show the direction of new underwear.

"I need to make a catalog."

I muttered to myself as I picked up a pencil.

Bras are clothes with many variations depending on the purpose or use.

It's a similar feeling to the word shorts.

Just like how anything from shorts that come down to the knees to hot pants that barely cover the buttocks are all lumped together as shorts, bras have more variations than you might think because they're roughly lumped together as bras if an ∞-shaped cup covers the chest.

The most typical classification method is to divide them into full cup, half cup, and quarter cup, depending on the size of the cup that covers the breast.

Full cup bras cover a large area to the point where they can be mistaken for tank tops if they have a simple design, half cups cover what needs to be covered but you slowly start to feel embarrassed, and quarter cups don't really cover the breasts, but rather support them, so there's not much to cover.

In addition, there are various variations based on various criteria such as the shape of the cup, the presence and shape of shoulder straps, the presence and shape of bands, and the degree of body shaping.

If it were ready-made products, I would have made a few standard designs and mass-produced them, but if I'm thinking of custom-making them for nobles, I have to be prepared to meet the client's detailed requirements.

That's how I can push out corsets.

It's not for nothing that corsets are expensive.

They're expensive because they can be customized to the customer's needs from start to finish.

"Hmm..."

In this situation, in order to push out corsets with bras, I must first attack the disadvantages of corsets.

Corsets have the overwhelming advantage of body shaping, which bras can't keep up with no matter how hard they try.

How well do they shape the body that the ribs are bent and the internal organs are twisted?

But because of that, the discomfort was as great as bras could not keep up with.

So, for now, I had to focus on comfort and design rather than body shaping, and start by nibbling away at the pie that corsets occupy.

If I make it too complicated from the beginning, it can become a barrier to entry, so I'll include only the shape and size of the cup and the shoulder straps as selectable items.

The materials are limited to three types: cotton, linen, and silk.

Decorations are limited to putting embroidery, lace, and ribbons in the desired location.

"Hmm... this should be enough."

I put down the pencil and rummaged through the drawer, taking out a brush and paints.

_

"What do you think?"

"......"

After sketching the upper body of a woman wearing a half cup bra, I showed it to Emily before painting it with watercolors.

Emily, who had her mouth tightly shut and her brow furrowed, carefully watched the painting, then slightly reddened her earlobes, glanced at me, and answered in a worried voice.

"Um... Master, why are you suddenly showing me a lewd painting?"

"What?"

I frowned and looked at the painting.

How is this a lewd painting? It may have a lot of skin color, but it covers everything that needs to be covered, doesn't it?

"It covers everything that needs to be covered, doesn't it?"

"The belly and cleavage are too explicit, aren't they?"

"With just that...?"

"... Sometimes I get confused as to whether Master's sexual concepts are promiscuous or not."

"Haa..."

I sighed deeply with a gloomy expression.

"It was a painting I was going to put in the underwear store catalog..."

"Then don't you usually only draw the clothes? It's rare to draw a woman's upper body, isn't it?"

"It's a bit confusing if there are only clothes, and nude paintings often appear in famous paintings, so why can't I do this?"

"We might think nothing of it, but the church hates it so much, so it's a problem."

"That's right..."

Damn church.

They're like old fogeys who censor everything, even though it's not like I'm exposing the genitals...

"This is a problem..."

Even if I put it on a mannequin, they'll say it's lewd if there's only underwear, and if I only draw the underwear, I can't get the feeling of how it looks when it's worn...

"If it's not the church, wouldn't it be okay to show it to other people?"

"Hmm... it wouldn't be a problem, but it would be a little awkward, wouldn't it?"

The church isn't going to come to an underwear store.

It's okay to hire a female employee if it's awkward to show it.

"Then there's no problem, I'm going to keep going like this."

"Is that right...?"

I nodded.

It's not the law that separates the illegal from the legal.

It's legal if you don't get caught doing the crime itself.

"It's legal if you don't get caught."

"......"

Emily's expression twisted for a brief moment before quickly smoothing out.

And with a reluctant expression, she took a step back and looked out the window before opening her mouth.

"I'm going to pretend I don't know anything, if something happens, Master did it all by yourself."

"That's cold..."

"It's wise."

"Haha."

I chuckled and put down the paper.