Bonza Brazil
As a guest of the Brazilian Association of Textile and Apparel Industries (ABIT) in late 2007, Belinda Smart discovered a progressive TCF sector poised to reap the rewards of overseas expansion.
Mention Brazil and your thoughts drift to that elusive girl from Ipanema, sashaying along the beach to the bossa nova soundtrack that immortalised her; or to the tang of a caipirinha - an addictive mix of cachaça (fermented sugarcane) sugar and lime - sipped while listening to the fizz of surf on sand and marvelling at the physics-defying properties of those teeny weeny Brazilian bikinis.
Look beyond the clichés however and you'll also find a manufacturing TCF powerhouse. According to the Brazilian Association of Textile and Apparel Industries (ABIT), Brazil is the second largest denim producer, fourth largest knitting producer and sixth largest textile producer in the world.
It seems Brazil's hour has come. In January Texbrasil - the export initiative launched in 2001 by ABIT and Apex-Brazil (the Brazilian Agency for the Promotion of Exports and Investments) - released its 36-strong list of export target countries for 2008.
Australia made the list, and not before time; recent weeks have seen mainstream media promoting Rio Fashion Week and Carnival, while companies such Melbourne agency Alchera have built their reputations on Brazilian and Latin American brands.
According to Sao Paulo based womenswear label Lucidez - a member of Alchera's stable - Brazil's burgeoning fashion industry and strong brand culture were borne of necessity.
"Until 10 years ago Brazil was closed to imports, so the country was forced to develop its own manufacturing base and brands," explains Lucidez international public relations consultant Alfredo Mascarenhas.
ABIT head treasurer Alfredo Emilio Bonduki agrees. Now however, the time has come to promote Brazil's wares globally, particularly in terms of environmentally friendly, progressive manufacturing and brands. A recent cotton campaign produced by Texbrasil illustrates the point.
"The campaign was about promoting naturally dyed cotton - which is environmentally friendly and supportive of recycling - as a Brazilian point of difference," he says, adding that the concept was to look beyond stereotypes, revealing a country proud of its cutting edge technology, production capacity, strong brands and cooperative ethos.
If companies such as Santista Têxtil, Hering and Marisol (all of which were visited by Ragtrader are any indication, this upbeat message appears to have more than a modicum of substance.
Boasting clients including Diesel, Miss Sixty and Zara, it's a safe bet many of the jeans worn by Australian consumers originated at Santista Têxtil, the denim subsidiary of construction, engineering, textile and footwear giant Carmargo Correa (Santista also owns another Aussie favourite; iconic thong brand Havaianas).
According to Santista marketing manager Maria José Orione, the company continually innovates to ensure its factories meet world class environmental and CSR standards, and recycles around 90 per cent of the water it uses. Santista's growing focus on differentiated product - coupled with a recent merger with Spanish denim giant Tavex - also typifies Brazil's new global scope.
Ronaldo Jacobs, export manager of iconic Tee-shirt and casualwear brand Hering, says the company's tide turned in the 1990s, when Brazil was flooded with product from China.
"We had to reinvent our business. Hering used to be a "plain tee shirt" label, but all that has changed; strong brands and international markets are now key goals."
Marisol is also in the midst of an overseas drive, led by iconic Brazilian girlswear brand Lillica Pipillica - which boasts a small but steady wholesale presence in Australia - and luxury women's swimwear label Rosa Cha - for which Australia is "of significant interest", confirms Marisol commercial director Robson Amorim.
For ABIT's Alfredo Emilio Bonduki, his organisation's most pressing challenge is to lobby government to facilitate TCF exports. How determined is he to achieve this? Perhaps the answer lies in those teeny weeny Brazilian bikinis. ABIT would like to see a lot more of them on Australian beaches.
"When you have a situation where Brazil currently exports less beachwear than the Czech Republic, clearly there's something very wrong, and we at ABIT are determined to change that."