Dotz is a newborn footwear brand from São Paulo, Brazil, that debuted internationally for s/s 2022 during White Milano in September 2021.
This brand was cofounded in 2016 by Rodrigo Doxandabarat, an Argentinian entrepreneur with a past background in the cooperation and fashion, and at present as a cobbler, together with entrepreneur Anderson Presoto.
Dotz was born with the aim of producing in innovative and sustainable ways and promoting the creation of a shared value according to four pillars: cooperation, sustainability, collaboration and economic management.
This colorful footwear brand is based upon a timeless and genderless single-product–the loafer. Its slim moccasins are made with 100% agro-ecological cotton produced by family businesses founded by small local farmers. It also uses 100% of textile residuals from the decor industry, but also employs industrial and household wastes and is partially packaged by Brazilian women from unprivileged backgrounds.
All the loafers are numbered and produced in limited edition quantities, especially because they are produced from upcycling old unused materials. Their shapes are Made in Italy and their soles are available in four bright colors: orange, blue, fuchsia and lime. Under each shoe’s sole, there is the brand printed motto “Olha que coisa mais linda, mais cheia de graça”, a verse from the Garota de Ipanema’s popular song, meaning “Look at the most beautiful thing, the most graceful.”
Also, its packaging and tags are sustainable as they are produced by reusing toothbrushes and shavers, while the dust-bags are always in 100% pure cotton.
The new collection is realized through the use of 24 graphics and a selection of hyper-colored fabrics collected throughout Brazil. It offers four models whose names are in Pataxo, an indigenous dialect of the Bahia Country in the northeast of Brazil: Kuparaka, a moccasin with a maxi bow realized with yarns coming from the textile industry, Puhuy, an iconic moccasin with tassels, Jacy, a slim and streamlined loafer, and Aponem, a classic mule embellished with tassels, the brand’s own style signature, produced with wastes of its own production.
The brand’s name comes from the end of a long series of experiences lived by Doxandabarat who travelled throughout the world since a very young age and collaborated with, among others, Mother Teresa of Calcutta in 1997 and during the Iraq War in 2002, where he was a human shield. He also worked for a French ONG, and other cooperation activities.
Rodrigo Doxandabarat, co-founder, Dotz
In 2008, he arrived in Milan and started working for Giorgio Armani's sales department, in Asia, Africa, and Brazil, and, afterwards, for Dolce & Gabbana in Central America. When he ended this last experience, he launched Linking Dotz, a project based in São Paulo in Brazil with the aim to create a new business model focused on sustainable production and on the creation of a shared value.
The collection is sold at €178 at retail through its own e-commerce on linkingdotz.com
and a selection of international multibrand stores, and aims to further expand in markets such as Italy, France and the US.
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