A ' green ' shoes made in Brazil

SÃO PAULO-In 2003, after pipsqueaks knock themselves out with the blind eye of the bankers to the environmental problems of the world, the French François-Ghislain Morillion and Sébastien Kopp decided to abandon the promise of a stable career in banks Société Génerale and Morgan Stanley to travel the world. But not as tourists. Farewell to New York was connected to the Mission of providing consultancy in? sustainable business? for French multinationals in emerging countries.
The job-despite result in disappointment for those who expected to see companies? responsible? -was the inspiration for the creation of a product? Green?: a shoe entirely made in Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul made with organic cotton of the interior of Ceará and rubber in the Amazon), which went on sale in the country in September.
The idea of footwear was born after the duo meet the different business model from the French food company Alter Eco, one of his customers, who purchase palmito pupunha of an Association of producers of Rondônia, which in turn benefits farmers who grow food with great concern to preserve nature.
There, the friends realized that the product that reaches the shelves can, in fact, have a positive story behind. And Brazil, with Ngos and cooperatives partners, seemed the ideal environment for them to start a business? green?.
Thus arose the brand of sneakers look, in 2005. Cotton (which turns the canvas footwear) is grown without chemical inputs by farmers associations in the country. Most of the plume comes from the city of Tauá, in the interior of Ceará. The production involves 700 families who sell the raw material directly to the company.
The rubber comes from the Cooperative Chico Mendes, which includes 40 families of rubber tappers housewives of own business. The milk that they extract from the tree (without cutting them) goes through a process that dispenses with the passage by the plant and ensures a raw without impurities. Another component of the shoes, the leather is tanned with extract of Acacia, rather than heavy metals. The goal is to reduce water pollution.
Cost
So careful so it has its price. A kilo of rubber? responsible?, for example, costs $ 7, twice the commonly used in the industry. If you chose the usual raw materials, in Brazil, the cost of production would fall by half, according to the company. In China, the economy would be 100% in the production.
Still, tennis does not come out more expensive than other brands-between $ 195 and $ 289. The company's advertising and therefore does not need to embed the value of footwear this expense. Morillion and Kopp (the only shareholders of the company) sell about 120 thousand pairs per year-70% in France. The product is exported to the French market since 2005, but only now beginning to be commercialized in Brazil. Here, was christened Vert (green, in French), since?See? would be associated with the magazine.
The French expect to fall in love. Tennis should appear at the foot of one of the actresses of the next novel from nine of Rede Globo-at zero cost, according to the company. Earn market doing a? fair trade?, however, is not easy. Profit margins are smaller and it is necessary to assess whether the consumer is ready to buy your product. ?Maybe the Brazilian consciousness in the social scope is stronger than in the environment?, Romain says Michel, Director of the French brand of t-shirts All Good in Brazil.
The company, which also uses organic cotton of Tauá, recently closed the only store that had in Rio after a year of operation. The goal is to give priority to the European market, where business has obtained success. The company's revenue has doubled in the last year.
The Vert hopes to earn 6 million in 2013-value seven times greater than that of 2006. Is a distant porch the billions of multinationals. But, according to the President of innovation consultancy Mandalah, has grown in the niche of major? the notion that making money and doing the right thing must walk side by side. The point is to put it into practice. The information is from the newspaper O Estado de s. Paulo.