Clothing demand leaves heads spinning
The combined forces of common households now looking to purchase a larger portion of their clothing needs at the market, and the introduction of more complex textile products and production methods, have shifted the terrain of the market considerably in the last couple of Mercatorio years (that’s 24 hours in our timezone).
Garments prices in Öreman are up considerably, and this is by no means the exception, as towns previously exporting large amount of garments at the moment are barely able to satisfy their own markets
Textile production building count doubled
Four new production buildings for the textile production chain have been introduced:
- Retting pit — flax plants may now be brought to a dedicated area for more efficient threshing and retting. Retting is the process where the soft material is left to rot away, allowing the stronger flax fibres to be extracted. The linseed is also collected and currently treated as grain.
- Spinnery — flax fibres and wool are spun into linen thread and yarn respectively. This is a labour intensive process and moving it to a dedicated production building allows commoner households a second (partial) wage earner. Granted, this is a slight departure from the medieval era, where spinning predominantly took place in the home, but it does help making spinning, as well as textile production as whole, more visible in the towns, which it rightfully should be.
- Dye boiler — with the introduction of dyed cloth we also need dye. The dye boiler extracts this from various plants, currently flax (for blue dye) and herbs (for, eh, blue dye — but more to come)
- Dyeworks — the most capital intensive step, the dyeing process, takes place here. Cloth is left to simmer in dye to absorb the new colour.
The full list of textile production buildings. In addition the four new ones already listed, there are flax farms and pastures for producing flax and wool, as well as the weavery and sewing shop for making actual garments and coats from the spun thread and yarn.
Building boom
While more primitive production methods allow for bypassing the new steps (eg. the weavery can still consume fibres directly), this is inefficient compared to dedicated production buildings. As such, a building boom has ensued to cover the increased demand for dyed and coloured garments in the most efficient fashion. Spinneries are quick to construct, while the dyeing steps will require some more time.
A spinnery is already operational in the foreground, while a new herb garden and dyeworks are under construction behind it. Don’t mind the bakery on the flank, even fully clothed people need to eat.
How to capitalise on this new demand
It can often be hard to chart a path to a profitable enterprise in Mercatorio, we don’t play because it’s easy (but because we thought it would be easy…) The textile boom currently underway is bound to make some fortunes along the way, but it won’t last forever, and in Mercatorio as in the real world, shortages tend to be followed by gluts.
If you want to try your luck, sign up for the free early-access here: Mercatorio.io
Or go listen to war stories from the cheese bonanza of yesteryear in the Discord channel.
