"Be Different ...... " Brazilian Footwear

The fight-back by high-end shoe manufacturers from southern Europe and elsewhere to open up the potentially vast Asian market is well under way. The Brazilian shoe industry apparently never read that part of the script about how cheap Asian footwear would destroy their industry. Instead, they thought 'out of the shoebox'. The company, Calcados Biondini now have a new slogan, 'Be different ......' and a plan. Watch this space. The Brazilian Footwear Association (Abicalçados) is the driving force behind the campaign to open up the Chinese and Asian market to high quality, well designed Brazilian footwear. One of these manufacturers is Calçados Biondini. Paulo Júnior, head of the Export Sales Department at Biondini explains the strategy and objectives when entering a new market the size of Asia and China. Biondini was founded just five years ago and bases its footwear collections on high fashion and quality: well designed ladies footwear using international designs and trends as their guidelines. According to Paulo Júnior, Biondini sells 85% of its production in the local market and the remaining 15% is earmarked for export. The Biondini brand was represented by the company New Frontier for sales at Fashion Access in March/April 2008, in Hong Kong.

Biondini won the APLF Award for "Best Footwear Collection". which will give a boost to its image abroad and especially in the eyes of the new contacts from many countries they made. According to Ana Cristina Klein of Biondini/New Frontier, the Brazilian pavilion received visitors from many Asian countries including Japan, Indonesia, Australia, Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, India, Singapore, and of course China. Paulo Júnior explained that from a Brazilian point of view, the Asian market is quite "exotic" but, on the other hand, his company had approached this new market place in a positive frame of mind - as an opportunity rather than a threat. His target audience is well defined - that is, the emerging Chinese and Asian middle classes who have the disposable income to purchase high fashion shoes with added value features and excellent workmanship. The main difficulty facing Biondini in export markets is the strength of the local Brazilian currency, the real, against the US dollar, which has been falling over the last three years. To overcome this major commercial obstacle the company has sought out importers who deal in high quality products and who are willing to pay the price for added value features characteristic of Biondini designs. One of the slogans used by Biondini when approaching this market is simply, "Be different, try Brazilian Footwear!" This could well strike a chord in the consumer niches which Paulo Júnior is targeting. Crossing the "New Frontier" into Asia is a long term challenge for Biondini but with a well defined strategy, target audience and excellent products, Paulo Júnior is quietly confident that the company will develop and exploit the niches it is seeking in the world's most populated continent. For more information on Biondini's collections go to: http://www.biondini.com.br/ If you wish to contribute to the APLF News, with your experiences in the industry, your observations, or general thoughts on the direction the industry is going, we would like to hear from you. Email: aplf-news@aplf.com