FCC celebrates 40th anniversary
27/05/2009
A specialist Brazilian footwear components manufacturer is celebrating a special anniversary this year.
In 1969, two Rio Grande do Sul footwear manufacturers and exporters got together to found FCC, Fornecedora de Componentes para Calçados, a shoe component factory that had the aim of supplying products with higher performance and better finish.
The headquarters of the new company are still located in the town of Campo Bom where it all started. The partnership consolidated through the years leading to the production of a wide range of components such as insoles, leather welting and heel covers. Two years after its foundation it started exporting and today Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Colombia and China are the main destinations for its products.
FCC also stands out for its production of leather soling, adhesives, thermoplastic materials and environmentally-correct leather welding. Valentino Richert, director-president of the company explains that the raw material for the soles is leather that is vegetable tanned and totally free of heavy metals.
“Also,” Mr Reichert stresses, “all the waste produced at our factories undergoes a locking process in the sludge which is turned into fertilising matter.”
All FCC’s thermoplastic products are recylable, while water-based or hotmelt adhesives, which are less hazardous to human health and the environment, have gradually replaced solvent-based materials.
At present, FCC operates four factories in Brazil and one in Uruguay.
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