SOURCING at MAGIC: Country Guide - Brazil

COUNTRY GUIDE: Brazil

BRAZIL

While South America’s largest nation is known for producing apparel, textiles, handbags, and jewelry; it offers diverse footwear production at just about every scale from small batch, handmade styles to large scale companies that produce more than 500,000 pairs a day.

Brazil’s fully integrated supply chain ranges from leather to tanneries to factories; allowing it to offer competitive pricing as well as flexibility on minimum quantities. For sourcing professionals specifically in the United States or anywhere in North or South America and even Europe, Brazil’s “nearshoring” capabilities mean easy access for shipping. That proximity allows for faster and cheaper deliveries by air or ship.

Brazil’s commitment to sustainability runs throughout the production process, from materials to final product, while incorporating responsible and ethical economic and social initiatives for employees and the community. Sneaker brand Veja, for example, chose Brazil specifically for its integration of sustainable practices. Factories pride themselves on offering services to employees like daycare, or on encouraging artisanal manufacturing processes where makers create shoes at home as they have for generations. The Origem Sustentável is a sustainable origin audit that Abicalçados, the Brazilian Footwear Industries Association, has instituted to ensure responsible practices throughout the supply chain.

Brazil’s largest trading partners in footwear are the United States, France, and neighboring Argentina. The United States accounts for about 20 percent of exports and has historically been Brazil’s main trade partner for footwear. Last October Brazil and the United States signed a renewal of the 2011 Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation to facilitate trade and commerce between the two nations; the first step in a tariff agreement to come in the future. As a result, there is no surcharge on Brazilian shoes imported into the United States. A similar agreement is under negotiation with the European Union. Brazil is the fourth largest shoe producer in the world after China, Vietnam, and India.

The nation has a tradition of leather shoe making, with an export business beginning in 1968. While it also offers shoes made from synthetic material, leather is its best seller. Private label is also very important to Brazil’s export business. The fully integrated supply chain is key to production, from raising the cows all the way through the process, but the ability to maintain relationships is probably the most important part. Brazilian shoe manufacturers have been particularly concerned with comfort technology.

Originally building an expertise in creating footwear medical reasons — for example a focus on shoes made to address the concerns of people with diabetes or bunions — has led to a wider focus on comfort technology across the footwear spectrum. A renewed emphasis on the category grew from younger consumers looking for breathable, comfortable shoes to wear at home during the pandemic. Manufacturers updated styles that may have been a bit geriatric to be more fashion forward, including house slippers that can comfortably be worn outside of the home. Other technology includes incorporating augmented reality games that can be played on a smart phone into children’s shoes. Another brand offers children’s shoes that can be expanded, lengthening the time they can be worn.

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