São Paulo – Leather sandals manufacturing company Itapuã, based in the state of Espírito Santo, is seeking a distributor to concentrate its sales in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The company has exported its products for six years to those countries, which now rank among the leading buyers of the company’s shoes, alongside Bolivia.
Sales are made directly to storeowners, but the company wants to find a partner in the region that may concentrate the sandals’ purchase and distribution. “Sales have been rising with each new year. The ideal situation would be for us to be able to work with one or two distributors,” says Itapuã’s export manager, Saulo Altoé.
Together, the two Arab countries buy from 20,000 to 30,000 pairs of sandals per year, generating average revenues of 825,000 Brazilian real (US$ 450,000).
To Altoé, the Arab market is receptive to products by the company, which only manufactures men’s and women’s leather sandals. “They meet our criteria as clients. Arabs are used to wearing sandals, and we intend to invest heavily in them in 2011,” says the executive, adding that the company also intends to go to a trade fair in Dubai next year.
Presently, Itapuã participates in the two leading shoe industry fairs in Brazil, Couromoda and Francal, and also exhibits its products at the Mican, in Milan, Italy, where it also has contact with Arab buyers.
“Itapuã’s differential is that it only works with grade-A leather, both for exports and domestic sales,” says Altoé, regarding the brand’s success among the Arabs.
Altoé does not disclose Itapuã’s annual revenues, but claims that exports total 2 million real (US$ 1 million). Headquartered in the city of Cachoeiro do Itapemirim, in the state of Espírito Santo, the company has 50 employees in its trade department, and an exclusivity contract with a plant that has approximately 400 employees.
Contact
Itapuã
Telephone: +55 28 2101-9009
e-mail: saulo@itapua.com
www.itapua.ind.br
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
