Introduction

In the last four decades, Brazil has performed a relevant role in the
Footwear history. The largest country in Latin America-Brazil is one of
the most outstanding manufacturers of leather articles, holding the
third position in the ranking of the largest world producer. Brazil has an
important participation in the share of women‘s shoes that ally quality
to accessible prices. The shipments abroad have been growing yearly,
to over a hundred countries.

The Brazilian Footwear Park nowadays presents over six thousand

industries, which produces approximately 650 million pairs of shoes
per year; 170 million of which are destined for exports. The footwear
sector is among those generating more jobs in the country. In 2002,
around 270 thousand workers operated directly in the industry. The
large variety of raw material, machinery, and component suppliers for
the products in addition to technology and innovation, makes the
Brazilian footwear sector one of the most important in the world. There
are over 300 component industries installed in Brazil, with more than
400 companies specialized in tanning and leather finishing, processing
over 300 million hides yearly, and around a hundred machinery and
equipment factories.

The structure of Brazilian footwear industry, which presently exports to

over 100 countries, is highly capacitated and manufactures footwear
with modern concepts of production administration and manufacture
management such as ‘Just In Time’ (JIT) and other international
processes of quality.

Country Overview of Brazil

Brazil is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the other
side’s border Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Colombia and
Venezuela. Brazil is the largest country in South America and occupies
almost half the continent. The fleet commander Pedro landed on
Brazil's shores in 1500 and this was the start of many years of
Portuguese rule. Centuries of Portuguese influence followed and today
Brazil is the largest Portuguese speaking nation in the world. Brazil is
full of natural wonders. Brazil is South America's leading industrial
nation, with a wide range of different industries. These industries
cluster around Brazil’s major cities particularly Sao Paulo. Brazil also
has rich mineral resources and fertile soils where timber, coffee cocoa
and sugar-cane grow. There are enormous reserves of iron ore and the
country's mines yield resources from tin to gold and diamonds. Large
deposits of oil have also been found in the Amazon Basin.