São Paulo – Legaspi, a purses shoe and accessory manufacturer from Rio Grande do Sul, has been selling luxury purses to a store in Tripoli, Lebanon for ten years. The Middle Eastern client purchases from the Brazilian company every six months.
“The public there likes our products. We have handmade purses, larger purses with trendy colours,” says Jaqueline Carvalho, in charge of the Commercial Department of the company.
She says the Lebanese store owner is married to a Brazilian man and met Legaspi’s products in a visit to Brazil. Today, besides the Arab country, the company also exports to Equator, South Africa, Chile, Italy and Russia.
The company output is 2,500 purses and 3,000 pairs of shoes per month. “Our shoes are 100% leather. The Arabs value that,” says the businesswoman, pointing out that they have already exported shoes to Lebanon.
Currently, from the total output, 20% goes to the foreign market. “Our main buyer, volume-wise, is Equator,” she says. The company, however, has plans to double that percentage. “We want to reach 40%, in medium and long-terms,” says Carvalho, on the plans to increase the exported share.
To that end, the company is betting on entering new markets, including the United Arab Emirates. “That region is very wealthy and our products are targeted at a luxury market,” points out the businesswoman.
The company does not take part in trade fairs abroad, but displays at the main events of the sector in Brazil, such as Francal and Couromoda, in São Paulo, where it usually makes contact with foreign clients.
Founded 21 years ago, Legaspi is headquartered in the Brazilian city of Estância Velha and has 60 employees.
Contact
Legaspi
Tel.: (+5551) 3561-2445
Email: vendas@legaspi.com.br
Website: www.legaspi.com.br (in Portuguese)
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
