Can fashion save The Amazon?

Last year, I wrote a profile piece about an inspirational woman called Bia Saldanha, who has pioneered a process of rubber production that supports farmers in The Amazon and fights against deforestation. The interview was set up by fashion brand Veja, which sources rubber from The Amazon for its brilliant shoes, showing that fashion can be both sustainable and cool (the prices are pretty reasonable and the brand is stocked by some of the UK’s most directional shops). Tomorrow evening, you too could meet Bia and find out more about her work. Journalist Lucy Siegle is hosting a conversation between Bia and novelist Ed Siegle (autor of The Invisibles) at The Hub in King’s Cross, London. The tickets are free but spaces are limited. To book, email contact.uk@veja.fr. And let me know what you think.

Michael Palin and island paradises in Brazil

My friend and fellow journalist Suzanne Bearne is currently travelling around South America and has recently arrived in Brazil. Not only is that fact alone enough to make me green with envy, but she is also keeping a detailed and brilliant blog about her travels, which makes me want to accompany her as a translator (like she asked me...) even more. I thought I'd share snippets with you about her experiences, which covers Rio de Janeiro all the way to Salvador (as well as some beautiful islands in between and a chance encounter with Michael Palin...), with links to her full blog posts.

Susie's trip began briefly in a wet and wolf-whistling Rio, to where she returned after visiting a handful of other gorgeous South American locations. Have a look through the archive of Devoted To Travel for non-Brazilian travel trips.
But back to Brazil. After Buenos Aires, Susie landed in Salvador and the unassuming art shop where she met Michael Palin (not Portillo or Fish...). She then headed to the island Morro de São Paulo, what Susie describes as her Brazilian paradise. Note that she went out of season and took the long route. My friend Becky has recently returned from there and had a much less agreeable experience. She took a boat directly to the island (it took about two hours), but the conditions were terrible (as they often are at this time of year apparently, explaining why few people opt for this route, but failing to explain why no-one informed her about this and encouraged her nonetheless to go for the direct boat ride. She found all this out after the boat trip). She is back safe and sound and had a lovely time.
Susie then travelled to another island, Boipeba, which sounds even more magnificent than Morro. It's certainly next on my itinerary.
Her most recent blog post says she's back in Rio, sipping cocktails at Copacabana Palace Hotel, but I know she has just bought a flight to the Pantanal. Will keep you posted on her adventures.

Brazil smells good, says BBC

Last Tuesday, a friend of mine sent me a text saying I had to watch Perfume on BBC4. I’d heard about the programme on Twitter, but had never seen it. Because this particular episode was partly about Brazil, I decided to tune in and it was pretty good viewing (despite the annoying “scent guru” Ann Gottlieb). There are still two days left to see it before tomorrow’s next instalment, so click here if you fancy it.

This episode explored the emerging perfume markets, or, emerging markets in general, it would seem, because it featured Brazil, China and India.
I’d recommend you watching the entire episode, but if you can’t, here are some of my highlights:

• 20% of sales from cosmetics giant Avon comes from Brazil
• There are 1.5 million Avon reps in Brazil
• Brazil is the world’s fastest growing fragrances market
• Brazilians don’t like orange, coffee or chocolate-based scents because all three are available in abundance in the country and therefore considered cheap
• As part of Avon’s market research, one female consumer said she wanted to “smell like a rich lady”
• According to Avon’s Brazilian marketing team, there are lots of words in Portuguese that denote smell – good or bad – including “cheirozinha”, “fresquinha” and “chulé” (the first two are good smells; the last describes the smell of feet…)

Brazilian artist Daniella Bonachella makes UK debut

I definitely get the sense that there is a thriving, Brazilian artistic community in the UK (and certainly in London). After my post on Estela Sokol last month, I received several emails from other Brazilian artists exhibiting in the UK, including Daniella Bonachella. I was impressed with Daniella, not only because of the quality of her work, but also because of the calibre of the gallery where she made her UK debut.
Daniella is curretly exhibiting at Debut Contemporary in Notting Hill, a platform to help emerging artists with commercial and business nous to succeed. Debut Contemporary is the brainchild of Samir Ceric and Zoe Knight, who set up Wolf & Badger – a fashion boutique with a similar aim of nurturing and supporting emerging designers.

