São Paulo – The São Paulo-based children’s clothing brand Mini Humanos wants to export to the Arab market. Established by three young entrepreneurs in the fashion and administration businesses, the brand has an innovative proposal for designing its items. Instead of using flowers and little clowns in its prints, Mini Humano adopts themes such as rock and roll music, naif art, architecture, and countries such as Ivory Coast and Vietnam in its collections, among others. Through its differential, the company has conquered two markets abroad: Spain, in Europe, and Angola, in Africa.
"We would really like to sell to Arab countries," said to ANBA one of the company’s partners, Roberta Vasconcelos, who holds a degree in Business Administration, with a specialization in Marketing and a postgraduate degree in Social Sciences. Roberta believes that in the Arab world, the products would sell well in places such as Dubai, Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia. "I am aware that in Lebanon, for instance, people are really into modern things," she claims. The presence of foreigners in these countries should also favour sales.
Mini Humanos began exporting sort of randomly, when, in 2006, a distributor from Spain went to an adult clothing store in Rio de Janeiro in which Mini Humanos had a corner. She liked the items, found buyers for them in Spain, and began importing them. Presently, five Spanish stores sell the brand. Exports to Angola, in turn, began because of an Angolan who used to buy clothing by Mini Humanos for her children. The woman opened a store in which she sells the items.
The main appeal of the brand, which sells children aged zero to ten, is its exotic theme proposals. Currently, for instance, the company is selling collections named Woodstock (international music festival), Cuba, Vietnam, the architect, ska (Jamaican musical genre), surreal, Alice, rock, Santos Dumont, Ivory Coast, and naïf art. Roberta explains that the idea, however, is not to make children’s clothing that looks like adult ones. Everything is tailored using real comfortable fabrics and designs, as befits children. And a playful aspect is always present, she explains. Almost everything is unisex, but there are items for girls only.
"We inspired ourselves in the people who were pregnant at the time. We asked ourselves what their children would wear," explains the partner, citing among them the Brazilian musician João Gordo and comedian Maria Paula. The first collection was introduced in 2004, when Roberta and Ana Carolina Pinheiro, another partner of the company, came together to produce children’s clothing. In that same year, Vinicius Panisset joined them as another partner. Ana Carolina has a degree in Fashion and a specialization in Design. Vinícius holds a degree in Business Administration and a specialization in Marketing, a postgraduate degree in Retail Management, and a master’s degree in Logistics.
The three partners worked together at a large Brazilian department store chain. In 2003, however, after leaving the company, Ana Carolina and Roberta, who were already intent on having their own business, decided to establish a product design consultancy firm. "We realized that there was a gap in the children’s market, which needed different stuff," she says. They continued providing consultancy services for approximately one year, and then decided to manufacture their own items as well. That was in 2004, when Vinicius joined the duo. The three are around 30 years of age.
Presently, Mini Humanos outsources its production to a plant in the state of Minas Gerais. The clothing is sold at multi-brand stores, two exclusive stores owned by the brand, in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and at one exclusive store that operates under licensing in Cuiabá, in the state of Mato Grosso. At the stores in Rio and in São Paulo, the brand also maintains showrooms. Mini Humanos is sold at approximately 40 stores.
Contact:
Mini Humanos
Telephone: (+55 11) 3628 6070
Site: www.minihumanos.com.br
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
