The largest nation in Latin America has produced among the loveliest women in the world - including the top and richest model Gisele Bundchen. It is also reportedly number one in educational institutions for fashion. In the southern state of Paraná - near the borders of Argentina and Paraguay – there are seven fashion institutions, including a palatial university called Cosumar in Maringá.
This city hosted Paraná Fashion 2004, the fourth annual edition of the event. Planned as a model city by English engineers, utterly lacking in high rises and noise and air pollution, Maringá is only 59 years old and has a population of 400,000.
The city seems to offer a broad range of opportunities in the fashion and clothing business. In 2003 Maringá produced 150 million pairs of jeans in 15 factories. The industry generates 95,000 direct and 270,000 indirect jobs. Buyers at a fair in New York recently closed an order for US$1 million with Maringá manufacturers.
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* Maringá hotels on HotelsCombined.com
* Ibis Hotel Maringá
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To our surprise the lines or queues for the “desfiles” (fashion shows) were enormous outside the giant tent erected to house the event. Buyers, family members of the models and lots of young people waited patiently for hours just to get a glimpse of the latest fashions in jeans, lingerie and other items.
Models included Brazilian celebrities from a recent TV soap opera called “Celebridades” (Celebrities). Outside the main venue were “shoppings atacadistas” – wholesale outlets – featuring Maringá’s growing contingent of clothing manufacturers. There are six such shopping centers. For visitors from big and expensive cities like Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo – not to mention London, New York or Paris –prices seemed unbelievably inexpensive. The only drawback for a shopper ready to purchase an entire wardrobe in a flash is that credit cards are rarely accepted, except at a local silk factory called “O Casulo Feliz” (Rua Gertrudes Heck Fritzen, 5704).
Maringá Wholesale Outlets
You rarely find such quality and loveliness at such low prices. Here are the names and telephone numbers (the local area code is 44, the country code for Brazil is 55) of the leading outlets:
VestSul - 218-2880
Maringá Vest - 3027-9900
Portal da Moda - 218-3200
Centro Sul - 266-2733
Feira Vest Mercosul - 218- 2159
Avenida Fashion - 3027-8200
Where to Eat
Even a busy shopper has to eat. Maringá sports one of world’s Arab-Lebanese restaurants: Monte Libano (Av. Anchieta, 1055). Belly dancing is featured on selected nights.
Maringá Travel Links
Maringá.com
