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| Havaianas opens its first concept store in Davao. Marga Nograles of MarTish & Ana Gonzales of Havaianas PH |
Havainas opens its first Havaianas Concept Store in Davao, the first in Mindanao and the 4th in the Philippines.
We sat down with Anna Gonzales, founder and managing director of Havaianas Philippines, and Marga Nograles, managing director of MarTish Marketing in Davao, and talked about the brand and its new concept store.
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| Officially open. Marga Nograles, Councilor Javi Campos, Ana Gonzales & Mike Dakudao |
About Havaianas and the new Havaianas Concept Stores.
Havaianas, since its started in 1962, was focused on distribution. The Philippines was a success story for the brand globally.
Anna Gonzales: 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 Havaianas 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 essentially was all Havaianas.
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 Havaianas 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. Havaianas 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 the All Flip Flops stores to the Havaianas Concept Store separate from opening new Havaians concept stores.
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| Havaianas PH started with 3000 pairs, now it’s a 1.5 to 2 million-pair business annually. The Havaianas Concept Store in Davao is the 4th outside of Metro Manila. |
About Havaianas in Davao.
In 2005, MarTish (Marga Nograles and Tisha Dominguez) brought the brand to Davao.
Marga Nograles: The 200 pairs sold out three days. Since then the market grew fast and now they are ordering 100,000 pairs annually. With the new Havaianas Concept Store they are looking to increase the orders by 20% yearly.
Anna Gonzalez: We’re expanding our collection. 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.
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Secret to the longevity of the brand?
Anna Gonzales: The core business is still the classic flip-flops. Weather, lifestyle, culturally, Filipinos totally embrace it. It fits. I think as long we continuing 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.
The new Havaianas Concept Store in Davao is on the ground floor of Abreeza Mall.
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| With the Havaianas ladies Follow ofapplesandlemons on Facebook For travel stories, visit www.jeepneyjinggoy.com Email me at jinggoysalvador@yahoo.com |
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