View.He rescued a US sneakers brand and markets it from Argentina

In 2009, Ronnie Mazzei returned to the country, after spending a few years in Barcelona, Spain, and "without much to do in Buenos Aires", but added a skate to his luggage and a small challenge was raised."If it is sold it is business," he thought at that time, while he was about to finish the house for his family for months to become a father."Take it to a skate shop in the north and the next day it was sold at the published price," he recalls and says that he later imported 300 units, but knew that this product was going to expire.

That is why he began to license clothing brands like O'Neill, under the control of the Town Connection Distributor, which he founded in 2009."At that time we had to be manufactured in Argentina because the import was closed; we started with an employee in a garage and, now, we have a thousand square meters, 60 people and seven stores with coverage throughout the country," reviews the owner of thePlant located in the town of Beccar, in the party of San Isidro, Buenos Aires, and estimates that more than 200 jobs are indirectly generated.

The fourth brand that Town Connection commercialized in Argentina was Fallen, specialized in footwear designed for skateboarding, founded in 2004 in California by two professional skaters, Jamie Thomas and Chad Foreman, who managed to position it among the five most important in the industry.

"In 2016 - Mazzei remembers - the statement came about the cessation of the brand that had been bought by the manufacturer in Asia, and as we had contact and very good reputation, we decided to start negotiation with the Chinese".That process, which lasted more than a year, took place in mid -2017 for US $ 300.000, in installments, and allowed them to relaunch the brand to position themselves in the world's most competitive markets.

Social networks were activated in February when the product was about to arrive and "exploded," says Mazzei and points out that it generated a nostalgia effect: "There were many fans waiting for the brand to return; we received support from 440.000 followers distributed throughout the world ".

With that impulse, so far this year they reached agreements with 25 countries, including Canada, China, Russia, Indonesia, Philippines and Colombia, "countries that decided to try 500 pairs, but in a few years they can represent thousands", according toprojects.

Marketing is carried out through local distributors, but the brand also has three online platforms in Argentina, the United States and Europe."The force is given to distributors with important commercial discounts, financing, sales support, so that they can operate directly through their website or premises in their country," says Mazzei.

From this new business model, Fallen expects to sell 125.000 sneakers pairs during the first 12 months, reach a turnover of US $ 2.500.000 worldwide and maintain a growth of 20 percent during the first three years."Although all this money enters Argentina, in an unconventional way, we are not recognized as exporters," claims the Argentine businessman and exskater.

"The business that is taking the rest of the world is to create brands, create intellectual property, designs, added values to finally produce in any country in the world that is really competitive," he explains and features that to maintain the level of theProduct that is manufactured in China, "in Argentina does not give quality, price, nor the tax structure to be competitive and export".

"The raw and hard export system for Argentina is a totally obsolete format, and for some reason this is not seen or does not know how to overcome.Today producing in the country to export to the rest of the world is very difficult, at least for everything that is not food or products derived from grains, "says the businessman.And it emphasizes that "having the basis in Argentina, with competitive work costs to operate internationally, is a viable model in the long term".

In that sense, it emphasizes that while a footwear designer in the United States charges $ 4000, in Argentina charges US $ 800."Then," insists, why not export labor, intellectual property, knowledge from here, but producing in the most competitive country in the world, which is now China? ".

"After all the enthusiasm that we put the entrepreneurs, the financing comes, a key step that made us yield to foreign licensees, because we do not receive accompaniment of the banking entities," says Mazzei, but does not lose hope of accessing any line ofProductive credit in the future.