And Daniella’s work certainly has a strong element of commerciality; she reminds me of a modern day Gustav Klimt. It’s not surprising, then, when she tells me that he is one of her favourite artists. “I also admire Egon Schiele, Edvard Munch and Vincent Van Gogh,” she told me. “And I’m inspired by emotions, particularly female emotions.”
Daniella works predominantly with watercolour, acrylic and Indian ink on paper. “The paper is a special one for watercolour, with high-weight content and a lot of texture. Sometimes I also add oil based pastel crayon to some of my works,” she explained.

Havaianas give Brazilian vibe to Berlin

Such is the competition between fashion brands to stand out at Bread & Butter, the streetwear show in Berlin this week, that the event felt more like a festival than a trade fair. Beautiful, bikini-clad models frolicked in a swimming pool at Tommy Hilfiger while Diesel turned its stand into a sand island. One brand had table tennis on its stand while another invited some violinists to play along to a yoga class. I think you're getting the picture.... And as impressive as it all was, you can only deliver such theatrics if you have the cash, which is why I was really impressed with Havaianas' stand at Bread & Butter. As I hurtled past it, I stopped in my tracks, so impressed by its use of colour, which it largely achieved through the product itself. Lovely colourful flowers adorned the stand and there were little quirky touches like Polaroid photos of different Havaianas shoes pinned up on one wall. It really stood out so I thought I'd share it with you.

How Brazilian brands can conquer international fashion markets

(Isabela Capeto)

(Isabela Capeto's collection)

For all the enthusiasm from designers and buyers alike for the Brazilian brands showing at Pitti_W, the womenswear section to Florentine menswear show Pitti Uomo, there was some concern as to whether that enthusiasm would turn into sales. Brazil was the Guest Nation for the show’s spring 12 edition – a new initiative from organisers Pitti Immagine – and visitors (international buyers from boutiques and multi-brand retailers) praised the craftsmanship, fit and colour of the collections from the 10 Brazilian brands. But they were concerned about the price. Brazil has every opportunity to capitalise on the attention being showered on the country at the moment, but its fashion designers need to consider a few points if they are to succeed internationally. I have a few ideas on how they can do this…

But before I get on to that, I thought I’d share some background on my visit. Among the brands showing at Pitti was Isabela Capeto and I was fortunate to meet the eponymous designer, looking lovely in on of her creations (see picture). “The buyers liked the embroidery, the beauty, the fact that my collections are hand-made,” Isabela said to me. “But the Real [Brazilian currency] is so strong that the prices aren’t competitive. Also, Europeans like a ‘brand’.”
The problem for Isabela is that it can take up to one month to embroider one of her dresses, which wholesales for a staggering €500. And even though she is established in Brazil, the brand is little-known outside the country.

So, here’s how I think designers like Isabela can crack the international fashion market:

1. Adjust your pricing

If you’re selling a dress at wholesale for €500 and the average mark-up for retail is around 2.5 times, then a boutique will need to sell that dress for at least €1,250. You can buy a silk chiffon maxi dress from Matthew Williamson for that and, on a brand level, Brazilian designers will struggle to compete. So in order to maintain your margins, you may need to reconsider your sourcing options and supply chain. In Isabela’s case, she needs to find a way to reduce the amount of time it takes to make one dress if she is going to be more commercial across international markets. Perhaps the dress doesn’t need to be embroidered from head to toe?

2. Be commercial

The Brazilian brands at Pitti definitely stood out; each had its own handwriting and individuality, something every successful brand needs – without the right product, nothing else matters. But brands must also be commercial if they want to sell across markets and I didn’t think all the brands showing at Pitti did this. It doesn’t mean that you have to follow every trend, but you certainly need to be aware of wider, consumer trends and buying patterns. Are shoppers favouring cleaner, toned-down silhouettes over bold shapes, for example? I thought Brazilian footwear brand New Order was one of the most successful at fusing its Brazilian roots with commercial designs (see picture).


(New Order)

(New Order)

3. Network

Brazilian brands will have to work hard to compete on the same platform as established European and US brands. Identify which stores you want to be in and exhibit at the relevant trade shows. Get to know as many people as you can. And be at your stand…when I visited one of the Brazilian brands showing at Pitti, there was no-one there to talk to me. What if I was a buyer?

Have I missed anything? Could Brazilian brands do more to grow in international brands? What challenges are you facing, as a Brazilian fashion brand?