Ries - my question wasn't intended to denigrate the shoes or Argentine manufacturing, I was genuinely curious. We help our clients buy tack here (saddles, bridles, etc) and generally it *is* good quality and well made. The problem we saw was when companies started manufacturing in quantity, there simply wasn't the QC in place and a lot slipped through the cracks in terms of things not being done correctly. I was curious if that was an issue with shoes.
FWIW, we have all custom made furniture pretty much in our living room and I love it and it's definitely well-made and will last.
Obviously, there are all kinds of companies here. Some make lower quality, some higher.
I know people who act as middlemen for designers, who facilitate the manufacture of clothing or shoes- and when you employ somebody like that, they make sure the contractors are making the quality you expect.
So if you wanted to buy something for export in a field that you are not expert in, and you dont live here, you would want to have a person like that helping you.
These middlemen (mostly women, of course) are most common in the clothing industry, because subcontracting to sewing houses, or individual knitters or weavers is quite common.
I am sure they exist as well in shoes.
I know a few people who design their own shoes, and who then subcontract certain parts- soles sewn to tops, or grommets, for instance.
It would depend on volume, and how much you paid, but I am sure you can find designers who would moonlight managing production- they usually have to work day jobs anyway.
They could also be found for most other industrial and manufacturing processes- there is no shortage of smart, skilled young argentines who are underemployed in their fields.
But my main focus was on designers who are already creating shoes, clothing, furniture, housewares, and similar items here- they have already worked out who to subcontract with to get quality work, they already have worked out all the details, but they cannot, for a reasonable price, export.
Lots and lots of these people already exist, and are making things. But they are restricted to the Argentine market, and, to a lesser degree, Mercosur countries.
I have a couple of friends who make furniture- really interesting street furniture. And they do, indeed, get commissions within argentina, and in uruguay and brazil- but the cost of getting stuff to NYC or London is just insane. They get requests from those places, but when they quote the shipping/export taxes/fees to send things there, it usually scuttles the deal.
This stuff-
http://www.clarin.com/ciudades/Sillones-diseno-renovar-Diagonal-Norte_0_973702705.html
