Larroudé, the fast-growing midpriced footwear brand, is plotting further growth.
Husband-and-wife brand founders Ricardo Larroudé and Marina Larroudé, the latter of whom was the fashion director of Barneys New York, have opened their own factory in Brazil to facilitate faster production and sample development time lines.
Speaking from a conference room in the factory, the Larroudés — both of whom are Brazilian and founded their line in 2020 with a business plan based upon Brazilian production — laid out their next moves.
“We started small and are growing fast — we’re selling between 100,000 and 200,000 pairs a year and want to get to half-a-million quickly. From there we want to reach one million. We want to be the new, innovative American footwear brand and opening our own factory will allow us to have hands-on control of development,” said Ricardo Larroudé.
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He added that his goal is to reach half-a-million pairs in annual sales by 2025 and to “ramp up” to a million pairs sold a year within five years.
The factory is located in Sapiranga, Brazil, and is about 15,000 square feet. It includes room for production as well as logistics and administrative offices. Ultimately it will account for about 30 to 40 percent of Larroudé’s total production.
The brand has plans to hire 50 employees in Brazil this month to jump-start factory operations, and plans to add another 50 employees there by the end of the year. It employs five people at its New York City headquarters, where design and marketing operations are based — as well as a team of steady freelancers, Marina Larroudé said.
With its factory, Ricardo said Larroudé will be able to fulfill reorders to key accounts like Nordstrom more quickly. “Some shoes are big winners and to be able to have an inventory of our leathers or heels means we can deliver reorders in four weeks, which really matters,” he said.
Ricardo Larroudé said the factory was opened with self-financed capital.
The brand plans to expand its sales network to the Middle East in September. It recently launched at Galeries Lafayette and Bloomingdale’s, but maintains a focus on direct-to-consumer sales through its own website.
This story was reported by WWD and originally appeared on WWD.com.
