Sanjo (brand)
| Sanjo Son Representações Lda.
|
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|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | Sociedade Limitada |
| founding | 2011 |
| Seat | Venda do Pinheiro , Portugal |
| management | Paulo Fernandes |
| Branch | Sporting goods |
| Website | www.sanjo.pt |
Sanjo is a Portuguese brand of sneakers and sneakers .
history
Until 2009
The entrepreneur José Pinto de Oliveira , whose company also included the well-known sewing machine manufacturer Oliva , founded the hat factory Empresa Industrial de Chapelaria, Ld.ª in São João da Madeira in 1914 . In the 1940s, the factory began making shoes in two models in its vulcanization department . In addition to a white gymnastics shoe with a thin sole, the K100 model, which is still known today, was produced. Its design included ankle protection and quickly became a trademark of the Associação Desportiva Sanjoanense sports club from São João da Madeira, known as the basketball club . The brand name Sanjo was borrowed from the association. For the first time, the teams of the Associação Desportiva Sanjoanense can be seen almost exclusively with Sanjo shoes in a photo from 1948. Thanks to the low competition in the authoritarian Estado Novo regime of Portugal, Sanjo became the most important sports shoe manufacturer and market leader in the country. The factory employed up to 500 people working in up to three shifts.
The shoe became particularly popular in the 1960s and 1970s. At the end of the 1980s, the brand began to decline rapidly, mainly due to the loss of exports, which made up 40% of sales. Some of the exports also went to the Portuguese colonies that had become independent in 1975 . It is true that Sanjo succeeded through technical innovation from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s in significantly increasing its sales in Portugal, which was consolidating economically after the Carnation Revolution . But after Portugal entered the European Community in 1986, the brand was increasingly exposed to foreign competition. In 1988 the construction company Mota-Engil Sanjo was acquired and planned investments and new model series, especially for export. The plans envisaged a turnover of 1.3 billion escudos (approx. 6 million euros ) by 1990 , of which around 60% should come from exports. However, the plans were largely abandoned and the factory laid off most of its employees in 1990. Oliva took over a share in the company Sanjo, which could not be saved despite the restructuring plan and in 1996 filed for bankruptcy with 600 million escudos (3 million euros) in debt . The brand was eventually discontinued and sold in 1997. Paulo Fernandes, manager of the trading company FERSADO, bought the brand. But since he saw no demand for canvas shoes on the market, he left the brand dormant.
From 2009 on
In 2009, Fernandes felt the economic climate in the wake of the retro fashion wave was favorable for the traditional brand, and he started producing sneakers. Since he could not initially find a partner in Portugal for the vulcanization required to manufacture the shoe soles, he had Sanjo produced in China. In addition to the SportPlace in Faro , the trend store Gang of Four in the student city of Coimbra became the first store to sell the new Sanjos. They were available in the two classic versions, black and white and white, and in the two new colors, dark blue and turquoise . Gang of Four also had Sanjos designed by young artists and sent these models to sneaker stores and sneaker websites abroad that did not yet have a Portuguese brand. In the summer of 2010, Sanjo made his official return, accompanied by the media. Models in 20 colors were presented to the public
The revived traditional brand was then also the subject of scientific scrutiny. The designer Pedro Carvalho de Almeida wrote his doctoral thesis "Portuguese Design Heritage and Product Innovation: the Reevaluation of the Tradmarks from the 'Estado Novo' Period" ( Herança do Design Português e Inovação de Produto: Re-avaliação de Marcas do Período do 'Estado Novo' ) at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design of the University of the Arts London , especially using the example of the Sanjo brand.
In 2011, the Sanjo brand went to Paulo Fernandes' newly founded Sanjo Son Representações Lda. over. Since then, he has also been intensifying the internationalization of the brand, in addition to the bilingual Portuguese and English website with an online shop, also through the presence in shops abroad, especially in areas with a large Portuguese population, such as Luxembourg , Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland .
In 2014, Sanjo announced that it would now only sell shoes produced in Portugal. To this end, the company has created a production unit with 14 direct and 60 indirect jobs in its home town of Venda do Pinheiro ( Mafra district ) with an investment of half a million euros, which can produce on demand and produce up to 150,000 pairs of shoes per year. A diversification of sales was also announced. So now Sanjo shoes are u. a. sold through the international online retailer Amazon . In addition, direct export has increased, with France, Germany and the UK being the main target countries.
reception
A number of TV presenters and other celebrities of the Portuguese public wear Sanjo shoes in public and often expressed their praise for the reintroduced brand, partly because of nostalgic memories of their own youth, partly because of the new colors and models. In particular, the introduction of a model series in the design of the popular rock band Xutos & Pontapés caused a wide media response in 2011, especially in the context of the public presentation with the band and a number of celebrities, which was accompanied by various television channels. In the museum of the hat factory of São João da Madeira there is also a permanent exhibition devoted to the history of Sanjo sports shoes.
In 2011, the Sanjo shoes appeared in ninth place on the joint list of the newspapers Jornal de Notícias and Diário de Notícias , on which the editors listed their personal 1,000 reasons for national pride.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Article of August 10, 2010 in the weekly Expresso , accessed on June 21, 2014
- ↑ a b Article from April 9, 2009 ( Memento of the original from October 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of the weekly Labor , accessed on June 21, 2014
- ↑ a b Article of October 16, 2011 in the daily newspaper Diário de Notícias , accessed on June 21, 2014
- ↑ Interview with Paulo Fernandes from April 4, 2012 , business newspaper Diário Económico , accessed on June 21, 2014
- ↑ Article from December 3, 2009 ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of the weekly Labor , accessed on June 21, 2014
- ↑ Article of June 29, 2012 at www.negocios.verportugal.net, accessed on June 21, 2014
- ^ Article of April 8, 2014 in the daily Correio da Manhã , accessed on June 21, 2014
- ↑ Article dated April 8, 2014 on the retail website www.distribuicaohoje.com, accessed June 21, 2014
- ↑ Documentation about the Sanjo brand , TV recording on YouTube , accessed on June 21, 2014
- ^ Article from July 19, 2011 in the free newspaper Destak, accessed on June 21, 2014
- ↑ TV report by the public broadcaster RTP , recorded on YouTube , accessed on October 25, 2012
- ↑ Television report by the private broadcaster SIC , recorded on YouTube , accessed on October 25, 2012
- ↑ Short video clip of the exhibition on YouTube , accessed on June 21, 2014
- ↑ List (port.) On the website of the Diário de Notícias , accessed on September 30, 2012
