kotmj

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, which plays a much bigger role in Norway's economy than similar funds elsewhere, reported negative returns across all asset classes in the past year. https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/worlds-biggest-sovereign-wealth-fund-posted-negative-return-3q2022 The EPF will likely again declare ~6% returns. Khazanah will again cause the newspapers to report as if it made money, when in fact it never did.

Alternate cutter: Have you tried the Ukrainian lady's drafting system? Me: Yes. Didn't work. Alternate cutter: I'll try it when we are less swamped. Me: We are never less swamped. It's always like this.

There is a ton of technique details in tailoring. If you ignore one small detail, the whole sleeve cacat. My new employee Syaqira is basically fucking up everything she touches.

Each column of paper is one sewing tailor. Each sheet of paper is at least one garment---some sheets represent 2 or 3 garments. These are only the work packages which have been released to the sewing tailors. There are so many more which have not been released.

In truth, I've been trying to hire a Malay vocational grad girl for most of this year. But they never actually show up. This is because most of them are in the provinces. To work in PJ, they would have to rent a room. This means 2 month's deposit and utilities deposit and so forth. They haven't the cash for the deposits and the cost of moving. They expect me to provide something they call "company hostel". Which I am desperate enough to want to do, except... ...they prefer to work in a place that has other Malay girls like themselves. After interviewing so many, finally one actually showed up on the 1st of September at 10am. She actually rented a room nearby, actually paid the deposits, and actually walked the 15 minutes to work. She actually worked the 8 hours. And unlike a Malay boy I hired last year who lasted less than a day, she has lasted a week.

A Malay girl started work here on Monday. She's significant in that she's from a vocational school. There, she specialised in garment making. This is a shift for JT. I normally hire fashion design grads from colleges. Not vocational schools. But I've found that fashion design people are NOT my people. They are not serious people. They make life decisions which dumbfound me. They are just...such strange people. An acquaintance who runs a 2nd generation garment making workshop in the remote provinces tells me it's much better to hire from vocational schools. So I tried. I got her to sew a trouser baste. It turns out that she is as ignorant at sewing as any college (Esmod/Raffles/Limkokwing) fashion design grad. Meaning, nearly clueless.

Strangely, no outcry from the middle class. Most of them are quite dumb anyway. Their epf went down 20%-30% (in real terms) in one year and they don't realise it.

I don't think most customers appreciate how my WhatsApp resembles a WW2 frontline trench. Even as I am in the middle of replying to an appointment request from 4 days ago, new messages are coming in.

Now, everybody should see that there is no free money. The government was giving people cash during the pandemic. Now, the rinngit has lost value and whatever was given has now been taken back via inflation. It affects those with large ringgit savings the most. That is, the middle class with their stupid EPFs, lol.

There has been unbelievable labour cost inflation in KL. Like nothing I've seen. Not so much for everyday services like grab/lalamove, but certainly for tailoring. My fully canvassed coatmaker now wants 40% more per jacket. Other independent coatmakers or tailoring workshops did not raise their prices as much, but are refusing orders due to huge backlogs. One workshop I've been intermittently using for as long as they've been founded simply told me it's pointless to give them jackets too make. Too much demand, they say. It's not we don't want to serve you, the supervisor told me. We've been making half canvassed jackets for you for a long time. It's just...we have too many orders and too few people. One other workshop simply jacked their prices up 30%. Trousers and shirts are all experiencing similar situations. The people I use to sew these are still making for me and prioritising my orders out of a sense of loyalty (I've been using them for a long time.) But jackets are most acutely affected. It's not just that prices have gone up dramatically. It's that even at those prices, they are not accepting my work. I'm now exploring small town workshops. Maybe the situation is less acute in the deep provinces.

I'm also supposed to make six or seven invoices. The volume of work is interminable.

Next month, a 25yo cutter is joining JT. And a 20yo seamstress. Melissa is leaving to do her Master of Arts at Sunway.

I have just been sitting here at 11pm responding to all the messages I've received. After like 10 messages, I realised there are many more. It's unbelievable.

To be precise, I said "to hit home runs technically and aesthetically with each garment". (You should be precise when it's your creed.)

Looks like he won't have to prostitute himself at that tailor shop in the klcc area with the RM100k/month revenue ambitions. I made him an offer. He is most likely to take it. I told him JT has no sales targets. 8 hours per day (vs 9) and 5 days per week (vs 6). We don't really do overtime. Leave on the dot. There is only one goal at JT. To hit home runs with each garment.