Chapter 62

Apart from restaurants and taverns, the most common shops were ready-made clothing stores. These shops only sold ready-made clothes or took materials for processing, but did not sell fabrics or silk. If you wanted to buy fabric, you could go to a specialized silk shop. Originally, Hong Tao thought that in ancient times, people were self-sufficient, and except for the rich, most people made and sewed their own clothes, a practice that continued until the late Qing Dynasty. However, this was not the case in the Song Dynasty. Even in Zhenzhou, a small port city in a remote area, there were several ready-made clothing stores.

Hong Tao originally wanted to buy a set of proper Song Dynasty clothes. He had already asked Luo Youde that in the Song Dynasty, short-sleeved clothes were generally worn by laborers and clerks. Anyone who had read and written could wear scholar's clothes, regardless of whether they had an official title or not. Unlike the Tang Dynasty, where there were strict regulations on what officials, scholars, merchants, and farmers could wear, and violating these rules could result in flogging or imprisonment, the Song Dynasty was more relaxed. Except for official attire and the bright yellow fabric reserved for the royal family, you could wear whatever you wanted, with no restrictions on color or material. As long as you didn't mind others laughing at you, even a fisherman could buy a silk robe and wear it.

However, after asking about the prices of the clothes in this ready-made clothing store, Hong Tao gave up the idea of wearing scholar's clothes to show off. The prices were a bit high! A cross-collar robe made of cloth cost 370 coins. The problem was that this robe couldn't be worn alone; it needed to be paired with a sleeveless jacket, which was at least made of gauze and cost over 600 coins. You couldn't go out with your hair loose, so you also needed a headwrap called a futo to tie your hair into a fist-sized knot, which cost another 300 coins!

Just the outerwear wasn't enough; you couldn't go out with bare legs, so you needed a pair of trousers, which cost at least 500 coins, plus a belt for 200 coins and a pair of hemp shoes for about 30 coins. If you wanted to travel, you also needed a Song Dynasty backpack called a dabu, which cost another 300 coins. In total, a mid-to-low-end scholar's outfit would cost at least 3,000 coins. No wonder poor families couldn't afford to send their children to school; buying two sets of student uniforms would cost as much as two shi of rice, enough to feed a family for several months.

Hong Tao just wanted to show off for fun; he didn't like these long robes, as they were too cumbersome. If they were cheaper, he would have bought two sets to wear with Karl, but at this price, it was too expensive. No problem if the ready-made clothes didn't fit; he could buy the material and have it custom-made. The store charged one-third of the material cost for labor, which was very fair! So Hong Tao bought two bolts of soft linen made from cotton and hemp, one ivory-colored and one black, and asked the tailor to make two sets of summer casual wear for himself and Karl, based on the clothes he was wearing. No buttons were a problem; Hong Tao just asked the tailor to sew buttonholes, and he would provide the buttons himself. There were plenty of thick shells in the sea; he could grind a few, drill a couple of small holes, and they would be buttons. The remaining fabric would be used to make a dabu for each of them, which was perfect!

However, the clothes couldn't be picked up today; it would take at least two days. Hong Tao wasn't in a hurry, so he asked the ready-made clothing store to deliver the clothes to the innkeeper of Zhenhai Tower and paid in advance. With the clothes taken care of, it was time to think about shoes. To be honest, Hong Tao really didn't like walking barefoot all day. On the ship, it was unavoidable, but on land, having shoes on his feet was necessary.

Hong Tao definitely wouldn't buy those cheap hemp shoes again. They were cheap but didn't last long. For 30 coins, it would be better to buy a pair of straw shoes for 10 coins, which were cheaper and more practical. The shop assistant meant this but didn't have the heart to say it.

"Is this pigskin or cowhide?" Hong Tao, who could read the shop assistant's expression clearly from the corner of his eye, decided to test the feeling of being slapped in the face after showing off.

"The customer is right, it's cowhide..." The shop assistant was quite professional. Hong Tao and Karl, dressed in short-sleeved and short-pants laborer's clothes and barefoot, were already being treated well by being answered.

"Can you make custom shoes here? Bring me paper and a pen, I'll draw a design, and I want ten pairs made according to this design!" Hong Tao picked up a pair of cowhide shoes and examined them, but he wasn't satisfied. The soles were too thin and soft, not suitable for long walks, and the weather in Hainan Island was too hot and humid for leather shoes.

Hong Tao couldn't wear straw shoes; his toes would be quickly worn out, and if they got infected, it could be fatal in this era without antibiotics. Hemp shoes were too fragile and only suitable for city dwellers who didn't do much labor. Once they got wet and dried, they would break after a couple of uses. Leather shoes were a bit too warm, and at this time, they weren't low-cut but mid-cut, like short boots. In a place where the temperature was over 20 degrees and humid all year round, wearing short boots was too much of a show.

So Hong Tao decided to design his own shoes, modern leather sandals. They would be more comfortable than straw shoes, more durable than hemp shoes, and cooler than leather boots. The price was higher, but Hong Tao could afford it. However, he had to spend a lot of time convincing the shoe maker to use the right materials and techniques. These Song Dynasty people were very practical; they wouldn't make anything that wasn't durable, fearing it would damage their reputation, even if the customer was willing.

The soles were made of three layers of thick cowhide sewn together, and the uppers were made of fine strips of soft cowhide, hand-woven into straps that formed a cross on the top. The straps extended to the ankle, forming a cuff that could be tied with a leather cord, securing the shoes to the feet. They were comfortable for walking and running but looked a bit strange.

Not just the Song Dynasty people thought they were strange; Hong Tao himself found them odd. They were essentially the kind of sandals worn by women in modern times, just without heels. Given the limitations of materials and techniques, Hong Tao couldn't think of a better way to make shoes. If women could wear them, men could too. In the Song Dynasty, men even wore dresses, so this was a way of adapting to the local customs. Speaking of which, Hong Tao was quite dissatisfied. He thought the Song Dynasty was great in many ways, but the men were a bit effeminate. They wore dresses, loved to wear flowers and makeup, and even perfumed their clothes and hung sachets, making them smell more like women.

Hong Tao had already made up his mind to not only save the Song Dynasty but also to change the effeminate and vain habits of Song Dynasty men. Otherwise, if the Song Dynasty continued to develop this way, the national flag might as well be changed to a rainbow flag.

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