Be Superb: the t-shirt and accessories brand spreading Brazilian pride across the globe

02 May, 2014

Read in English below | Leia em Português aqui

By Kamila Fernandes

Created by Brazilian Cintia Bailey , t-shirt and accessories brand Superb was launched officially in April 2014. Its pieces are inspired by Brazil and are now being sold all over the globe.

Love of Brazilian culture

Cintia was born in Fortaleza but has lived in London for 6 years. Despite spending time away from her mother land, Cintia has never stopped loving Brazilian culture and she is always looking for some way to be involved with Brazil. She says the idea for the shop must have come from nostalgia and being “ a bit too creative ”, however, she did not know how to make it a reality.

After talking to her long time friend and designer Leandro Bayma, she managed to get the help and technical support she needed. That support, along with some compensation she received around the same time meant that the project could go underway.

Turning ideas into action

They started developing the project in December 2013 when Cintia was in Brazil and she and Leandro had their first discussions about the brand. For the name, Cintia knew she wanted something short that ended with B for Brazil, but it could not be obvious or cliché. For her, Superb summed up how Brazil. Another idea she had in mind was to use green and yellow tones on the website with a star for the logo, making reference to the Brazilian flag.

“Be Superb is about rescuing Brazilian pride. Brazil is full of problems and it has so many years ahead of it to grow, but it is amazing in terms of beauty, wealth and people. I need to embrace my nation, not shut my eyes to its problems. Brazil is marvellous, it’s not perfect but let’s not forget its qualities” says Cintia about her relationship with Brazil.

Cintia comes up with the ideas for the Superb in Britain, Leandro develops the pieces in Brazil and afterwards they choose the final versions together and the pieces are made in Wales. She wanted her brand to be different and because she had always linked Brazil to the environment she decided to use organic, sustainable t-shirts, even through they are a little more expensive.
The garments are made in Wales with 100% organic cotton with water-based dyes, which do not have any added chemicals. As well as being environmentally friendly, they are also ethically made; they are not produced in sweatshops where people are exploited. This was very important to Cintia when choosing where to have them made.

Target buyers

Today, the brand’s main consumers are still Brazilians living in England, who Cintia says, are people like her. She describes them as “Brazilians that moved here are living here, they are falling in love and becoming rooted here but they are proud Brazilians’. However, Cintia says the idea is to not just sell to Brazilians but moreover “to anybody who likes and can relate to Brazil”.

There is also a great demand for Superb pieces from foreign people who are going to Brazil for the Wold Cup. Currently t-shirts are being sent as far as the States and France.

“But when I make a t-shirt I don’t think about who it’s going to be for. It’s a t-shirt that I would use” says Cintia. One of the reasons I wanted my own brand was because I couldn’t find anything interesting in my wardrobe that reminded me of Brazil, “I could only find a yellow t-shirt with Brazil written on it” .

“I also thought about my daughter who is Brazilian-English. I took pictures of her, but nothing she wore gave an idea of where she came from”.

Cintia says that the most popular t-shirt has “ Saudade ” (a word which translates loosely as a bitter-sweet nostalgia) written on it. “ Saudade is my favourite word in the Portuguese language and many people like it. When I’m teaching Portuguese to my husband, it’s a word I always have trouble translating. It doesn’t have a translation” says Cintia.

Future Plans

Currently, Superb has three more t-shirt designs in production. Although Cintia never had any experience in fashion, her mother loved making her clothes for her as a hobby. Even though Cintia always wore her mother’s designs, she was never interested in creating clothes or being a designer. Now however, she is passionate about fashion and is always talking to her mother about clothes.

“It’s like I’m developing a dream she always had, it’s becoming real now through me” s ays Cintia. In June she plans to go to Brazil and develop a new line with her mother, inspired by the sidewalks of Copacabana. The collection will include items like cushions and accessories.

To check out and buy pieces by Superb just visit: http://www.besuperb.co.uk/