Havaianas president for Europe Harm van de Camp on the brand's next chapter: "We want to move from the beach to the city"

For most of its history, Havaianas has lived by one season. Harm van de Camp, president of Europe at Havaianas, wants that to change. In an exclusive interview with FashionUnited, he explains how a strategy built on fashion relevance, segmented distribution and cultural investment is turning a beach essential into a year-round wardrobe staple, without losing the Brazilian story that makes it work.

From the beach to the city

Van de Camp joined Havaianas after more than twenty years in the footwear and lifestyle business, most of it at Nike in commercial, regional and retail leadership roles. Alpargatas, the Brazilian group that owns Havaianas, splits its business into four global regions: Europe, Latin America, North America, APAC and what the company calls distributor markets, covering the rest of the world. Van de Camp leads Europe.

"It was a very strong brand that had a lot of recognition and heritage, but it was predominantly beach-focused," he says of Havaianas when he arrived two and a half years ago. The recognition has stayed. What has shifted is the ambition. "We have the belief that we can become, and should be, a lifestyle staple, part of everybody's wardrobe. We want to move from the beach to the city."

Fashion, distribution and cultural relevance

Van de Camp credits three moves for the brand's momentum in Europe. The first is fashion. Flip-flops rode a wider wave of minimalist footwear, a trend Van de Camp traces to Copenhagen. "If you look at what's happening at Copenhagen Fashion Week, and not just this past edition, where the brand really broke through, but already two or three years ago, there was strong momentum with young women wearing flip-flops on the streets of Copenhagen," he says, noting the city has no beach weather to thank for it.

The second is distribution. "If you're really precious about being the undisputed, premium flip-flop brand, you need to have a very strong segmentation strategy," Van de Camp says. Havaianas now spans premium fashion boutiques; mainstream fashion retail; streetwear specialists such as the JD Group; sports channels and department stores, each carrying a different tier of the product.

The third move is cultural relevance, built through product innovation, storytelling and collaborations. Together, the three form what he describes as a universal strategy, applied "whether you go to Germany, Belgium, or the Balkans."

Staying grounded to grow

Havaianas has also spoken publicly about a back-to-basics approach, and Van de Camp is direct about what that means in practice. "We are very true and very honest about what we are, and that is a flip-flop brand," he says. "Will we be a sneaker brand? No, I don't think we will be. But we will keep innovating on our flip-flop, making it suitable to be worn throughout more months of the year."

Growth, in other words, has to originate from the brand's core. "Product development will be part of our growth path, but in an adjacency to what we are. Winter jackets, no, beachwear, yes."

Brazilian by design, European by demand

For Van de Camp, Havaianas' Brazilian identity is not a barrier to European growth, but the reason for it. "We don't need to choose between those things," he says. "We are true to our Brazilian identity, and by that, we are European relevant, because Europeans love Brazil. They know what Brazil and Havaianas represent: optimism; freedom; colour; a certain effortlessness. We are the antidote to an even faster growing society."

He points to the brand's own history to explain why that authenticity resonates. Havaianas launched in Brazil in 1962 as accessible footwear for Brazilians, and became so embedded in daily life that in the 1980s, during a period of hyperinflation, the government regulated its price alongside staples such as rice and beans. "That shows how important Havaianas were for Brazilian society as a whole," Van de Camp says.

Growth in European markets: Germany

Germany sits high on Van de Camp's list. "Germany for us is a massive growth opportunity, absolutely a priority market," he says. Havaianas has appointed Urbn Concepts as its new German distribution partner and is expanding digitally, "partnering with Zalando in a very meaningful and impactful way", alongside About You and sports retail chains such as Sport 2000, as well as premium department stores. The approach mirrors the segmentation strategy driving growth elsewhere in Europe: flagship, brand-building doors at the top of the pyramid, broader accessible distribution beneath.

Between streetwear and high fashion

Collaborations and festivals do double duty, Van de Camp says, connecting Havaianas to audiences the brand has not always reached. A collaboration with Amsterdam streetwear label Patta sold out almost immediately last year. "If you think credibility and authenticity in street culture, then Patta, for many consumers, is one of the ultimate examples," he says. A partnership with Barcelona jewellery brand Twojeys, and distribution through JD, Snipes and AW Lab, have deepened Havaianas' presence in streetwear retail.

Festivals play a similar role. Fête de la Musique in Paris this year drew, in Van de Camp's words, "thousands of people resonating with our brand" and brought "a true Brazilian street carnival to life in the heart of Paris on the banks of the Seine." A winter activation in the French Alps put Havaianas on snow scooters at the foot of Mont Blanc. A kitten-heel iteration, meanwhile, has pushed the flip-flop into occasion wear, adding to the talkability that followed this year's Copenhagen Fashion Week.

Turning the ordinary into the extraordinary

That approach extends beyond product. On the marketing side, Havaianas describes itself as deliberately "chameleonic", showing up in art, sport and culture throughout the year rather than leaning on one moment or one channel, an approach the brand sums up as turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.

It is a fitting description of Van de Camp's own ambition for Havaianas in Europe. Just as most wardrobes already hold a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, he believes they should hold a pair of flip-flops too. "Why wouldn't there be a flip-flop in there?" he asks. One that, in this case, started on a Brazilian beach.