Paquetá Ortopé brings back the market

With revenues of $ 2.1 billion last year, the Group Paquetá, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, brought Ortopé back to the market. The children's shoe brand, auctioned off at an auction of a bankruptcy five years ago, grew 35% in 2012 and foresees expansion of over 28% this year, reaching gross sales of R $ 95 million.
Famous in the years 80, the Ortopé began to rise in the last two years. Before that, the Group also owner of Paquetá, Dumond, Capodarte and Lilly's Closet, did a study to revive the brand. In parallel, an Executive with 16 years of experience in the business, Carlos Haack, assumed command of the operation.
Second Haack, the Ortopé has already passed the period of ripening and now lives a "great turn". One of the most important changes was to bet on the team. Three years ago, only 20% of brand name shoes were dedicated to this audience. Now, the shoes for girls are already half of sales.
The Ortopé has always been associated with benefits like comfort and quality, but has been struggling to be recognized as a brand linked to fashion and design, says Haack. The products meet children from 0 to 12 years.
"We are not the industry's biggest company, nor do we have cheaper products, but we want to be the best," says Haack.
He noted that, a few years ago, the children's collections replicated the past trends of fashion. Today, the two segments go together in the release schedule. "Kids today have more access to information and greater requirement level".
The main competitors of Ortopé are the brands Pampili, Klin and Bibi footwear. The latter produced 3.3 million grossed $ 132 million and shoes last year, up 11 percent. Bibi is forecast grow 8% this year.
In total, the child category of footwear industry registered gross sales of r $ 3.9 billion in 2012, up 5.6% on 2011, according to the Institute of Industrial Marketing (Iemi). In volume, the production shrank 1.8 percent to 171.5 million pairs, following the trend of shrinking of the footwear industry as a whole in the period.
All Ortopé shoes are made at a plant in Bahia, where they were manufactured 1.6 million pairs last year. In 2013, the Ortopé want to expand that number to 2 million.
Second Haack, technical knowledge of Paquetá was crucial to retrieve the Ortopé. In all, the Group has seven factories. In addition to the own brands, the company also manufactures for third parties, such as Adidas, Asics, Crocs, Oakley. Last year alone, 13 million pairs were produced.
Haack says that the strategy of Ortopé from here forward will continue with exclusive performance on multi-brand channel, although Paqueta has enough experience in retail. Are shops, 353 between own and franchises. In addition to the monomarcas of Dumond and Capodarte, the Group operates the multi-brand banners Paquetá, Paquetá sports, Esposende and Gaston. In all, Paquetá Group employs 18 thousand employees.