São Paulo – She has the profile of a doll. Pinkish face, long straight hair, and only 24 years old. But she is an entrepreneur and exports dolls’ clothes to seven different countries. Mariana Batistello, from Chapecó, in the state of Santa Catarina, started her business almost two years ago, after realizing that her taste for sewing clothes for her doll Valentina could become a profitable business. Batistello’s doll is of the Blythe brand, widely collected by adults, and the clothes she makes under the Pequena Valentina brand are geared towards the toy.
It all began when Batistello was studying Pychology at Universidade Comunitária da Região de Chapecó (Unochapecó – the Community University of the Chapecó Area) and started working at the institution’s secretariat for technological courses to pay for college. The dynamism and the academic work of the Fashion course appealed to her, and she decided to trade Psychology for Fashion.
In the following year, Batistello took the money she had saved, roughly R$ 500 (US$ 240), in order to buy her first Blythe. “My fiancée had kept the money for me so I didn’t spend it. When I said I was going to use it on the doll, everyone was against it, my fiancée, my mother, my grandmother,” says the young entrepreneur. She said she would get the money by selling the clothes she would sew, but wasn’t really certain.
Once the doll arrived at her house, in March 2009, she got motivated to craft the little garments with her sewing machine. At the university, she asked the professor to let her design clothes for dolls instead of people. The scholar agreed. Production started to take off, initially with items for her own doll, Valentina, then for her friends’ dolls, and then for strangers. Early on, Batistello would use colourful socks to craft the items from. Afterwards, she started making other items, such as dresses and skirts, using fabric.
Batistello graduated in Fashion in late 2010. She even looked for a job in the field, but came to the conclusion that the wages were similar to what she earned selling doll’s clothes. In February 2011, she formalized her company, as an individual micro-entrepreneur, and dubbed the brand Pequena Valentina. She currently sells to Brazil via her website. Sales to foreign countries are made via her Flickr page, which features pictures of the clothes.
Since 2011, the brand has sold to Spain, Singapore, France, United States, Canada, Poland and Israel. Batistello intends to create another e-shop soon to make sales easier, especially to foreign countries. She also wants to go to international fairs, but for the time being that is still a plan. Exports account for no more than 5% to 10% of the output, which is roughly 10 items per day. She has the capacity to make up to 20 items daily, though. Batistello takes charge of the entire process by herself.
In Brazil, she attends Blythe doll collectors’ meetings in several states. This year she has been to Porto Alegre, in Rio Grande do Sul, and Campinas, in São Paulo. After all, she is a collector herself. She currently owns four Blythe dolls: Valentina, Monalisa, Olga and Dominique, as well as a Lati Yellow doll named Pipa.
Contact:
Pequena Valentina
Website: www.pequenavalentina.com.br
Website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maribatistello/
Email: mari.batistello@gmail.com
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
