São Paulo – Clothes by the brand Plural, of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, are worn by women in Saudi Arabia. The brand has been exporting to the Maison BO-M boutique shop, in Riyadh, for around two years now, and sales are on the way up. The last order placed by the multi-brand boutique was bigger than previous ones, according to Plural owner and cofounder Gláucia Fróes. The deal was closed during the Minas Trend fashion fair, held in Belo Horizonte in early April, but some details still need working out.
Plural first got in touch with Maison BO-M in Riyadh when the latter participated in a project of the Brazilian Designers Association (Abest), which had importers come to Brazil. Clothing items by the Minas Gerais brand were on display in a showroom in São Paulo and caught the eye of the Saudi buyer. She said the look of the clothes matched the boutique’s style, according to Fróes. That’s how the connection began.
Gláucia Fróes hopes to sell her clothes to other Arab countries as well, such as the United Arab Emirates. The business owner describes the Arab market as very demanding and competition-heavy and says it takes being prepared, but she believes it is worthwhile. “They’re great to work with,” she says. Besides Saudi Arabia, Plural sells to Australia, the United States, Portugal and Spain.
“We get better acceptance outside Brazil,” says Fróes. The clothes have a loose, fluid fit, with comfort coming first – they are not tight or sexy. The brand’s owner describes her items as very contemporary, modern and unique. “They’re for women who don’t want to dress up like the rest, women who have their own identity,” she muses. Both in Brazil and abroad, the brand targets women aged 25 to 60.
Sales abroad started with Australia, almost three years ago, and it accounted for only 5% of output. Currently, they represent around 30% of what is manufactured by Plural. Fróes says that the goal is to reach 40% and remain there, not surpass the mark. “We want to serve everyone well”, explains the business owner. To reach its goal, Plural advertises its products and prospects sales abroad through agents.
Fróes talks about Brazil’s current moment, proper for exports. The dollar is appreciated against the real and the domestic market is in a slowdown. But she says that she doesn’t favor exports only when the local market is down, but defends continuity and investments in the international market regardless of these factors.
Plural was founded as a clothing brand in 2006. Fróes’ family is the founder of Belo Horizonte’s first knitwear company, in the 1970s, and to work in the fashion industry always seemed natural to the businesswoman. Glaucia Fróes entered the market with her mother, Wilma Saldanha, in 2004, when the two of them opened a multi-brand store in Belo Horizonte. Two years later they started to manufacture Plural’s own line of clothing.
In Brazil, Plural sells its line in more than 70 stores, the majority of them in the South and Southeast regions. It also has a store in Belo Horizonte where most of the clothing items sold comes from the brand, with only a few additional items by other brands. The collections are signed by Letícia Leão, with Fróes as a partner in creation.
Plural
Phone: +55 (31) 3241-4053
Website: www.pluralestilo.com.br
Email: comercial@pluralestilo.com.br
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum and Sérgio Kakitani
