Footwear, Fashion and Clothing

Footwear

The State of Rio Grande do Sul is Brazil’s largest footwear manufacturer. Its companies are spread over several municipalities, with the main production centers located in the regions of Sinos Valley, Paranhana Valley, Serra Gaúcha and Vale do Taquari.
This prominent position of the State is reinforced by the fact that the headquarters of the Brazilian Association of Footwear Industries (Abicalçados) is located in Novo Hamburgo, in Rio Grande do Sul.

Figures from the sector in Rio Grande do Sul

• Production: 172.4 million pairs – 18.3% of the national footwear production
• Jobs: 95.1 thousand jobs, the highest number of jobs in the sector in Brazil, accounting for 33.6% of total Brazil’s jobs
• Companies: The State ranks first in Brazil in the number of companies specialized in footwear manufacture - 2,720 companies, accounting for 35.1% of the total number of Brazilian companies
• Exports: 20.5 million pairs exported (16.5% of the total number of Brazilian pairs of shoes exported), totaling 370 million (38.5% of the total Brazilian value). Rio Grande do Sul is Brazil’s largest footwear exporter in export value

Fashion and Clothing

Rio Grande do Sul has 8.7 thousand establishments specialized in the production of fashion and clothing items¹, and 32.3 thousand establishments focused on their commercialization (Source: RAIS MTE, 2017). In 2016, Rio Grande do Sul sold approximately R$ 2.88 billion in products of this segment to other Brazilian states.

Sector opportunities in Rio Grande do Sul

• Interaction of Rio Grande do Sul’s manufacturers with international networks to improve product distribution. This would make it possible, for example, to offer exclusive shoes to large international buyers, taking advantage of the expertise of state manufacturers and the high quality of the products, as well as of the comprehensiveness and knowledge of the large networks (especially for women's leather footwear, the main vocation of Rio Grande do Sul)
• Interaction with international designers, promoting the exchange of ideas and styles. Partnerships for releasing shoe collections can give visibility and access to new markets for our producers. In turn, international designers and their unique distribution channels could benefit from the quality and comfort that characterize Rio Grande do Sul’s leather footwear

¹ Includes the manufacture of textile fiber preparation and spinning, weaving (except knitting), manufacture of knitted fabrics, textile finishing processes, textile fabrics and articles, manufacture of textile articles (except apparel), manufacture of clothing articles and accessories, manufacture of knitwear, manufacture of textile travel goods and miscellaneous leather articles