Profile Historic		Where the footwear manufacturing poles are. State of Ceará Number of enterprises in 2009: 274 % of Brazil: 3.5 Number of employees in 2009: 62,365 % of Brazil: 19.5 Exports in US$ million in 2009: 294.3 % of Brazil: 21.6 Exports in million pairs in 2009: 49.8 % of Brazil: 39.3 Fonte: MTE/RAIS; SECEX/MDIC e ABICALÇADOS Footwear Pole in the state of Ceará Specialized in the production of slippers, sandals and shoes made of plastic or rubber, the State of Ceará is the third largest footwear cluster in Brazil, with 520 companies. The Pole of Cariri, formed by the cities of Juazeiro do Norte, Crato and Barbalha began to develop from the creation in 1997 of the Union of Clothing and Footwear Industries of Juazeiro do Norte and Region (Sindindústria) and of the partnership established with Sebrae in Ceara. Nowadays, the region hosts 250 factories. In addition to Sindindústria and the Brazilian Micro and Small-Business Support Service (Sebrae) from Ceará, other partners are contributing to the development of footwear companies from the Cariri cluster, as segment entities, State and Municipal governments, Senai, Banco do Brasil and Banco do Nordeste. Footwear Pole in the Cariri Region The Footwear Pole in the Cariri Region concentrates, today, 162 footwear companies of the State of the Ceará, in front, also, of the city of Fortaleza (the capital of the State), that hosts 81 companies of this sector. The production is 8,8 million pairs/year. In accordance with estimates of the Trade Union of the Footwear and Clothes Companies of Juazeiro do Norte and Region (Sindindústria), others 150 are informal units. It’s situated in the South Region of the State, in the cities of Crato, Juazeiro do Norte and Barbalha. It has strong characteristic of the production of microporous sandals and E.V.A plates. other links are Already found as manufacturers of injected, soles and Wrapping. The big and medium size companies of the Pole, besides the national market, are already exporting, while small and micro companies focus its activities in the domestic, regional and national markets. The companies of Cariri produce men, women and children shoes, but 80% of the production are women shoes, and 20%, respectively, men and children. Of the women shoes, 80% are of the open footwear type (sandals) manufactured with synthetic material. The companies that work with leather manufacture excellent quality shoes and bags. they Also produce men and women bags and wallets and cases for notebook. Of the total of implanted formal plants in the region of the Cariri, 150 are medium and small size companies, nine are medium size and one is classified as big company. 8.8 thousand jobs are generated, of which 4.2 a thousand come from the medium and small companies, 2.450 from the medium size plants and 2.190 from the big size unit. The production of the region is 8.8 million pairs of footwear and more 400 tons of products in EVA rubber. Eight of the companies installed in Cariri are exporting and receive the institucional support of the Commission of Foreign Commerce (CCE Cariri). Together, they had commercialized, in 2005, US$ 6.244.942,00 in the international market. The products are sold for countries as United States, Spain, France, Equator, Paraguay, Uruguay, Portugal, Italy, Bolivia, Argentina, the United kingdom and Greece. Source: www.verdesmares.com.br and Sebrae/CE August 2006 Fortaleza Region Footwear Pole The Fortaleza Region Footwear Pole is located in the north-eastern of the State and besides the capital, in terms of job, the cities of Maranguape and Horizonte are also important. These three cities have 63 establishments and use 7,408 people. Footwear Pole of Sobral The city of Sobral is located in the northwest of the State of Ceará, 230 km far from the capital. With only two establishments, using directly 8,451 people, Sobral is already the northeast biggest producing city of footwear.