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Business Dress

y Brazil has a sweltering tropical climate with winter in June/July and summer in

December/January/February. So, light cottons and similar natural fibers are a reliable

choices. y Appearance is vital in a Brazilian business culture. Subtle differences are more

acceptable, like wearing jeans and a nice shirt and blazer to a meeting is accepted.y Dark color suits are more acceptable in Brazil but light depending upon the industry, light

colors are also acceptable in summer.y Ties should be well-made and conservative. Silk ties are easily available but they are not

conservative but flashy.y Make sure the shoes are polished and in excellent condition. Depending on the industry,

one can wear sandals or tennis shoes.y Nails of women should be well cared. Makeup is not so prevelant among women, they

lean towards the natural look.y On business entertaining occasions, dark suits for men are perfect formal dress. Women

should wear elegant dresses or skirts and blouses.

Comm unicati o n Guidelines

y Handshake is common for hello as well as goodbye, often for a long time. In a small

group make sure to shake hand with everyone present. Use good eye contact.

y Women exchange kisses by placing their cheeks together and kissing the air, when theymeet.

y While addressing, first names are often used, but titles are important.y Brazilians favorite is music and long, animated conversation. They view interruptions

with enthusiasm and enjoy joking, informality, and friendships.y Good conversation topics are soccer, family, and children.y Avoid conversation on Argentina, politcs, religion, and the Rain Forest.

Business H o ur

Official business hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.Higher ranking individuals usually begin work later in the morning and end up later in theevening.

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The Brazilian Footwear Industry

In the last four decades, Brazil hasplayed a relevant role in the FootwearHistory. The largest country in LatinAmerica is one of the most outstanding manufacturers of leatherarticles, holding the third position inthe ranking of the largest worldproducers, and having as well important participation inthe share of women s shoes, which combine quality andaccessible prices. The shipments abroad have beengrowing yearly, to over a hundred countries.

Although the concentration of large size companies is

located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the Brazilianfootwear production is gradually being distributed toother centers, located in the Southeast and Northeast regions of the country, being highlighted the interior of the state of So Paulo (cities of Ja, Franca and Birigui),as well as the emerging states such as Cear and Bahia.There is also growth in the footwear production in thestate of Santa Catarina (region of So Joo Batista), theneighboring state of Rio Grande do Sul, and in Minas

Gerais (region of Nova Serrana).

Nowadays, the BrazilianFootwear park presents over

seven thousand industries, whichproduce approximately 755million pairs/year, 212 millionbeing destined to exports. Thesector is among those generating

more jobs in the country. In 2004, around 300 thousandworkers operated directly in the industry.

The large variety of raw material, machinery, andcomponent suppliers, allied to the products technologyand innovation, makes the Brazilian footwear sector oneof the most important in the world. There are over 300component industries installed in Brazil, more than 400

companies specializing in tanning and leather finishing,processing yearly over 300 million hides, and around ahundred machinery and equipment factories.

It is with this highly capacitated structure that thefootwear manufacturers perform the production of Brazilian footwear, presently exported to over 130countries, with modern concepts of productionadministration and manufacture management, such as

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just in time, and other international quality processes. It is a highly specialized industry in every kind of shoes:women s, men s, and children s, besides special shoes,such as orthopedic and work safety shoes.

Exports destination The Brazilian footwear export sector structure is one of the most modern in the world.In 2004, 212 million pairs were exported. The marketingstrategy involves the presence of Brazilian entrepreneursin the most important international fairs, such as GDS,in Germany, MICAN, in Italy, Moss Shoes, in Russia, andthe Las Vegas Show, in the United States. Latin Americahas been the target of different initiatives, such as thepromotion of show rooms in the major consumingcountries, as Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and Colombia.

Due to the speed in obtaining information about thefashion world trends, added to the ease to obtain rawmaterials to develop the adequate modeling for the

buying market, and afterwards the manufacture inseries, Brazilian footwear producers have ampleconditions to answer to the demand of importers of themost different profiles. Examples are the shoesmanufactured for important brands, and North Americanand European stores, which are already used to seemade in Brazil printed on their footwear.

The United States is the principal buyer of Brazilianshoes, with 70% of the exported total. To increase thesales percentage in other countries, particularly of LatinAmerica and the Middle East, the sector has beendeveloping a project so that more companies shall be

part of the commercial balance, principally those of small and medium size.

The production diversification is another competitivefactor, as the adaptation to the most different collections is very fast. This enables Brazil to produce allkinds of footwear to meet the needs of both thedomestic and the foreign markets.