Chapter 233: Paradox Collection
<🎧 Song Recommendation: Demons and Monsters by 347aiden>
...
Von stood at the front of the room with the black marker in his hand. Before he started writing on the board, he paused and looked back at his new team.
"Before we start to decide on the collection, do you have anything to say regarding the new lineup?"
They all looked at each other hearing Von’s question. It was Marcus who spoke out first.
The sourcing manager was completely surprised when Von made his announcement about the one-week deadline.
They had all been predicting that Von would want to make something of really high quality, which normally took months of planning.
Hearing that he wanted to rush his first collection was something else entirely.
"Sir, sorry to say... But isn’t one week too short of a time, even for a capsule collection? We don’t even know what sort of designs you like yet."
"Yes, Von," Clara chimed in. "We knew you’d be in a hurry, but it can really help us if you tell us why."
Those were the only two questions he got. They were reasonable and exactly what he expected, so Von simply nodded his head.
"As for the designs, Marcus, I’ve done them already. I just stopped by to show them to Clara so you guys can get straight to manufacturing."
Gasps flew across the room hearing Von. No one even knew he was capable of designing clothes. But while they were impressed, it also made them a little worried.
What if the designs weren’t practical? Almost anyone could describe an idea for an impossible piece of clothing.
And when that happened, it usually took the team a very long time to perfect the idea and bring it closer to what the creator originally envisioned.
They all assumed that was what Von planned to do, but none of them raised their doubts this time. They simply decided to wait and see what he had to show them.
"As for your question, Clara," Von continued, shifting his attention to the young designer.
"This capsule collection is going to define my music tour. The tour should kick off next week, and I’ll make V-OMEN the proud sponsor of the whole thing."
Clara was more awed that Von was going on a tour than anything else. She internally promised herself to attend one of the concerts no matter what it cost.
"Congrats on your tour, Von! It will be fire for sure," Clara said excitedly.
"Thanks."
Now that he had satisfied the curiosity of his team, he turned to the board and wiped it clean to continue. "Now, for the designs."
Everyone paid close attention to what Von was doing. Clara had already grabbed her tablet to draft whatever he was saying so she could lend him a hand.
"For a proper capsule collection, we’ll need a shirt, a hoodie, a jacket, pants, and footwear. Am I right?" Von asked.
"Yes, sir."
"Spot on!"
Seeing they were following along, he continued to explain his vision.
"The Paradox lineup is built to be unique. It’s a way of saying goodbye to the boring old ways of the Vanguard brand and welcoming a breath of fresh air. Hence, every design of mine applies fashion in a way you don’t see every day."
Von’s words were a very bold claim, but everyone waited patiently for him to see what he had to show.
"First, for the shirts," Von started. "We’ll go for oversized graphic tees. They will be called the Chaos Graphic Tee. Most of my tour merch sales will come from here. Because of that, we will have a special merch edition that has my tour dates printed on the back. Then, the front design will include slogans, slangs, or rebellious remarks. Just something for Gen Z to really embrace."
Clara had already taken down all that Von said. Oversized tees weren’t super prominent in standard retail yet, but it wasn’t a difficult job to design either. The chaotic front design was the real wow factor for her.
Seeing that Clara got that down, Von went to the next design on his list.
"For the hoodie, this one will be very special," Von said with gleaming eyes.
"You know how everyone had to wear face masks during the pandemic? Many young people still do that even now, just for the aesthetics."
Clara nodded slowly, listening closely.
"So, let’s give them what they want," Von explained. "We are making a balaclava hoodie. The collar won’t just stop at the neck. It will extend upward into a built-in mask. When you pull the hood up, it covers the bottom half of your face. We’ll call it the Void Balaclava Hoodie."
"Wait, so no drawstrings?" Clara asked, her eyes lighting up as she quickly sketched on her screen. "Just a seamless mask?"
"Exactly!"
"Wow, this is going to be amazing, Von," Clara said while looking at her sketch.
"And the best part is, it isn’t even difficult to make! It just requires a little extra fabric at the neckline."
Marcus didn’t know much about fashion design, but he was still highly impressed by Von’s creativity, so he paid close attention.
"Another thing you’ve probably not heard of is the Exo-Foam Boot," Von said, drawing a rough laceless shoe on the board. "It will be made entirely from a single injection mold of EVA foam. So no fabric involved."
Von turned to Marcus to ask what he thought of it.
Marcus scratched the back of his neck.
"Well... I’ve never seen something like this before. The idea of using an injection mold for a whole shoe is definitely new. But Von, the production cost for foam will sit right at ten dollars. Are you sure people won’t find it too cheap for a high-end collection?"
Von was shocked hearing it would only cost ten dollars. Back in his former life, when such boots were released, they had cost well over a hundred dollars at retail. The profit margins were ridiculously high.
"In that case, we’ll sell it at just ninety dollars," Von stated. "And we will only release a limited amount so it retains its value. Will that do?"
Marcus didn’t know what to say. An eight-hundred percent profit margin was insane.
"If people actually like it... then definitely."
"Don’t worry, they will," Von assured him before he continued.
"We’ll be going the exact same route with the jacket and pants. We are focusing on functionality and ease."
"For the pants, we’ll have the Adjustable Parachute Cargos. They will be large baggy pants, but with hidden bungee toggles at the ankles so the fans can adjust the fit."
"And for the jacket, we will release the Cipher Tech-Shell. It will be a modular, waterproof jacket where the sleeves and the hood can be fully unzipped and removed."
"And that’s all five," Von smiled.
Clara immediately started asking him rapid-fire questions about pocket placements, zipper materials, and seam styles.
Von answered every single one of them calmly, which perfectly helped her visualize the final products.
At the end of the quick Q&A session, she looked down at her tablet to see her draft drawings.
"I want to refine these drawings properly so you can make your final adjustments," Clara said, looking up at Von. "Can you spare me a little bit of time?"
"Go ahead," Von gave her the green light.
While Clara put her headphones on and drew, Von walked over to Marcus’s desk. The two of them spent the time discussing production schedules, shipping times, and factory assignments.
Sometimes, Clara will call for his attention and he’ll lend her a hand to make things faster.
About two hours later, Clara was finally done. She had finalized the five designs and displayed each of them clearly on the large projector screen.
Von looked up at the digital models with great satisfaction. They looked exactly like the era-defining clothes from his past life.
Everyone was deeply impressed with how perfect she had gotten it. Even Clara was amazed by herself. She usually wasn’t this fast or this accurate all the time.
’Her skill really does work,’ Von mused to himself, being the only one with the real answers. His designs were highly unique, allowing her special creative ability to display results far better than her normal limits.
After every single design was reviewed and approved by Von, they decided to wrap up for the day.
Just like that, a great capsule collection was completely designed and ready to be manufactured.
"Well, look at that," Marcus said in disbelief. "Maybe we really will have this released in a week."