CalcaThai.com Announces Opening and Becomes First Online Store to sell Thai Trousers in Brazil

A former expat from São Paulo has just launched a Thai pants online store for the Brazilian market. Thai pants are a globally popular functional fashion that are adored both for their comfort and colourful Asian designs and the company claims to be the first in Brazil to focus exclusively on this type of clothing. 

The startup will offer a variety of custom-designed, handmade Thai trousers all available exclusively on their new website calcathai.com. It is offering free shipping to all Brazilian states as part of its push to cover a previously neglected niche in the market. Pierre Larose, the founder, believes one of the reasons they will be popular is the similarity of the climates in the two countries. “In hot weather you want loose and comfortable clothes which are still fashionable and that is exactly what we offer”.

“We're very passionate about our Thai trousers and being able to offer them in a completely authentic way designing them locally and shipping them straight from Thailand,” he says. “By working hard to establish direct relationships with the people who design and sew the pants in Thailand we are eliminating middle men completely, and are able to bring these to our Brazilian market at a very attractive price.“

According to the company, there are multiple ways to wear the Thai trousers, either as a baggy trouser or as a jumpsuit and their website showcases both Asian and Brazilian models combining the clothes with regular street wear. The photos are all shot in natural, green environments and sunny Thai beaches suggesting Calça Thai is offering not just apparel but a lifestyle choice. They will compete in the increasingly popular ethnic clothing segment and rely on their price and uniqueness to gain traction in Brazil.

Loose fitting and lightweight, Thai Trousers are popular with everyone from nature lovers, to yoga and fitness enthusiasts and women moving along in their pregnancy. Thai pants have a unique, recognizable design of beautiful coloured patterns which combines well with plain tops and sandals, making them the perfect addition to a summer wardrobe.

Calça Thai expects to expand their catalog in the months to come both in terms of the colours and patterns available as well as launching entirely new designs. “The early reviews we've been seeing have been encouraging and we are already working on new designs to increase the number of products throughout 2015.”

For more information or to make your order visit http://www.calcathai.com.

Nike Tiempo 94 Mid Jacquard São Paulo

Those of you who love the city of São Paulo will be glad to know Nike has launched a São Paulo specific shoe. The Nike Tiempo 94 Mid Jacquard São Paulo might sound like a bit of a mouthful but those are some neat looking trainers.

Timed to coincide with the world cup Nike has created a street trainer to fit the urban context of São Paulo. It's covered in light brown and beige tones with a white sole underneath.

 

The upperpart of the sneakers is based on a design which mimics the pavements of the city. They've not gone so far as to include the shape of the state logo but the colonial portuguese style tiles are unmistakeable. 

 

There's a removable tongue as well and a padded collar with Nike written right on the heel and a huge swoosh on the side drawn as a shadow over the paving pattern. 

How much? Well it`s not cheap but you can pick them up at Nike.com for $150.

Trend Report: Food trucks in São Paulo

Suddenly food trucks are “in”. Following the success of American food trucks during the downturn years, the concept has taken off in São Paulo.

Up until last year the best cheap food you could hope to grab on the street was sweetcorn, popcorn or a dogão (Brazilian hot dog). Suddenly food trucks popped up and became a trendy alternative. The shift brought home the need for regulation, a new law was passed and so this year will be the first year São Paulo has legally compliant fully authorised food trucks.

2014, then, is the year of the food truck. Many of them have literally just arrived in town and still don't have websites but here are the top 7 to look out for:

1. Rolando Doguinho

This has to get first mention as he was here on the streets of São Paulo doing food trucks before it was cool (or regulated). You may remember the Rolando Massinha truck in Sumaré. It’s the same guy but now he does hot dogs and is at Shopping Vila Olímpia. He’s actually capitalising on his first mover advantage and turning into the first chain food truck having also launched Rolando Churrinho which sells Brazilian doughnuts on Rua Sumaré 1089.

2. The Holy Pasta Food Truck

In short, Holy Pasta is what the cool kids eat. The truck is on Facebook , and Four Square so you can follow it around the city. It is going for the high quality at a low price angle which explains why they make it a pasta only truck. You'll find it in places like Vila Madalena.

3. Temakaria Na Van

If you thought food trucks were Western food only, think again. And if you thought driving your restaurant around on a gasoline powered vehicle was not environmentally friendly, think again, again. Temakaria Na Van, the brainchild of a former DJ Alan Liao, uses biodiesel and is powered by solar panels fitted onto the roof of the van. He even has selective recycling containers which he takes away with him afterwards. Catch him in Berrini on the southside.

4. Jameson Food Truck

Of course, if something is fashionable, nocturnal and has only started being regulated, you can expect some of the major alcohol brands to get in on the act. Meet the Jameson Food Truck. It does curry, burgers, hotdogs as well as 'surubim and mandioca' known to the common man as 'fish and chips'. To wash it down? Jameson Tea and Lime. Obviously.

5. King Doner Kebaberia

Those of you unfamiliar with São Paulo may find this one unimaginative but actually kebabs are not a very common fast food here unlike many countries in Europe such as Germany or the UK. Tracking down King Doner Kebaberia is another matter. This guy roams not only the city but inland and up the coast too.

6. Buzina Food Truck

This is probably the most “in” truck of 2014. Read anything about food trucks and it’ll mention Buzina. Why? Well, because they went overkill on bringing high quality food to the street and employed two reknowned chefs: Márcio Silva (ex-Oryza) e Jorge Gozalez (ex-DOM). With these two in the kitchen there’s no need for a fixed menu, they will just rustle up something amazing on the go.

7. EATinerante

Also run by a chef who didn’t want to be left out of the party. Alex Capeto does mostly Italian food and is parked semi-permanently at Rua Gabriel Monteiro da Silva, 1236 in Jardim Europa.

