Considered one of the greatest and most important garment industries in Brazil, Marisol, based in the city of Jaraguá do Sul, in the state of Santa Catarina, begins the year of 2005 in a brand internationalization process.
In April, the company is going to open a sales office and a product development center in Italy, to serve as support for product distribution in Europe and the Middle East. Marisol has ten stores exclusively for brands Lilica Ripilica and Tigor T. Tigre in the Middle East.
The international office will be based in the city of Gallarate, close to Milan. “We are going to establish a sales team. The studio for development of products specifically for the European and Arab market and the logistics area will be outsourced,” explained Robson Morin, the commercial director of Marisol.
According to him, Italy was chosen due to the fact that the country is a reference center in the design of products and to its strategic location, as the office will be close to a port and an airport.
Sales of children’s brands Lilica Ripilica and Tigor T. Tigre to the Middle East, which began in 2002, doubled in three yeas after Marisol signed a contract with a distributor based in Beirut. There are currently eight exclusive stores in Lebanon, one in Kuwait, and another in Qatar.
The total investment in the Arab units was made by the company local representative. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are also considered potential markets. “It is possible that during this year our products may also enter another two Arab countries,” pointed out Morin.
“We are currently in a foreign market development process,” stated Morin. Nowadays exports represent 6% of total yearly company revenues, which are already over US$ 131.6 million. “We have the challenge of elevating this percentage to 20% by 2010,” explained the director.
Marisol also has an exclusive store in Portugal and a local distributor in Spain that, through 10 representatives, sells to around 200 clients who have multi-brand stores in Spain.
Investment
In 2004 the company invested approximately US$ 6 million in the expansion and modernization of factories and in 2005, investment should total another US$ 7.5 million, mostly company funds.
Having been established 40 years ago, Marisol has an installed capacity for production of over 25 million items of clothing and 3.2 million pairs of children’s shoes per year and generates 5,000 direct jobs.
There are already over 14,000 multi-brand points of sale selling company products and 78 exclusive franchises, and the forecast is to reach 115 up to the end of 2005.
In Brazil, the company is the leader in the children’s clothes sector. Their brands are Marisol, Marisol Calçados (shoes), Mineral, Criativa and children’s brands Lilica Ripilica and Tigor T. Tigre.
The company has garment production units in Jaraguá do Sul, Corupá, Schroeder, Massaranduba and Benedito Novo, all cities in Santa Catarina.
Contact
Marisol
Telephone: (+55 47) 372 6000
Site: www.marisol.com.br
ANBA ”“ Brazil-Arab News Agency
