São Paulo – Dentro D’água, a small-sized company that manufactures beachwear and fitness wear, wants to resume its foreign sales in 2009. The brand, which makes high value-added items adorned with Brazilian seeds, mother of pearl and crystals, has already reached Italy, Greece, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates. After the depreciation of the dollar and the increased competition from China, however, it spent the last two years more focused in the domestic market. The return of a more favourable exchange rate for exporting provided the manufacturer with the much-awaited encouragement.
“We are very enthused about resuming negotiations with foreign countries. Besides our beachwear, we also make swimsuits and special swim briefs for swimming, triathlon and water gymnastics,” says Rita de Cássia Graf, owner of the company based in the state of Paraná.
The businesswoman tells that the brand exported for the first time in 2005, after participating in the International Textile Industry and Fashion Trade Fair (Fenit), in the city of São Paulo. “A representative of Yamama (an Italian store chain with over 200 points of sale) liked our bikinis a lot, especially due to the high added value of the items, and placed an order for 15,000 units,” she says.
In order to adapt to the products to the strict European market and deliver everything within the deadline, the businesswoman faced a true marathon. “It was a big challenge for a small company. The order was placed in September 2004 and we delivered the goods in March 2005. Fortunately, we were able to count on the support of several organisations, such as the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), so as to train the artisans that we hired to finish the items that required handicraft work,” she explains. The raw material came from the city of Belém do Pará and needed a macramé finish. “We worked with neighbourhood associations, mothers’ clubs and even a tribe of Indians,” she explains.
The brand’s own textile mill generates ten direct jobs, plus six outsourced ones. Average monthly production is 3,500 items, with the possibility of increasing to 6,000 items per month.
Dentro D’água is the official manufacturer of Spanish sports brand Mosconi, and manufactures the uniforms of the Flamengo rowing team, based in Rio de Janeiro.
Arab market
The owner of Dentro D’água believes that she may close good deals in the Arab market, especially with the more sophisticated bikinis. “The items that we sold to the Middle East used to have crystals and mother of pearl. We also have models that can be crafted using gold- and silver-coloured cloth, and these are very successful among the Arab women,” she claims.
Contact
Telefone: (+55 41) 3016.2642
E-mail: dentro.dagua@terra.com.br
Site: www.dentrodagua.com
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
