If I ask you “What is the most influential national brand when it comes to shoes and bags?”, chances are you’ll answer Schutz, right? And the reason is clear: it is a great national emblem.
By Wallace Rezende
Photos: Nicole Heiniger
With an innovative DNA evident since its launch in 1995, Schutz is a masterpiece by Alexandre Birman, who founded the brand at just 19 years old. The brand’s idea has always been to translate international trends for Brazilian women, but today it goes much further, dictating its own way of creating typically national fashion.
Schutz is about freedom of expression, quality design, nationality and internationality. It’s about being cosmopolitan in national fashion, drawing inspiration without being colonized, and rather learning and studying concepts that can enrich our everyday lives.
The Brand of the Contemporary Brazilian Woman
A few years after its launch, in 2001 Schutz had already made its mark on the world. What proved this was an order of 30,000 pairs from the Canadian brand Aldo. From then on, a trend emerged: 60% of the brand’s sales would be destined for export.
It wasn’t just Schutz bags, but shoes, boots and accessories ideal for modern women in Brazil and beyond. In 2012 the brand opened its first flagship in New York on Madison Avenue, and since then we have witnessed nothing but a striking rise in the relevance of Schutz’s work.
In 2016, it was Schutz that outfitted Princess Kate at an official event at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and at another moment, Lady Gaga was the one to walk in Schutz boots.
These and other events built Schutz, transforming it from a brand into an icon. And it is by continuing down this path that, since April 2022, Schutz is now a Full Look brand.
Schutz Full Look
As the first Brazilian brand to become Full Look, the label can accompany women by composing their looks from head to toe. The transition from a brand focused on bags and footwear to Full Look demanded some very specific and fruitful investments, beginning with hiring Cacá Garcia as Creative Director of the apparel line.
The Schutz pieces embrace a very current aesthetic: that of a timeless wardrobe, which can be worn at any moment and in any place, aligning with slow fashion ideals—pieces with greater quality, durability, and respect for the limited resources of our world.
The key pieces convey the cosmopolitan perspective already known from Schutz, while also drawing from classic sources in denimwear, tailoring and shirting. According to Cacá Garcia,
“It’s clothing that will accompany women 24 hours a day—key pieces that will remain in your wardrobe forever, and that very much align with what I believe for the future of fashion: design at a fair price, clothing with purpose, and a dialogue with all women.”
The Proposition of a New Schutz
Along with this new chapter for the brand comes a completely revamped e-commerce, now better able to meet customers’ needs, as well as the opening of two stores dedicated to Full Look in Brazil’s major cultural centers: São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Nicole Heiniger was responsible for the incredible photos that showcase more details of the Schutz pieces. Through the photographer’s lens, we can perceive the defining traits of the Schutz Full Look style.
In some of the pieces, with their pop and cheerful colors, we get a bit of Dopamine Fashion—very on-trend lately—a movement aimed at coloring the post-pandemic world.
In other pieces this aesthetic dissolves, giving way to more ’70s-inspired prints that play with geometric and slightly contrasting patterns. All of this is cut and tied into a very modern look, touching both tailoring and the more youthful outlines of today.
It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where the inspirations for Schutz Full Look come from, especially because it seems to exist in a place beyond time. Nicole Heiniger captures this trait beautifully. At times we sense a certain 2000s ethos; at others, a vanguard approach with retrofuturistic touches.
In the end, Schutz put on a true showcase and earned its place both in our wardrobes and in our minds. We are witnessing a new reality in national fashion. A door has opened and we are now stepping through it, following the path that Schutz has paved.
