Beginning in October 1840, large quantities of cotton from West Africa poured into the Austrian domestic market. An abundant supply of raw materials enabled Franz's plant to be fully operational for the production of finished products.

Subsequently, the garments were transported by rail, not only throughout the Reich, but also into the markets of Germany and the Apennines through the Customs Union.

The vast majority of these garments are targeted at workers and the lower middle class, who happen to live in cities scattered around transportation hubs.

A large number of cheap clothes soon beat the self-righteous tailors all over the place.

Except for a few stores that do high-end goods, they have directly suffered a Waterloo-style dimensionality reduction blow in the low-end clothing market.

With the strength of later generations and an aesthetic that was nearly two hundred years ahead of its time, and with the help of a group of royal tailors, Franz's factory succeeded in designing a large number of trend-setting ready-to-wear styles.

However, he is clearly aware that in order to maintain his leading position in the garment industry, it is far from enough to rely on his own strength. So he sent someone to contact the Vienna Academy of Arts and asked them to send a team of professionals to help him train fashion designers.

The Vienna Academy of Arts is a public academy founded in 1692. It is one of the oldest art schools in Europe, but it has long since lost its former glory.

Historically, with the decline of the Austrian Empire, the decline in government funding and the scarcity of social donations, in order to maintain daily expenses and livelihoods, its top management had to reduce the admission rate of state-funded students, making it one of the most difficult art schools in Europe.

To add insult to injury, the aristocracy and wealthy businessmen preferred to go to a "truly top university" such as the University of Vienna rather than attend an art school.

However, thanks to the butterfly effect, the Austrian economy was booming at this time, and the empire's fiscal revenues soared, which allowed many public schools to benefit from public funding again.

As a result of the German Customs Union, Austria has become a gathering place for a large number of highly educated and high-quality North German talents, among which Vienna, as the heart of the empire, is even more prominent.

For aristocrats and merchants, how to use "wisdom" or "education" to show their difference has always been a problem that has always troubled them, so art appreciation has become a weapon for them to stand out from the rest.

In order to integrate into the local life, high-quality talents from other regions have also joined this vast army of art connoisseurs.

And the wandering artists who were supposed to stay in parks and cemeteries and sleep in almshouses were all pulled out to perform in public.

In the past, only the royal family was responsible for leading large-scale events or infrastructure projects, and they could get a job with a stable income, such as the celebration of the emperor's birthday, the completion ceremony of public works, and the public composition of Franz and a group of well-known music greats, etc.

Due to the booming art appreciation market and the fierce competition that comes with it, the prices of almost all handicrafts have been pulled to a very low level, and of course, the income of the roll kings who can win in this situation is not the same as before.

Theoretically, in this era of artistic and economic prosperity, there should be no reason for an established institution like the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts to decline.

However, the competition in Vienna's art scene has even reached the point of life and death, resulting in many students graduating from jobs that are not as good as those of street painters.

This raises serious questions about the quality and level of teaching at this ancient college.

At the same time, potential female students, who were supposed to be an important source of funding for the Vienna Academy of Arts, chose the Royal Women's Academy of Vienna at this time.

In the past, some of the great nobles who doted on their daughters would send them to study at the art academy in the imperial capital, so that the girls could be released without violating the morals of the nobility.

However, with the birth of the Royal Women's College in Vienna, many nobles changed their original intentions.

Although Vienna can be said to be relatively liberal in terms of girls' education, the mainstream of society still sees this as a waste of money and the training of "witches".

And this time the royal family took the initiative, and if the monarch at this time was a normal person with no mental or physical illness, some people might still raise objections.

After the debate in Vienna's Central Park, however, no one felt that way anymore.

After all, Ferdinand I and his younger brother, Archduke Franz Karl, were not in the category of normal people, so no one cared if they won or lost, but if it were for themselves, the consequences would be completely different. Once you lose, your reputation will be ruined, and your bones will be shattered.

The Habsburg royal family was known for its benevolence, but with the resurgence of the Church's power, their instinctive vigilance made them more willing to act as royal black gloves than before.

The reason is very simple, no one in the empire can govern the church except for the royal family. The criterion of "if you can't beat it, then join it" has always been the way for nobles to survive.

But in this way, the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts lost an important source of income.

At this time, they can only choose to enter and exit strictly, to regain their prestige.

And Franz's proposal, like a rain, brought it back to life.

In addition to fashion design, at Franz's suggestion, the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts also offered courses in advertising, journalism, and architecture.

However, at this time, the cotton production of Austria in the African colonies was still too small, and after a brief period of madness, the problem of raw materials once again plagued the entire Austrian garment industry.

Just when the countries of Central Europe thought that they had finally got a chance to breathe, the newly inaugurated president of the United States announced the first presidential order.

"Giving the Austrian Empire the most-favored-nation status and dumping cotton in large quantities of it."

It stands to reason that this order is a decent order, and it is really understandable that the Americans made such a move in order to seize the cotton market.

It's just that at this critical juncture, it is a heavy blow to Germany and the countries of the Apennine Peninsula.

This order was tantamount to cutting off the Austrian Empire from the possibility of a turnaround in the rest of Central Europe at the source.

Huge quantities of American cotton flowed into Austria, where it was processed into cotton cloth and clothing by factories in the empire, and then poured into the Central European market.

Almost all of their streets are filled with finished clothing from Austria, making it impossible for other countries to compete. Whether in terms of quality and price or style, Austrian products have an absolute advantage that is beyond the reach of people.

Many economists fear that Austrians will voluntarily raise prices in order to make higher profits after monopolizing the clothing market.

Prussia, in particular, threw out a whole bunch of conspiracy theories to discredit Austria and the Habsburg royal family.

However, what makes people stumble is that the Austrian side not only did not make a fuss about the price increase, but also took the initiative to inform the public through the announcement that its clothing products would be sold at a reduced price, saying that this would allow more middle- and lower-class people to enjoy the convenience they deserved.

Of course, different places have different modes of propaganda, for example, the public slogan within the German Confederation was "Let every German have clothes to wear." ”

In Austria, of course, the slogan is "Let every Austrian have clothes to wear." In the Apennines, it's a different story.

In short, this time, Franz not only made a lot of money, but also took the opportunity to brush up a wave of good reputation.

In fact, selling at a reduced price is a more long-term strategy, because it raises the bar for the industry, making it difficult for competitors in other countries to have the mind to confront it.

As for those who are unemployed, this is a great opportunity to encourage them to choose to work in Austria.

After all, the railway transportation in Inner Letania is so convenient now, and even if you can't be a worker, you can choose to go to Outer Letania to farm.

If none of the above fails, there is a good way out of the overseas colonies.

(End of chapter)