Wineem is a catalog company from Cordoba for free time clothing. They claim that they are the first in the category. They produce two collections per year: Spring-Summer and Autumn-Winter. Both are presented in catalogs with different lines and styles, which are renewed every two months. Today we had a coffee with Carlos Giacone, owner of the brand. Where? In the SUM of Cardinales Nuevo Suquía, the development of GNI.

Sole Huespe: What does Wineem do, Carlos? Carlos Giacone: We are dedicated to direct sales and through direct sales we have clothing manufacturers where we focus on free time and urban areas.

SH: How was the company born? How many years have you been in the market? CG: We have been in the market for 14 years. We were already withdrawn from everything we had been doing and we said "what can we venture into?" (because we came from other areas).

SH: Where did they come from? CG: We came from the countryside and from candy. And we happened to see the direct sales business and we saw that we could handle the clothing business. If we could make it, we would be successful, the direct sales business is a linked business, so through a linked business, if we achieved a good product, we would be able to set up our own company.

SH: We're going to talk about that, but first I'm intrigued by the field and the candy. What brand was it? CG: I was an Arcor distributor for twenty-something years, the experience of having worked at Arcor gave me the idea of ​​how to run a direct sales business.

SH: Fourteen years old then... do you make clothes in Córdoba? Where is it produced? CG: We do everything ourselves, from the molds, the cutting, the quality control, only the clothing is outsourced.

SH: Who is Wineem's ideal audience? CG: The consumer is everywhere.

SH: Women? Men? CG: The proportion is 75/25. The one who buys is generally the woman and the remaining 25% is also bought by the woman for the man. This is a relationship business where the link is the one that makes the sale.

SH: How many garments do you make? I don't know how you measure it, annually or in cycles? CG: By cycles. There are two seasons: winter season and summer season. Then each season is divided into three catalogs: launch, high and end of season. The important thing about this, I always said, that to set up a direct sales company there are many who can set it up for money, what is difficult to set up is to organize logistics, set up human resources and logistics. And we reach the whole country, we are from Ushuaia to Pocitos Salta.

SH: How many garments do you produce, you were telling me, per season? CG: And now we are at half a million garments. SH: How many resellers do you have? What do you call them? CG: We call them vendors and resellers.

SH: And how many are they? CG: Every month we have between 7,000 and 8,000 sellers.

SH: Throughout the country? CG: Throughout the country.

SH: Plans to leave the country... did they exist? exist? will they exist? CG: Yes, of course. Because this is a business that doesn't have a roof, they showed it to me like a vine, at first I asked how it had to be watered for it to grow and it was hard, hard, for it to take hold. That vine began to organize itself and you realize that it is a real vine, then as time goes by it consolidates and we begin to be everywhere. We don't have time to think about other countries yet because we have to continue looking at how to consolidate ourselves in Argentina. Argentina is very big and is growing a lot, there are important cities throughout the country and it is not a simple challenge, to set up a company designed for a country.

SH: Does everything leave from Córdoba? CG: Everything from Córdoba.

SH: In a country where we have a monthly CPI of 3… 3.5, how do you manage a direct sales company by catalog so that prices don't run high? CG: First you have to understand, before starting a business, that this is Argentina. So you have to ask yourself a thousand questions, what business are you going to start? What obstacles can they have? And how are you going to solve them at this time? Thanks to all the technology that is appearing, Whatsapp, Facebook and everything else is allowing us to channel in different ways.

SH: Are the catalogs physical or digital? CG: For a year and a half or two years, those of us who are in direct sales have had the possibility of virtuality, Wineem continues or is with virtuality beyond the fact that politically we are not going to never leave the physical; I understand that for many people virtuality is what is coming, there is a percentage of people for whom the catalog is the opportunity to show a person, the excuse to have a coffee, some mates with a friend and take advantage of making the sale where the virtuality to that, in some sectors, would not allow it.

SH: And you have, you were telling me, three catalogs per season. CG: There are two seasons: summer and winter, that is, every two months we are delivering catalogs to each vendor.

SH: Are the prices adjusted in each of those? CG: Three or four years ago, when we had less inflation, we tried to make the catalog or the season have the same price, today it is impossible with this inflation and Here I answer your question: every two months we have to correct prices due to the new inflation we have, there is no other system, so you have to make a catalog for the January or February season. Last week we had to set a price for January and February and there is a lot of uncertainty, but hey, it's the way we work, we have to adapt to the country we have, we have to trust that current inflation will continue to be maintained and if unfortunately it will get shot, well, we already have in our mind what we can go out to tie or go out to pay, but we have to keep working.

SH: Of course, you can't leave it. How many people work at Wineem? CG: Directly in the company we are 70 people and then all the resellers, we have the people who provide us with the manufacturing service, indirectly there are 50, 60 more people; then what makes up the commercial network, which are the resellers. But beyond this, our intermediary is the commercial people, many of whom already make a living from this, that is, the business starts as a parallel business, a parallel income until after time it becomes a source of income that Lets live from this business.

SH: How do you enter the reseller network? If I wanted to be a Wineem reseller, how should I do it? CG: Look, I used the same methodology that was applied to the Arcor company when I was 23 years old and I went to ask for a job, they asked me two questions: do you want to work? Do you want to earn money? And if the answers are positive to those two questions, you can now work at Wineem.

SH: I loved that, any plans between now and the next few years? CG: And we want to be all over the country.

SH: They are already all over the country, do you have any remaining provinces? CG: I will always talk to you much more about Arcor than Wineem because it is where I trained and I have copied the work methodology. When I worked there they told me: we have one client for every 100 inhabitants. Well, Wineem wants a reseller for every 500 inhabitants, so the objective is to gradually achieve all the coverage that can be achieved, we need the famous strategic partners who are the agents who want to work and want to earn money and find these people is to work towards the goal of one saleswoman for every 500 inhabitants.

SH: So it still needs to grow, how much? A lot! CG: There is a lot to grow in this business, those who are in direct sales say they don't have a ceiling and it really is a business that doesn't have a ceiling .