São Paulo – A representative for the Chalhoub Group, a luxury brands conglomerate out of Dubai, the UAE, is currently in Brazil touring 12 footwear manufacturing facilities since last Monday (12). Seven of the plants are in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and five are in São Paulo. The visits will end on Wednesday (14) and the names of the visited businesses haven’t been disclosed. The group is seeking children’s and women’s shoes. About four years ago, the Chalhoub Group purchased women’s shoes from Brazil’s Schutz brand, which is owned by Arezzo.
Brazilian Footwear Manufacturers Association (Abicalçados) commercial promotion analyst Paola Pontin said this is the first time Chalhoub’s shopping department manager Reda Keddaji (pictured at the top of this story, in a black shirt) has ever visited shoemaking facilities. “He wasn’t familiar with the plants, so we took him on a tour of production lines,” she told ANBA. Keddaji represents the Group’s stores in Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Bahrein.
Keddaji was in the state of São Paulo yesterday. Today and tomorrow, he’ll be seeing production lines in Rio Grande do Sul. “He’s here to learn about the brands, their quality, their summer and winter collection concepts (winter collections are coming out since early November) and to pick out a product mix from both collections,” Pontin said. According to her, the Arab group will place its orders with Brazilian manufacturers by February, when the season ends.
According to Pontin, the Chalhoub Group is a major player in the UAE, importing over USD 1 million in shoes from around the world each year – mostly from France and Italy. “The potential is there for significantly increasing Brazilian footwear sales to this Group,” she said. The UAE bought in excess of 760,000 pairs of shoes from Brazil from January to September of this year, down 19% from a year ago.
Keddaji’s trip was made possible by Brazilian Footwear, an exports program by Abicalçados and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).
Chalhoub
The Chalhoub Group is one of the leading luxury conglomerates in the Middle East. It specializes in retail, distribution and marketing services. Based in Dubai, the UAE, it went into business in 1955, selling mostly jewelry and watches. Its current product line includes beauty items, fashion and gifts, with 600-plus outlets in 14 countries, such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman and Morocco.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
