异类之不一样的成功启示录 第99期:路易斯拓展业务范围

 　　By 1913, there was something like sixteen thousand separate companies in the city's garment business, many just like the Borgenicht's shop on Sheriff Street.

　　到1913年为止，在纽约，共有1600家独立的服装公司。大多都类似于路易斯位于Sheriff街的店铺。

　　"The threshold¹ for getting involved in the business was very low.

　　“服装生意的起点很低。

　　It was basically a business built on the sewing machine, and sewing machines don't cost that much," says Daniel Soyer, a historian² who has written widely on the garment industry.

　　这种生意基本上只要有一架缝纫机就可以了，并且缝纫机的费用通常很低。”一名在写作上广泛涉及服装行业的历史学家丹尼尔.索耶说到，

　　"So you didn't need a lot of capital.

　　“因此你不需要很多资金。

　　And at the turn of the twentieth century, it was probably fifty dollars to buy a machine or two.

　　在进入20世纪时，大概花费50美元你就可以买一架或是二架缝纫机。

　　All you had to do to be a contractor³ was to have a couple sewing machines, some irons, and a couple of workers.

　　如果你想成为一个小合同商，你所要做的就是买一两架缝纫机，一些熨斗并雇用几个工人。

　　The profit margins⁴ were very low but you could make some money."

　　尽管利润非常低，但是你还是可以赚到一些钱。”

　　Listen to how Borgenicht describes his decision to expand beyond aprons⁵:

　　来听听路易斯做出拓展业务范围这个决定的原因：

　　"From my study of the market, I knew that only three men were making children's dresses in 1890.

　　在对市场进行一番研究之后，我得知在1890年只有三个人在做童装生意。

　　One was an East Side tailor near me, who made only to order, while the other two turned out an expensive product with which I had no desire at all to compete.

　　一个是与我近邻的东边裁缝。他只接收订单。而另外两个只做高档商品，这恰恰是我所不感兴趣的领域。

　　I wanted to make "popular price" stuff- wash dresses, silks, and woolens⁶.

　　我只想出售一些“价格受欢迎”的商品，比如水洗服装、丝绸和羊毛衫。

　　It was my goal to produce dresses that the great mass of the people could afford, dresses that would, from the business angle, sell equally well to both large and small, city and country stores.

　　我的目标是生产一些大多数人可以消费的商品，或者从商业的角度来说，可以出售一些无论是在大城市或是小城市乃至乡村都可以有很好的销路的商品。

　　With Regina's help, she always had excellent taste and judgement, I made up a line of samples.

　　瑞吉娜非常有品味，同时对服装市场的判断很准确，借助于瑞吉娜的帮助，我制作了一系列的样品，

　　Displaying them to all my "old" customers and friends, I hammered home every point- my dresses would save mothers endless work, the materials and sowing were as good and probably better than anything could be done at home, the price was right for quick disposal.

　　并向我所有的老客户和朋友展示了这些样品。我同他们强调了很多细节，比如说，我的服装可以省却母亲们很多永无休止的针线活，布料的质量和做工都非常优良并且有的甚至还比家里的做工还好，价位也十分具有吸引力。

1 threshold   

n.界限，门槛，入口，开端

参考例句：

• I'll never cross the threshold of your house again.我再也不进你的家门了。
• He stopped at the threshold of the bedroom.他在卧室门口停住了。

2 historian   

n.历史学家，编史家

参考例句：

• As a historian,he was most typical of the times in which he lived.作为历史学家，他是他所处时代最有代表性的人物。
• He calls himself a historian,but his books are a mere journalism.他自称为历史学家，但是他的书都是些肤浅的通俗作品。

3 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

4 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

5 aprons   

围裙( apron的名词复数 )； 停机坪，台口（舞台幕前的部份）

参考例句：

• Many people like to wear aprons while they are cooking. 许多人做饭时喜欢系一条围裙。
• The chambermaid in our corridor wears blue checked gingham aprons. 给我们扫走廊的清洁女工围蓝格围裙。

6 woolens   

毛织品，毛料织物； 毛织品，羊毛织物，毛料衣服( woolen的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This is a good fabric softener for woolens. 这是一种很好的羊毛织物柔软剂。
• They are rather keen on your new-type woolens. 他们对你的新型毛织品颇感兴趣。