São Paulo – Pimpolho, a Brazilian maker of shoes for kids, aims to expand its markets in the Arab countries. The company has clients that purchase regularly in the Emirates and Libya and plans to sell more to the region in coming years. “It is a market that has been showing itself interesting for our niche and is expanding. One of the examples is the Emirates; this year alone we sold to three different clients in the country,” said the export supervisor, Paula Espindula Cortelette.
According to Cortelette, Pimpolho plans to invest more in the Arab market through participation in fairs and developing prospecting work in 2014. Sales to the region began four years ago, through Libya, but still represent a small share, according to the supervisor. The company produces 12,000 pairs of shoes a day and ships abroad around 3% of the total. The shoes go to 20 countries and the main destination is Latin America.
Pimpolho produces all shoes in leather, fabric and synthetic materials and also blends them all. The shoes are made for girls and boys from newly borns to age three. In the country, the brand is sold to wholesalers and retailers and may be found at 12,000 points of sale. Cortelette says that the organisation aims to grow in future. “But the aim is to avoid reducing quality of the products and the work on scheduled delivery, which is our main differential,” she said.
The organisation was established in 1962 by José Tavares de Brito, who was a trade representative at the time. With the help of his wife, Nilza, he took the company further and transformed it in one of the main baby shoe factories in the country. Pimpolho currently employs 800 people, including direct and indirect workers. The company has two industrial units in the city of Vila Velha and a distributor in Cariacica, all in the state of Espírito Santo. The organisation is still a family business and is currently in the hands of the third generation.
Contact
Pimpolho
Site: www.pimpolho.com.br
Telephone: (+55 27) 2104-0555
E-mail: export_pimpolho@hotmail.com
*Translated by Mark Ament
