Pedro between Paulao and Distak in BFW's office
Receiving the black belt from Ze MarcelloCrossing borders
Owner of Brazilian Fight Wear, Pedro Barcellos has been reading GRACIE Magazine not just since before the first bilingual issue, but even before it was a magazine – during the days of “Jornal Gracie.”
Pedro, 33, has 12 years of Jiu-Jitsu under his belt, and is a black belt under Master Zé Marcelo – experience he decided to use five years ago when he opened his own business, after leaving an engineering firm, where he felt unsatisfied.
That was when he started the site Brazilian Fight Wear. And, for those that think the expression “starting from scratch” cannot be taken literally, think again! “When I made the site, I had no money to invest in merchandise. So I would sell the products and run over to Rio de Janeiro to buy the brands. My stock I kept under my bed,” says Pedro.
These days, Pedro prides himself in being in a very different position, and in having gambled on the fight wear market. “I’m now in a four-bedroom house – office, storage room, it all goes on here in Itacoatiara [Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro],” says the businessman.
Currently, besides reselling the biggest Brazilian brands around the world, Brazilian Fight Wear has its own line of clothing, BFW 1. “Having our own brand is good for marketing what we do and increasing profit margins. We try to make products we’d like to use,” says Pedro. “As for the other brands we sell, some have an overseas sales service and others don’t. But even the ones that do know they need reliable retailers, and they know we’ve been in the market a long time, that’s why we maintain good relations with everyone.”
Another area in which BFW performs is in sponsorship of athletes, like Paulao Filho, Thales Leites, Alexandre Izidro and Gabriel Gladiador. According to Pedro, sponsorship is provided in the form of money and clothing. “Returns come through the performance of the athlete, who over pay-per-view reaches the whole world. It’s a good reference for the company, being associated with elite athletes,” Pedro comments.
“I worked at an engineering firm and was not satisfied there, so I decided to put together my own business. I had already predicted this Jiu-Jitsu and MMA market was going to grow a lot, which was already happening at the time. And I decided to invest. I had all the know-how – I have degrees in business administration and computer programming.”
And it was with that very mentality, of bringing together the best, that Pedro became interested in joining the GRACIE Magazine Association as soon as it was founded. Now BFW sells sub scri ptions and individual copies of GRACIE Magazine on its site BrazilianFightWear.com. But BFW is not the only one that’s proud of working alongside a winning team. GRACIE Magazine is too.
Owner of Brazilian Fight Wear, Pedro Barcellos has been reading GRACIE Magazine not just since before the first bilingual issue, but even before it was a magazine – during the days of “Jornal Gracie.”
Pedro, 33, has 12 years of Jiu-Jitsu under his belt, and is a black belt under Master Zé Marcelo – experience he decided to use five years ago when he opened his own business, after leaving an engineering firm, where he felt unsatisfied.
That was when he started the site Brazilian Fight Wear. And, for those that think the expression “starting from scratch” cannot be taken literally, think again! “When I made the site, I had no money to invest in merchandise. So I would sell the products and run over to Rio de Janeiro to buy the brands. My stock I kept under my bed,” says Pedro.
These days, Pedro prides himself in being in a very different position, and in having gambled on the fight wear market. “I’m now in a four-bedroom house – office, storage room, it all goes on here in Itacoatiara [Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro],” says the businessman.
Currently, besides reselling the biggest Brazilian brands around the world, Brazilian Fight Wear has its own line of clothing, BFW 1. “Having our own brand is good for marketing what we do and increasing profit margins. We try to make products we’d like to use,” says Pedro. “As for the other brands we sell, some have an overseas sales service and others don’t. But even the ones that do know they need reliable retailers, and they know we’ve been in the market a long time, that’s why we maintain good relations with everyone.”
Another area in which BFW performs is in sponsorship of athletes, like Paulao Filho, Thales Leites, Alexandre Izidro and Gabriel Gladiador. According to Pedro, sponsorship is provided in the form of money and clothing. “Returns come through the performance of the athlete, who over pay-per-view reaches the whole world. It’s a good reference for the company, being associated with elite athletes,” Pedro comments.
“I worked at an engineering firm and was not satisfied there, so I decided to put together my own business. I had already predicted this Jiu-Jitsu and MMA market was going to grow a lot, which was already happening at the time. And I decided to invest. I had all the know-how – I have degrees in business administration and computer programming.”
And it was with that very mentality, of bringing together the best, that Pedro became interested in joining the GRACIE Magazine Association as soon as it was founded. Now BFW sells sub scri ptions and individual copies of GRACIE Magazine on its site BrazilianFightWear.com. But BFW is not the only one that’s proud of working alongside a winning team. GRACIE Magazine is too.
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