9. Pelcor

Date of foundation: 2003

Portugal is the world leader on cork exportation, having 64,7% of the world trade of the product. Previsions say that in 2015 the value of exportations will reach the €1000Million.

68,4% of the exportations totality corresponds to cork closures and 27,5% to cork as a construction material.

The world leader is Corticeira Amorim, but this section is not about business volume, but about bringing disruptive innovation to an industry.

Novacortiça, S.A. was born “only” in 1986, and was specialized in the production of cork closures for champagne. Sandra Correia, the third generation in the family business, had the vision of turning cork in a fashion and aspiration product. How could that be done?

Sandra launched an umbrella made of cork. The success was tremendous and Pelcor was born.

Pelcor is now a fashion brand that joins cork and design.  Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel and Madonna are some of the people that already have a piece of this new Portuguese icon.

If you’re in New York, you can find some exclusive Pelcor products at MoMA. And you can also find their products all across Europe, Japan, China and California.

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