When I was travelling in Brazil from Rio de Janeiro to Buzios to Vitoria, I was amazed by the wonderful people, culture and history. Enjoying the landscape from a 360° panoramic view and experiencing the life at the coast lines and tropical beaches was breathtaking.
The variety and quality of Brazilian shoes drew my attention and I got pretty much impressed. Since I also adore shoes, it became my main point of interest. And of course I couldn’t resist getting for myself a few pairs of lovely ‘made in Brazil’ shoes! My favorites are Melissa, Ipanema and Havaianas. More about it later on...
I started to wonder how the Brazilian footwear industry looks like in general and started a small investigation...
BRAZILIAN FOOTWEAR INDUSTRYThe Brazilian footwear industry is the third biggest producer in the world:
- More than 8000 factories
- Overall production capacity of 755 million pairs / year
- 212 million pairs / year of exportation to more than 140 countries
- Strong product technology and innovation
MELISSAMelissa is a well known brand in the shoes industry. Starting by selling plastic packaging for wine crates, Mellisa is selling designer footwear now. Alexandre Herchcovitch, Jean Paul- Gaultier, Vivienne Westwoord, Thierry Mugler and many more of the world’s most talented and known fashion designers (and architects) have added a touch of their creative visions to Melissa’s lines.
The formula behind the Melissa is pushing the PVC material Melflex to its design limits. In 1979 the first famous plastic Melissa sandals were produced. Nowadays, the brand offers very impressive plastic design shoes!
These are my favorites:
Melissa kids: Such a cuteness !
I became in love with Melissa and got myself a pair of customizable design of Gaetona Pesce:
Wearing my sweet smelling Melissa shoes created by Gaetona Pesce in the streets of Washington D.C. made me feel special because almost every American girl reacted postively on the uniqueness of those Melissa's :)
ABOUT BRAZILIAN FLIP FLOPS
Flip flops with remarkable designs, colors and quality are the most successful products made in Brazil.
The flip flop was born closest to it’s current form in South East Asia during the 1940s. Much debate rages over whether it was a New Zealander, Morris Yock or an Englishman (living in Hong Kong), John Cowie who was first to think of creating a plastic version of the traditional Japanese woven soled zori or jonge sandals.
Nowadays the flip flop takes on much more interesting designs but the theory is still the same - a thong-strap holding the toe connected to the sole.
IPANEMA
The brand Ipanema is inspired by the coast of Copa Cobana.
This is how Copa Cobana looked like during my visit in September (winter time in Brazil):
This is how Copa Cobana looked like during my visit in September (winter time in Brazil):
Most flip flops are made of rubber. However Ipanema flip floprs are made from patented super-soft melflex plastic. Melflex is a flexible, hypo-allergenic, 100% recyclable PVC, which allows supercomfortable flip flops.
I can witness the comfort and remarkable style of Ipename flip flops by hiking up and down the hills and on the tropical beaches of the peninsula Buziòs without any complaint.
I can witness the comfort and remarkable style of Ipename flip flops by hiking up and down the hills and on the tropical beaches of the peninsula Buziòs without any complaint.
Ipanema products represent much more than fashion alone. Ipanema has also a strong environmental and ethical influence. The collaboration with Gisele Bündchen supports a marine preservation charity - The Tamar Project: a Brazilian marine conservation project helping to protect the five endangered species of turtle that inhabit the Brazilian waters.
Gisele Bündchen has her own line of sandals called Ipanema Gisele Bündchen. With its uber-chic look and feel, the Ipanema GB (Gisele Bündchen) line is remarkable for its hip design, unmatched style and high quality.
Hot sand collection of Ipanema Gisele Bündchen:
Colorful sea collection of Gisele Bündchen:
The collection itself is called “Colourful Sea” referencing the beauty and diversity that is found in our oceans. Mixes of tones, waves and the fluidity of energy and life bring this collection of flip flops and sandals to life. “Colorful Sea” belongs to the Tamar Project.
The collection itself is called “Colourful Sea” referencing the beauty and diversity that is found in our oceans. Mixes of tones, waves and the fluidity of energy and life bring this collection of flip flops and sandals to life. “Colorful Sea” belongs to the Tamar Project.
Butterfly collection of Gisele Bündchen:
The Butterfly sandals are so soft and colorful...I could not resist to bring over 3 pairs of Butterfly sandals to Belgium as gifts to my friends...They were pretty much impressed by the design and comfort! I bought these 3 models but in other colors:
HAVAIANAS
The Havaianas were born in 1962. It was inspired by the Zori, typical Japanese sandals. It is for this reason that the foot-bed of all Havaianas have a textured rice pattern, one of its many remarkable features.
In contrast to Ipanemas, Havaianas are made of 100% rubber. 90% of scrap rubber are reused in production process and the remaining 10% are reused in other industries. Five pairs of Havaianas per second are currently being manufactured. To this day, 3 billion pairs of Havaianas have been sold, out of every 100 Brazilians , 94 own or owned a pair of Havaianas.
It has turned into a world-wide phenomenon; a fashion icon, and the most succesful product made in Brazil.
