“I worked selling shoes that I took from León to San Luis Potosí, then one day they asked me to take some goalkeeper gloves to Adrian Martinezwho was then playing in the San Luis of the First Division, because the factory with which I did business sponsored him, and the gloves hooked me”, recalls Enrique Díaz.
“Since I knew something about manufacturing processes, I saw an opportunity to create an article with a better quality than those gloves that a professional goalkeeper was going to use; Then it was something I thought about for six months before I decided to ask my dad for a loan and start the business”.
The company that Enrique founded is Buffon, which manufactures and sells the full range of goalkeeper gloves, from basic to professional, which have been especially well received in amateur and South American soccer. “We have gloves for children from 4 years old up to adults of 2 meters”, describes the businessman born in San Luis Potosí, but now based in León. Today, his gloves are sold throughout Mexico and in the United States, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Ecuador.
Goalkeeper gloves: a start with a ‘dressing room goal’
Enrique is 50 years old and started with Buffon in 2007, when he was 37. “The first 3 years were trying to sell an unknown brand and we were also without capital. I started with a loan of 70,000 pesos from my father and several other people, in addition to the fact that my father-in-law supported me to complete the payroll until he told me ‘here’s about 100,000 for you so you have capital because otherwise you’re going to keep bothering me every week,’” she talks. When a soccer game starts and the rival scores a goal in the first seconds or minutes of the game, it is said to be a “dressing room goal”, and Enrique had a couple of them.
In its early years, it had to face challenges such as the 2008 economic crisis and the 2009 H1N1 influenza crisis. to compete with the brand that has been here all our lives, but we still did not compete with the big brands; Right now we do compete with them, but we are already more established in the market”.
When he started with Buffon, he didn’t know much about the goalkeeper glove business, but since he had been production manager at a shoe factory, he knew about issues such as suppliers and materials, as well as having relationships with manufacturers. “When I applied as an independent with them, they supported me from the beginning, even with unsecured loans,” he says.
“I entered a very disputed field of which I knew very little. I knew how to do it halfway, but I didn’t know how to distribute it, nor the margins that I managed ”, he indicates.
tackle the market
Curiously, Enrique’s favorite sport is not soccer. “I am a basketball player making football gloves. Blessed be God that ‘living from kicking’ does leave in Mexico, because the issue of soccer is deeply rooted and we are taking advantage of the fact that the Mexican is a soccer fan, ”he underlines.
He didn’t know much about goalkeeper gloves either, but he began to design and manufacture prototypes. “It took me about a year from when the idea came up until they accepted a glove (to make it up in the factory) that they said was worth selling.” He then learned details such as how far the fingers should go inside the glove and what materials to use.
In addition, goalkeeper gloves are an accessory that tends to wear out and must be replaced approximately every 10 games. “A high-end product of ours is between 650 and 750 pesos, while one from Nike or Adidas is around 2,000 and 3,000 pesos; So, in the price there is a very big difference that plays in our favor”, he assures.
Over time, the Buffon brand made its way beyond gloves, since the goalkeeper is the only player on the field that requires other equipment, which helped to open more lines of business: “I saw the goalkeeper and said ‘well, he doesn’t have pants’ or ‘he doesn’t have a sweater”, he points out. Thus arose the opportunity to manufacture clothing, as well as products such as backpacks, socks, shin guards, knee and elbow pads.
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A canchero business
However, the product that serves as a spearhead for Buffon is the goalkeeper’s glove. “We are competitive in terms of quality and price. Perhaps we are still a step below the big brands, but since we have very good quality, the price does make a difference. A high-end glove from the big brands is about three times more expensive than ours, and that is why we can compete with them”, explains Enrique.
The entrepreneur ensures that design is the first thing that sells, so they always keep up with what is in fashion; while the second thing the consumer looks at is the technique used in its manufacture, a field in which they are also always up-to-date. “As it is a business that continues to grow, the bulk of our investment has been in changing facilities or in machines to make new products,” he points out.
As for promotion, he has taken advantage of the fact that his product sells very well in South America. “There, the teams, in addition to playing in the local league, play Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana, so we have a greater exposure than maybe a goalkeeper from MX League , so we have players who use our gloves in the First Division of Bolivia and Peru; in the promotion division of Chile; and in the Women’s League of Costa Rica, Chile and Peru. The goalkeeper of the Peru team brings our gloves, in addition to the goalkeeper of the Bolivian team, ”she lists. “Actually, my gloves debuted in a America Cup in a Bolivia vs. Mexico match”.
Its product is distributed in various channels in each country, in addition to having its own online store. In this way, Enrique is today a true “canchero” in the goalkeeper glove business.
The Italian goalkeeper who inspired the name
Gianluigi Buffon is a legendary Italian goalkeeper, world champion in 2010 and figure of the club juventus ; however, the name of this brand does not refer to it… or well, yes, in part. “I tried to register the name ‘Henry’ because my name is Enrique, but I was busy; so when I was at the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) I began to review some names, among them several porter names, such as Ochoa, Campos, Marín… and suddenly Buffon came out. It sounded good to us, it was free and we registered it ”, he affirms.
However, Enrique’s intention has never been to use the image of the goalkeeper who defended the goal of the Italian National Team in five World Cups, so the name is only a pretext to name his product.
Enrique is a Mexican who is wanted abroad, or well, his Buffon products; however, he had to seek advice to find out what it was like to play on the courts outside of Mexico. Thus, after a simple search on the Internet, he found the Fedex courier company that, for eight years, has provided him with advice on international trade, an area in which he had no experience.
“They gave me the advice I needed to be able to give a client data such as the cost or explain how the glove was going to get to their country, because they were things I didn’t know,” he says. “If you are not related to foreign trade, there are many procedures that you are totally unaware of. I studied Industrial Engineering, so I am applying my degree to gloves, but you don’t see a single subject in international trade in your classes, ”she says.
Buffon is one of the Mexican ventures that has benefited from the FedEx Tour, an initiative offered by that company to support the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the country. This project provides specialized workshops and seminars focused on simplifying the complex export process and thus helping SMEs to reach international markets, learn from the experiences of others and learn about the challenges and options to take their products to the world.
Lose the fear of playing in ‘First’
Enrique says that he was once told that someone over 30 years of age could not debut on the fields of the venture; however, he did it at almost 40 (curiously, at a similar age to which great goalkeepers retire). “I think that age is not conditioning, obviously the sooner you start the better, and the fewer commitments you have before starting, the better too,” he recommends.
“First, you have to lose your fear of issues like getting high or how you’re going to do it, and it’s better to think that if you feel like it you’re going to get ahead,” he recommends. “And when you manage to consolidate your business, you start to be an important factor for the people who work for you and the idea is that the wealth is distributed in an equitable way, that you pay your employees in such a way that they can also feel growth different from what they might have had in their previous job.” Now, Buffon is looking to enter new markets, such as schools, where soccer is a very popular activity.
This is how Enrique, who in 37 years had not put on goalkeeper gloves, today is one of the people in Mexico who best understands the players who occupy that bittersweet and often misunderstood position safeguarding the three sticks.