Read on for our latest installment in our ongoing attempt to open up our business to the world, transparent manufacturing! In this week's Factory Gazette, we learn about how to make a deal in China without baijiu (gasoline...er, rice wine), DressMonkey's first wedding, and the art of taking 3rd world trains.

Its been a chaotic week for me. It started when my bike, aka the Dressmonkey-mobile was stolen from just outside my 16th floor apartment, despite the presence of 4 doormen. I went to Qingdao soon thereafter with the good German, a much needed bit of relief from Shanghai's unrelenting heat and onslaught of stupid doormen.

Upon returning from Qingdao, I ventured out to the factory and did a final quality check on the wedding suits for our new friend Patrick. They have all arrived in Vermont, and we're awaiting some cool pictures from Patrick after he gets married, (I'm sure thats all he's thinking about now).

Those orders were fun to make, but I went through hell to get them back to Shanghai. Usually we would have them sent to us via courier to Shanghai, but we were in a rush and I opted to take them back on the K-train to Shanghai. The K stands for "kuai", Chinese for fast, but I think it is more accurately defined as "kountryside express" (pardon the lack of kreativity). Usually this train is packed to the gills with migrant workers looking to become thousandaires in the Chinese city of dreams, Shanghai. This day it was packed to the gills, and then a few hundred tickets were issued seemingly just to add on to the "China-day factor" that my stolen bicycle had already established. I stood the whole ride back (over an hour) while deflecting stares, bleeding after slicing my leg up with an edge of the strap used to carry the boxes of suits, and trying to avoid almost certain infection given the putrid conditions I found myself in on this the train from hell, or Wu Han. A side note, now I can officially say I've bled for DressMonkey, brings a whole new and real meaning to giving blood sweat and tears for something, next up: elbow grease. All of the suits were then sent and are now being enjoyed by Patrick who proclaimed last night in an email to me, "This worked out fantastically," thanks Patrick.

The next day, I recovered and ventured out to our factory again to discuss terms with our factory boss. We wanted to cut down our production times, and successfully got an agreement with hardly any pulling teeth. For once, I didn't have to get blind drunk and forget where I was to make a deal in China, this was going to be a good day. And it was, they finished the rest of the orders we needed done, with a few alterations required but they were all completed on time.

Even though I lost bodily fluids and exposed myself to almost certain hepatitis, I didn't have to damage my liver any further, and got a good deal out of the factory for future production lead times. It was a give and take week for my body, but a great week for DressMonkey.