The hillside town of Nova Friburgo is home to 1,300 registered underwear retailers and manufacturers but small producers are suffering in the downturn

In an empty shop, on a deserted street, under the shadow of a billboard bearing the image of a 50ft woman in bra and knickers, Fátima Vieira is reconsidering her choice of career.

The 54-year old owner of the underwear shop Switch Women moved from Rio de Janeiro to the hillside town of Nova Friburgo five years ago to start her business in the so-called lingerie capital of Brazil.



“When I arrived here, the town was the place where Brazilians came from all over the country to buy lingerie,” Vieira says. “Now I’ve stopped buying new stock, and I’m just trying to sell the stuff I’ve got. To be honest, I am thinking about giving up.”



With the Brazilian economy heading for its worst recession in 25 years, the jobless rate rose for the seventh straight month in June, and many of the traders in this former Swiss-German colony are struggling.



In Tanga Rosa – Pink Panties – another lingerie shop a few streets down, the story is the same. Rafaela Fagundes, 27, says the last few months have been grim. “No one wants to buy anything at the moment.”

According to Sindvest, the trade body for the local lingerie industry, about a quarter of the 200,000 residents of Nova Friburgo depend on the textile sector. In certain categories of underwear, the town is responsible for up to 25% of all Brazilian production.

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In 1968, the German undergarment manufacturer Triumph opened a large factory in the town. When it starting laying off workers in the 1980s, many used their expertise to start their own businesses. Now, the town boasts more than 1,300 registered lingerie retailers and manufacturers. Hundreds more operate informally.

As a result, giant advertising hoardings of models in lingerie loom above the winding road into town. On arrival, it initially appears difficult to buy anything other than thongs, hosiery and bustiers.

Marcelo Porto, president of Sindvest, insists that such a concentration of underwear shops has not led to a race to the bottom.

“Our town works like a specialised shopping mall. It attracts the crowds because of its reputation for a particular product. Having more shops brings in more business. It benefits everyone.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Belissima Lingerie in Nova Friburgo, Brazil. Photograph: Facebook

Porto acknowledged that the industry had been affected by the recession, as well as increased competition from China. But he argued that the town had reinvented itself, investing in new technology and skills, resulting in more sophisticated products.

“You can find everything here, from the very cheap stuff for the local market, to the highest-quality export goods,” he said.

Sensualle, one of Nova Friburgo’s most upmarket manufacturers, sells its products all over Brazil as well as in 30 other countries, making about $1m a month.

Eric Aguiar, its sales manager, says that the quality of his company’s high-end products is unrivalled in the town. He claims the company’s success abroad is partly due to Brazil’s reputation. “Foreigners like the appeal of Brazilian sensuality.”

The underwear industry is expected to be one of the few Brazilian sectors to register growth in 2015, according to IMEI, a market research institute, with production predicted to grow 1.5% on last year.

But Marcelo Prado, the director of IMEI, says the current climate is tough for small companies in the sector. “It’s not a bad thing to have all these businesses in the same place, but in a recession the smaller ones tend to be cannibalised by the larger ones, which can afford to take a temporary hit and develop niche specialisms.”

With the city at almost 1,000m above sea level, many visitors to Nova Friburgo are drawn not only by its range of lingerie but also by the Alpine atmosphere and Swiss-German culture, including an annual Oktoberfest.

One of the city’s main attractions is a chairlift which takes tourists above the town to a viewing platform featuring an almost life-size diplodocus, a bowling alley and “Eva”, a 45 metre-long fibreglass human model containing an educational video about pregnancy and a noisily rotating metal foetus.

But the town is still recovering from a landslide that killed hundreds in January 2011 and forced the closure of the chairlift for three and a half years. The scars in the land remain visible on the hillsides above the town.

The disaster prompted Paolo Werneck, 36, an e-commerce specialist, to return to his hometown to help with the rebuilding process.

For Werneck, the town’s future as a lingerie hub depends on its ability to adapt to the internet age: “Some of the older shop owners are struggling with it, but the younger ones understand how important it is.”

In the meantime, however, shopkeepers are hoping the town’s 25th annual lingerie trade fair, Fevest, due to take place at the beginning of August, will inject some life into the local economy. Organisers expect the three-day event to generate over R$50m ($15m).

Marcelo Porto says the event is a source of pride for the town. “It has helped to raise people’s self-esteem after the tragedy.”