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The mother of all facts. In the Argentine world of sneakers there is a little known fact: the most sold brand in Argentina is Argentine. Around 27 million pairs of shoes are sold in the country every year -they used to be 30-, of which about 5.5 million are Topper? The statement comes from the mouth of Diego Mohadeb, who is 50 years old and is an economist and CEO of Topper, a company already emancipated from the historical Alpargatas, where he arrived after his time at Unilever. And for him, although there are several explanations for this first place, it all boils down to one word: proximity.
Is selling cosmetics and cleaning products the same as selling sneakers?
Not at all. Beyond the product, what you learn is the dynamics and how to develop a product. The biggest difference is how an international company works and one that, although it sells abroad, is managed very locally. And that is one of the nicest things about Topper: everything -from the campaigns to the products to the office decoration- is a product of local work. Everything comes from the head and heart of a person who works here. Nothing comes preformatted. And that is the biggest difference we have in this market.
Historically, Topper was associated with Alpargatas. When and why did this division take place?
Alpargatas Brazil is well known for Havaianas, and when they bought Topper they were looking for a brand they could take to the rest of Latin America. In fact, Topper exists in Brazil, but it is very different from the one we know in our country, because it is focused on soccer. In Argentina, Alpargatas was well known for footwear, but there was also a textile division and a cleaning division. In 2018 the Brazilian group Sforza bought the Topper brand in Brazil and 20% of our Topper. And in 2020 it acquired the remaining 80%. Part of that agreement was to buy only Topper and not the other divisions. And the rest of Alpargatas' businesses found the right buyers. Today from Argentina we manage Topper for all of Latin America, except Brazil.
What did it change for Topper to be a single brand of an international group and...