Siboney, a female shoe industry from the city of Igrejinha, in the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, produces 3,000 pairs of shoes per day and exports approximately 60% of its produce.
The industry has in its list of international clients over 50 countries. The main destinations are Puerto Rico, the United States, Spain, Chile and Russia. Siboney incursions in the foreign market started 12 years ago.
Contacts with importers are normally made at fairs in Brazil and abroad, according to the person in charge of exports, Jefferson Rodrigo Berz. Siboney participates in the Micam shoe fair, in Italy, and in GDS, in Germany, every year. Francal and Couromoda, sector fairs that take place in Brazil and in which Siboney participates, received buyers from abroad.
The shoes produced by the factory from southern Brazil are all made out of cattle leather and are turned mainly to women aged between 20 and 40. Party shoes, for special occasions, are the main Siboney produce. For the 2006/2007 spring/summer collection, the company released 200 models of shoes, mixing natural and technological characteristics.
In the collection, the natural, according to a spokesperson for the organization, may be seen in the use of fabrics like linen, cotton, leather with rustic finishing, furry leather and animal prints, jeans fabrics and also in reeds.
The technological theme may be seen in shiny leather finishes, metallized and varnished fabrics, or even in the use of satin, gems and crystals. The great differential of the collection is the mixture of materials.
Siboney is a family company that concentrates its production in an industrial unit in Igrejinha, in Sinos Valley, a region of the country that houses a great number of shoe factories.
The company was established 40 years ago and currently employs 280 people. The shoes are sold in multi brand shops throughout Brazil. The main markets for Siboney products in Brazil are Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
The firm says it is going to work on doubling exports to the Arab market this year. Siboney started selling to the region around eight years ago and now exports to Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
The Arabs purchase 5% of everything Siboney ships abroad. The company’s objective, according to Berz, is to increase this total to 10%.
Contact
Siboney
Telephone: (+55 51) 3545-1275
Site: www.siboney.com.br
Anba