Flotsam and Jetsam by Jimmy Boom Semtex

Flotsam and Jetsam

by Jimmy Boom Semtex

Jelma's year had flown by. Some of the time was spent in China, working with Chen. She was commissioned to design and produce three dresses for him; the first two had been made in Japan while working at Kazuki. Her two colleagues and friends, Kaito and Chiyo, helped out. Both had worked at Jelma's former place of employment, Washi, run by Michu. Michu has a reputation for being a touchy boss and was known to hold grudges. Jelma faced her off in a potential war that was narrowly averted when she set up her own fashion house, Kazuki. Would a one year business legal clause have made any different? That was doubtful. The maverick designer would have found other ways to make dresses and get round that easily. Jelma always kept alert but wasn't overly paranoid.

Also adding to her team was Sera, her newest colleague and friend. Each of Kazuki's staff had an important role in the production of Chen's commissioned dresses. The third dress would be different; Jelma would temporarily reside in China where she would design and produce her final piece for him, working at his main clothing factory. Jelma's colleagues would help out, advise and troubleshoot when needed by video link, email and phone. They were never out of the loop and part of her team.

The ladies were working on a marketing plan for the first two dresses that Kazuki had produced for Chen. They were to be sold in top Chinese stores. Kazuki could only produce a limited number of dresses each year due to the small number of staff.

After the boss Jelma, there was Sera, Kaito and Chiyo. Each dress was handmade and there were only so many hours in the day. Jelma had a plan to get round this:

"I have a plan. It goes like this: Chen has six fashion houses making things as diverse as children's footwear to teenage sportswear. One of his fashion houses, called Loquat, makes women's clothing. I propose that this factory will make two thousand each of our first two dresses. That's four thousand individual dresses. It's well within Loquat's production capability. Chen informed me they can make ten thousand a week at peak demand. This is to keep up with demand and free us up here to do new projects. What do you think?"

Silence descended in Kazuki's meeting room while the four girls thought it over. Jelma walked over and made some sweet tea. Chen sent it over from China. She gave each of her colleagues a small cup of the dark green liquid.

"Well... it sounds good at first blush. Four thousand is a large number to produce. We can't do that many here. We'd have to hire new trained staff who can hand make dresses. No time to train them. They'd have to hit the ground running, like I did here. So Chen's factory being able to make them is a good thing," Sera commented. She was the newest member of the team but learnt fast, had previous design experience and was equally skilled designing or cutting garments by hand.

"Yes, our dresses are all special, unique and handmade. I trust it that Loquat can make the four thousand dresses all by hand? We need to be clear on that. If not, I'm against the venture," Chiyo replied. Her expression was grim. We are old skool purists in this awfully modern world. Only we do handmade dresses! Machines are a sell out.

"Ok, some good points there. Kaito, what do you think?" Jelma nodded, looking around the room. Her last friend and colleague hadn't spoke yet.

"My views..." Kaito whispered. She sat back in her leather easy chair and sipped the green tea. "Ok. I think we need to know about his production techniques before we say yes or no on this. But we do need the four grand making."