Corinthians launch a blood-stained replica shirt

Corinthians, the biggest club in São Paulo by some margin, is well known for the 'to the death' loyalty and radicalism of its fan base. Similarly the players perceived to give most for the shirt are the ones that go down as legendarily Corinthiano.

In these stakes few surpass Zé Maria who in 1979 literally bled for the club as he played through a game against Ponte Preta despite a shirt soaked with blood from a facial injury suffered during the game.

Zé Maria and his 1979 blood stained shirt

No surprise then that fans with a long memory and longstanding commitment to Corinthians were delighted to see official homage being paid to Zé Maria last week. Bizarrely for anyone without the context, a giant blood stained shirt was unfurled before the game in São Paulo last Wednesday,

Giant version of Ze Maria's blood soaked shirt unveiled in the Pacaembu stadium

And if that wasn't enough it was announced this week that an official Corinthians replica shirt will be created complete with blood stain so fans can wear their very own Camisa Sangrenta and the man who bled for the club can be eternalised or at least his image can be merchandised by the club's marketing department.

Socks and sandals, a uniquely British faux pas?

If I ask you who São Paulo Alpargatas are, you´ll probably come back to me with a blank. If I tell you it’s a company that makes footwear, you´ll probably come back to me with a blank again. But if I tell you that their main product is “Havaianas” I’m sure you´ll know what I’m talking about. The brand has boomed over the last decade or so and whilst in Brazil they can proudly claim that 2 out of every 3 Brazilians will repurchase a set of Havaianas at some point during any 12 month period, their success has also spread overseas rapidly and it’s quite common to see the trademark Brazilian flag popping up on flip flops the world over. Amazingly all of them are produced from one factory in Campina Grande which churns them out at a rate of 5 per second!

Not far from my flat there is one of the many official Havaianas outlets although in São Paulo Havaianas are easily found elsewhere in shopping malls and even supermarkets. What surprised me in the official shop though was the selling of new winter accessories. Up until this moment I had always thought wearing socks with sandals was a Northern European holidaying phenomena and was to be frowned upon by anyone with a remote sense of fashion or style. But look at this:

And before you say, yes but nobody will actually wear them, look at this:

Socks and sandals is bad but surely socks and flip flops is even worse! It must be the cold winter weather…

Beauty is in the nail of the beholder

Although São Paulo itself cannot be considered a beautiful city in anything other than a metaphorical sense that doesn’t mean it’s inhabitants are not beauty conscious. This year Miss Universe is held in São Paulo, Brazil being a proud member of the top 5 all time winners list but beyond formalized beauty  contests on a day to day level it’s quite common to see people, particularly and especially women, who have made an enormous effort to look beautiful.

Particularly noticeable is the nail culture. Painted nails are everywhere and although I’m not a big fan myself it’s still impressive to see the effort put in to these intricate designs and the variety of different patterns available. Actually I am already quite used to them so I wasn’t so surprised to meet a “painted” lady the other day but when I found out what she’d done to her dog I realized there’s a whole other level to nail painting.

Check it out:

Ps. The dog, which is presumably a she, was also sprayed with perfume. Amusing and frightening in equal doses..

Coca-Cola Shoes are in/back/out/here/everywhere (delete as appropriate)

Ok so I’m walking down the street and I glance into a shoestore and see some new Converses I have never seen before. Looking closer I realize they’r e not Converse, they are a different brand, a brand I know very well but don’t associate with footwear… Coca-Cola! Here are the photos I took:

 

Now being an arrogant Westerner (capital W for emphasis) I immediately assumed these were bootleg and tut tutted  - what would The Coca-Cola Company say if they found out.  Major brand infringement lawsuit coming your way Mr São Paulo Shoe Shop Owner. But no – I was wrong, these are legitimate, official Coca-Cola products. I can think of a million product areas Coca-Cola could easily move towards but I must say shoes is not high up the list although when you see it it kind of works.

After researching this I have found not only that they are readily available on many Brazilian shoe retailers such as Leader  which have fancy ones like these:

 

but they also have their own website www.cocacolashoes.com.br 

And it could be that I don't shop a lot and hadn't noticed till now but until I came to Brazil I didn't realise Coca-Cola had expanded into clothing proper so if you really feel the need you can deck out entirely in Coca-Cola clothing.

Now before you all go off and read another post in disgust, I should inform you that, according to the Coca-Cola freaks out there, there was a time in the 80s when Coca-Cola shoes got fashionable and as we all know.. the late 80s are “in again”. Need I say more, Leader awaits all you moderninhos…

And if not there's always Lou Bega to keep you sweet..

This is what 500,000 post-its look like

Melissa is Brazilian store which sells fashionable shoewear for women whose façade displays recently caught my eye. It’s flagship store is on no other street than Rua Oscar Freire in São Paulo referred to, tongue in cheek, by a friend of mine as the Beverly Hills of São Paulo and occupant of the most expensive dark blue square on the Brazilian monopoly board (on the English board it would be Mayfair). You get the idea.

And like any other store which needs to justify high prices Melissa has a strong marketing team which recently hired the agency Casa Darwin to completely paste the entire shop façade with post-it notes as co-marketing action with 3M. I am not in a position to evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign but it is certainly eye catching and not only did they do it once, they are repeating it 6 times with different designs, each post-it intended to be a single pixel in the grand display. A whopping 500,000 post-its have been used in total (don’t worry I’m sure 3M gave them a bulk discount :)) along with 40km of adhesive tape.

The address is below if you want to stop by and if not see my pictures even further below, there was a post-it elephant on view when I stopped by!

Galeria Melissa
Rua Oscar Freire, 827 - São Paulo / SP