HISTORY OF SOBRAL

During the hippie movement in the late 60’s, Carlos Alberto Rezende Sobral – nowadays Presidente and main designer of Sobral – impregnated with the culture of that time, used produce handmade purses of leather, sandals with tire soles and costume jewelry made from corroded metal with acid. By that time, Sobral’s handicrafts, which used to be sold at restaurant doors, or in handicraft fairs and cultural events – Ouro Preto’s Winter Festival, Fenart de Miguel Pereira, Feira de Cabo Frio - were very similar to the work of millions of artisans that would find a way of living from this art. The costume jewelry market was extremely pulverized Sobral’s products would only reach the most important sales spot like the Hippie Fair at General Osório’s square, in Ipanema, through help from other people.

Maybe nothing would have changed in Sobral’s professional life if, in 1976, he had not met, in a fair in Cabo Frio, Região dos Lagos, a totally new kind of raw material, the polyester resin. When Sobral saw this material for the first time, the resin was being used by argentine artisans on the development of costume jewelry. Interested in meeting the origins of that material, Sobral asked the Argentines about the name of it and obtained as an unsatisfactory answer, followed by the word “breu”. It is not known if the name “breu” was an Argentine strategy to keep in secret the use of that resin or if it was because the material was a by-product of petroleum.

Later on, when Sobral finally discovered the resin, the will to work with it motivated him to found, in 1978, an industry in the back of a small farm located on Tatú Gamela highway, in Jardim Alvorada, Nova Iguaçu. Gênesis was born, company which later would originate the Sobral. Despite its modest dimensions, the Genesis got some attention in the world of fashion. The pieces created by Sobral, different in shape and colors, quickly got some room in the press, being its creator, in 1979, interviewed on the talk show of Edna Savaget, in TV TUPI studios.

The 80’s left the hippie movement behind. Fashion got sophisticated. The world of production followed its revolution. New spaces and enterprises were created. In the middle of this context, in 1981, Sobral founded the Memphis. More structured and better equipped than the old Gênesis, the new industry used to divide a shed, close to the center of Nova Iguaçu, with the School of Samba Leão do Iguaçu.

In 1982, the founder of Mêmphis, who was 31 years old by that time, traveled to Paris in search of new consumers. Inexperienced and unable to speak French, Sobral arrived in the capitol of France in the middle of the celebration of July 14, the French Revolution Day. With a catalogue in hands, despite his will to win, the industrial / trader did not succeed because of the natural difficulties of doing business, or sales, in July and August, due to the vacation season in Paris.

In the following year, Sobral returned to Europe, but this time he chose the right season. In his luggage there were around 120 kg of merchandise that were cleared at customs thanks to the “Brazilian way”. Sold in Paris through a delivery system, the pieces of costume jewelry conquered the European admiration and opened the way to a flow of regular exportations, making the production of Mêmphis known in Brazil and abroad. The sales of the company smashed the record and reached 1 million dollars in 1988.

The investment of this capital financed the diversification of the business. In 1991, Sobral opened a wholesale store, located in the sophisticated neighborhood of Ipanema: Rita Sobral, later changed to Rsobral and nowadays only Sobral. The name was a dedication to his ex-wife, with whom he worked from the beginning of his carrier until the middle of the 90’s.

Source: http://www.rsobral.com.br