São Paulo – Businessman Saleh Al Anezi, who owns three shoes and accessories stores in Kuwait, is going to head back home with a good impression of Brazilian footwear and with deals underway. During the first three days of Francal, the leading trade fair for shoes and accessories in Latin America, which ends today (17th) in the city of São Paulo, Anezi closed deals for over 2,000 pairs of men’s and women’s shoes with seven Brazilian companies.
“I enjoyed the Brazilian products quite a lot. The companies invest in design and quality, and they offer comfortable products,” said the owner of store chain Choices, who is in Brazil for the second time. Anezi, who attended another trade fair in May in Belo Horizonte, the capital of the state of Minas Gerais, stated that Brazilian companies are serious and know now to innovate with their products.
Anezi started importing women’s shoes from Brazil this year. Now, in addition to footwear for women, he wants to bring men’s models over to his stores. On Wednesday and Thursday, the businessman placed orders for men’s shoes with companies Anatomic Gel, Democrata, Sapatoterapia, Ferracini, Rafarillo and Agabê. “This is just the beginning,” said he, who intends to sell only men’s shoes at one of his stores.
Yesterday morning, the storeowner placed a deal for 324 pairs of women’s shoes with company Bottero, from the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The models ordered were toe shoes and low- and high-hell sandals in various colours. Bottero has exported to the Arab market for eight years now, and has clients in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. The company makes its contacts at large domestic and international fairs.
As the Kuwaiti storeowner closed his deal at the Bottero stand, Saudi clients were checking the brand’s new collection to place an order. According to the company’s export manager, Charles Werb, summer collections are the most sold to Arab countries, due to the region’s hot weather. The company’s output is 3.5 million pairs per year, of which roughly 10% is exported.
According to the storeowner from Kuwait, there is no exact figure for how much he intends to buy from Brazil. “It all depends on what I will find and what I will like. I am not only seeking good pricing, I am also seeking quality,” said he, who should place orders with three more women’s shoes companies today.
According to Anezi, Choices, which has been on the market since 1993, once had six different stores in the country, and the plan now is to slowly start opening new stores again. “I am not scared of the crisis. I continue importing because the women continue buying, and they are always seeking something new,” he added.
Another Arab businessman who placed orders at Francal was Abdul Majid Al Abdul Karim, of the Al Abdul Karim company, based in Saudi Arabia. Karim, who owns men’s shoes stores, had ordered approximately 1,000 pairs up until yesterday. The Arab buyers, who were brought in by the Brazilian Association of Shoe Manufacturers (Abicalçados), will remain in the fair until today, the last day of the event.
Brazilian industry
The Brazilian shoe industry is the world’s third largest. With more than 8,000 factories in the country, the sector generates 300,000 direct jobs. With a production of 800 million pairs of shoes per year, the Brazilian industry supplies the entire domestic market and the foreign one as well, being the world’s fifth largest exporter of shoes, and the third largest manufacturer.
Last year, the Brazilian shoe industry exported to 190 different countries, having posted US$ 1.88 billion in revenues from foreign sales. Shipments totalled 165 million pairs.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
