São Paulo – Via Uno, a Brazilian female shoe brand, has just opened a franchise in the emirate of Ajman, in the United Arab Emirates. The shop, inaugurated around one month ago, is located in the largest shopping centre in Ajman, the Ajman City Centre. In the Arab world, the company also has franchises in Jordan and Syria. In January 2010, a new unit should be inaugurated in Oman.
According to the retail director at Via Uno, Alexandre Sá, the company established a new partnership in the Arab world to proceed with the franchise plans in that market. Up to early this year, Via Uno had tree shops in the United Arab Emirates, but they did not survive.
The shoes by the Brazilian brand are already present at multi brand shops throughout the Middle East and North Africa. The company exports around 100,000 pairs of shoes a year to the Arab nations. "Today, our participation in the Arab market is very small. We want to grow and plan to expand our shops in the region," said the retail director.
Open sandals and shoes are those most shipped. "Our collection is global. In the Arab countries, as they have a hot climate, sandals are sold very much," said Sá. According to him, the contacts with the Arabs generally take place at large sector fairs, in Germany and Italy. Buyers from the Middle East also often come to fairs in Brazil, like Francal and Couromoda, promoted in São Paulo.
Via Uno already has 25 franchises abroad and 150 shops in Brazil. With production of seven million pairs a year, almost 40% is turned to the foreign market, to over 90 countries. The four main destinations are Spain, Chile and Mexico.
2010 collection
The Via Uno 2010 summer collection was inspired on the Moroccan city of Marrakech. The campaign explores the energy, femininity and exoticism of Africa. The shoes and sandals bring the colours beige, light brown, yellow, red and green, as well as white and black.
The Via Uno summer collection is versatile and explores the fashion and casual side of contemporary women, with high and low heels, stones and broad buckles. The great bet of this season is the mixing of styles and models, like comfortable shoes and sandals.
*Translated by Mark Ament
