WHO would have thought that the Brazilian-made rubber slippers, worn by with Brazil’s working class, would become a global sensation? It was founded in the early 60‘s but it wasn’t until the 40 years later that it became a global brand. The director for the company’s foreign trade? A woman named Angela Hirata.
In the Philippines, another woman followed her instincts and brought the brand in. Little did she know the Philippines would become the brand’s success story in Asia.
I sat with Anna Gonzalez, the founder and managing director of Terry, the flip-flop brand’s national distributor, and Marga Nograles, co-founder of MarTish Marketing, the brand distributor for Southern Mindanao, and got to know more of the Brazilian wonder, how it became successful in the Philippines, and the new concept stores.
Tell us about the flip-flop brand from Brazil and the new concept stores
Anna Gonzalez: The flip-flop brand, since its started in 1962, was focused on distribution. When we brought the brand to the country, the Philippines became a success story for the brand globally. One of the reasons is because the Pinoys are so culturally similar to the Brazilians- we are light-hearted, colorful, vibrant and so casual. The product speaks to that lifestyle.
When we brought the brand to the Philippines we were in a lot of mixed-brand stores, department stores. Then we opened a concept store called All Flip-Flops, which carried the product.
Now that there is a template the brand is rolling out globally, we are following that. We will continue doing that in the next few years and make sure that every key city in the Philippines is well represented with the brand.
It was just recently that the brand finally decided to open concept stores. The first concept store in the country was opened in Bonifacio High Street in Manila in the last quarter of 2019.
What we’ve been doing is opening concept stores across the Philippines. The brand currently has 50 stores in the country with 11 concepts stores and 39 All Flip Flops store. In their three to five-year plan, they will convert the All Flip Flops stores to concept stores, separate from opening new concept stores.
In the Philippines, we started with 3000 pairs, now it’s a 1.5 to 2 million-pair business annually.
What about the success story in Davao?
Marga Nograles: In 2005, MarTish (Marga Nograles and Tisha Dominguez) brought the brand to Davao. We didn’t know how the market will respond so we only ordered 200 pairs. We were surprised that it sold out in three days. Since then the market grew fast and we are now ordering 100,000 pairs annually. With the new concept store we are looking to increase the orders by 20% yearly.
What should we expect from the new concept store?
Anna Gonzalez: The brand’s concept store in Davao is the 4th outside of Metro Manila.
Marga Nograles: The new concept store’s look celebrates summer, sunshine and happiness. Expect exciting collections to come in, different silhouettes, unique colors and exciting promos.
Anna Gonzalez: We’re expanding our collection as well. We now have styles that look more like sandals, trying different materials. We are now working with vegan leather so it allows us to do something dressier.
A concept store like this also allows us to offer merchandise that we don’t have available in other stores. We have a footwear collection with sneakers, espadrilles; accessories like bags and pouches. Things that basically ties up the whole lifestyle.
To what factor do you attribute the longevity of the brand?
Anna Gonzalez: The core business is still the classic flip-flops. Weather, lifestyle, culturally, Filipinos totally embrace it. It fits. I think as long we continue to evolve in terms of design but still stick to the core DNA. It’s something you will always see, something that’s going to be around.
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