Using cloth as a medium to play a cloth-like story

National style pillows, Korean fabric coasters, pastoral aprons, retro British style creative tissue boxes, this is a company office called "cloth-like stories", these small objects full of design makes the space warm and literary. "The office is arranged by ourselves. All the fabrics are also designed by ourselves. I will introduce it to you now." Zhan Wenfei, who is wearing a retro head of Ou Fan and wearing a red, white and blue vertical stripes. Go straight to the point.

Threesome: Original Soft Fabric Home Brand

In 2014, Zhan Wenfei, who graduated from Hunan University of Arts and Science, majoring in interior design, worked in a clothing company in Shenzhen after graduation. His income was not bad. Once I went home to meet Li Lei, a college friend, Li Lei, who studied fashion design, proposed to use their respective strengths to start a business together. After doing the work, Zhan Wenfei and Li Lei found the teacher of the internship unit, Huang Hongwei, the boss of an art clothing factory, and asked him. "They used to be internships with me. They are young people who have great ideas and can endure hardships. I am very optimistic about them. Now the fabric market is very big, it is well done, and it has great development prospects." Huang Hongwei decided to join, his support, give Their greater confidence.

So three people jointly funded, incorporated the Changde City, the first overall soft home custom fabric companies - cloth-like story. And in August 2015, the same name online shop "clothing story" was opened on Taobao.

When the company was first created, everything was moving forward in the process of exploration, but the concept of the three people is very consistent, that is, to make the best products. They put most of their energy into design development. In November 2015, the company finally received a “big order”, and a company in the city ordered more than 100 pillows, which made them happy and anxious. I am happy that the products I designed have started to go to market. The anxiety is that these products must be completed within 3 days. “At the beginning, we had three people and we didn’t ask the workers.” Li Lei recalled the difficult days in the early days of the venture. He was very emotional: “We have three all-nights, design, cutting, sewing. After the final product, the customers are very Satisfied, this gives us great confidence."

In order to save costs, the factory first rented a 200-square-meter residential house near the Golden Terrace. As the scale expanded, the factory could not meet the requirements. At the end of last year, they applied to the Municipal People's and Social Security Bureau for a business-guaranteed loan of 300,000 yuan, moved the factory to Jianxing Road Xinxing Street, rented a 3rd floor formal production workshop of nearly 2,000 square meters, and hired 7 tailors. In this way, from 3 people to 10 people; from 200 square meters to 2,000 square meters, from one day to a few days, from monthly sales of less than 10,000 to the current 60,000... The story is slowly on the right track.

Idea: We only sell beautiful

From company selection to fabric selection, from pattern design to accessory decoration, from development ideas to business ideas, Zhan Wenfei talks: “What is creativity? In the world of arrogance.” “Every pattern we design ourselves, fashion No boundaries." "We are original, so we are different."

In this team, Zhan Wenfei is mainly responsible for marketing. In order to better understand customer needs, he has always insisted on his own online shop customer service. "To tell the truth, what I care most about now is not the daily turnover, but the change in the number of fans. Online sales, the fans we own are actually the market we have." In a fan economy era, want to master the market, in good quality than most critical also includes high-quality service, Zhanwen Fei understands this truth.

"Sorry, I have to reply to the customer." During the interview, Zhan Wenfei almost did not leave his mobile phone because he had to pay attention to the customer's orders on Taobao. "From the beginning of the business, I haven't slept yet." He replied to the customer's message while laughing and explaining, even at noon, he held the phone in his chest and responded immediately with a vibration prompt.

“Every single will be taken seriously, and the things we design are liked and recognized. This is very satisfying.” Zhan Wenfei said that for this small original brand, their ideas are full of feelings – not only to provide customers with beautiful The products are selling beautiful and quality services.

Faith: the craftsman spirit creates "small but beautiful"

Compared with Zhan Wenfei's fashion and extroversion, Li Lei, who is responsible for product design in the team, is slightly embarrassed. In the early days of the venture, everything needs to be done forever. For more than six months, almost every day, from midnight to early morning, and less than 6 o'clock the next day, the hardships and fatigue of entrepreneurship are reflected in his thick eye bags and dark circles.

"The process of starting a business is the process of continuously solving problems. In this game, it is not that you solve the problem, that is, the problem solves you." This is Li Lei's motto. I remember that the online store opened soon, selling a set of floating window mats, Li Lei thought about putting the window cushions and sending them over, which saved the customers from the tedious assembly steps. I did not expect to receive a bad review, because there are creases, do not meet their own imagination, customers request returns. So, they returned all the window mats and re-doed a wholesale for the customer.

"Is this not deliberately looking for it?"

"Not counting, since the customer has a dissatisfaction, it means that we still need to improve." Li Lei is sincere and firm.

Li Lei told reporters that last year's "Double Eleven", the online shop also carefully prepared the activities, I thought I could take advantage of this gust of wind promotion, several people have no rest, ready to fight all night, can be held until 2 am Did not receive a single order. “At the time, I was frustrated. Later I figured it out. Only by making quality and word of mouth can we attract more customers.”

Now, they design products including tablecloths, table runners, pillows, chair cushions, bay window cushions, aprons and other series, there are more than 140 fabric products. On the line, the “cloth-like story” Taobao shop has gradually embarked on the right track, and the monthly turnover has doubled. The development of offline has also started simultaneously. With the increase of popularity, there are often tea houses, clubs and hotels in the city to customize the soft fabrics.

"From the selection of fabrics to design, boarding, tailoring and all subsequent processes, they are all done by themselves. They just want to use a craftsman's spirit to run a brand and impress everyone who recognizes us." Li Lei said. For the future, they introduced, do not pursue leap-forward development, just want to do this "small and beautiful" soft-packed brand in a down-to-earth manner, so that it has a tenacious vitality and lasting development.