Ricardo Ramos, co-founder of the portuguese brand Futah Beach Towels and Técnico alumnus, launched a new colection inspired by endangered species in Portugal. The project results from a partnership with the non-governmental organization World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Associação Natureza Portugal (ANP). Ten percent of sales will revert to help protecting four endangered species in Portugal: the black stork, Iberian lynx, seahorse and the chameleon of Algarve.

“I remember being small and asking for a pair of Billabong shorts with pandas, because the WWF logo was a panda and those shorts helped to protect animals. I have always loved animals and I wanted that futah play an active role in society for some time”, says Ricardo Ramos. “We had to pass a message that would positively impact people”. “When we were preparing the 2020 collection, we decided that futah was going to have a collection inspired by animals. Then, in October 2019, I met the ANP | WWF, the association that represents the WWF in Portugal, and we managed to present our project”, recalls Ricardo Ramos.

ANP showed immediate availability, “They already knew our brand and liked it a lot, which made our colaboration easier”. The team decided that it would make complete sense to choose four endangered species in Portugal and create a collection inspired by their colors.

Futah promotes sustainability “from day one”, stresses Ricardo Ramos. “This year we are using the word “REUSE” in many of our products: we try to produce as little waste as possible, we sell our products in a reusable cotton bag and we encourage people to use the paper tag as a bookmark”, highlights the alumnus. Besides the beach towels, futah also produces 100% organic cotton t-shirts.

The idea of creating futah was born in 2012, when Ricardo Ramos was twenty years old and was still attending Electrical and Computer Engineering at Técnico. Later, he decided to study Industrial Engineering and Management. “In fact, since I was a kid, I’ve always had a fascination with with brands and I dreamt of creating one”, recalls the the young entrepreneur. After a few personal attempts to start a business, the alumnus and his two cousins began to notice that beach towels were not given due importance. “It was something undervalued by most people, who used the same beach towel for 50 years, which probably passed from generation to generation”, says the entrepreneur.

During a visit to the medina of Tunis, Tunisia, the three young people saw “a type of Arab towel lighter than the normal towels and different than what we were used to see”, recalls Ricardo Ramos. These towels are called “fouta”, which inspired the name of our brand. “In 2012, we did a first test and we brought some towels. We created our brand, embroidered our logo on the towels, took pictures and created a website and a facebook page”, recalls the alumnus.

“I can not forget a Marketing class I had at Técnico with professor Ana Costa. She was explaining us the difference between red ocean strategy and blue ocean strategy, and I realised that a brand can compete in an existing market space, exploring the existing demand and trying to beat the competition, or create uncontested market space, create and capture new demand and make the competition irrelevant”, shares the alumnus. According to Ricardo Ramos “the second option has always seemed more interesting and I think that futah should continue to grow that way”. “Quality is everything and it is our first concern when we develop a new product”, he adds.

These young entrepreneurs aim to make their business grow in existing markets and to conquer new markets. “In recent times, we have continued with our internationalisation strategy, increasing the number of resellers abroad and our website reaches people from all over the world: United States, Germany and Spain are the countries that visit our website the most”, stresses Ricardo Ramos. On the other hand, the team has explored new markets and, nowadays, they are no longer just a brand of beach towels. “Nowadays we propose the futah towel as a decorative object, we design other beach accessories such as bags and purses, and we are now producing t-shirts”, highlights the alumnus. “The development of new products is very important for us to become a global brand”, he adds.

“We want to continue to innovate. We want to attract people’s attention and surprise them. We want to continue growing and creating new products that can be used every day in the whole world”, says the Técnico alumnus.