Modelo, Jarritos, and Dr. Simi Team Up with Panam to Fight Malinchismo

Santiago, 23, recalls that eight years ago, when he was in high school in Mexico City, he felt pressure to have certain brands in his wardrobe because his classmates would make hurtful comments and even bully him if his sneakers, shoes, or jackets weren’t foreign.

To reverse this social trend of discrimination based on the ownership of imported products, the Mexican footwear brand Panam is seeking to expand in the country through innovation and collaborations with other brands; exemplified by the sneakers launched last year in coordination with Dr. Simi.

“With these collaborations, we are differentiating ourselves from the clone industry, from piracy, and from the expansion of other brands, because by manufacturing our products domestically in León, Guanajuato, we can constantly innovate,” said Paola Reglin, Panam’s Marketing Manager.

The executive announced that the brand is looking to launch sneakers in collaboration with the fried food company Totis, as well as to reissue sneaker designs in synergy with Victoria beer.

“The reality is that Panam has values ​​and attributes that we believe are unmatched by any other brand (…) There will always be global comparisons, but that’s why we strive for “done well in Mexico,” Reglin explained.

He explained that this plan has led to a 25 percent increase in market share across the entire category in the last year, as these collaborations represent 15 percent of its sales, and they expect this to continue to grow.

Furthermore, in recent years, Panam has focused on integrating clothing, perfumes, and personal care brands such as shoe deodorants into its portfolio, which already generate 30 percent of its sales. So much so that they will now focus on the denim market.

“These numbers have us excited, but we also know that having new collaborations, new things, is a challenge (…) today, the footwear industry is going through difficult times, and we have very high standards; To stay in the market, we mustn’t neglect quality or comfort, but at a very attractive price,” Reglin added.

Panam goes against the “malinchismo” (a term used in Latin American literature)
Santiago recalls the story of school bullying from eight years ago, when Kevin, the only one in his class from a wealthy family, once threw away a classmate’s backpack because “it wasn’t a brand name,” a phenomenon known as “brand bullying.”

“As punishment, they made him buy another one, but that didn’t stop him from making those kinds of comments; Due to that pressure, my mom spent more than two thousand pesos on a pair of Adidas sneakers, because I asked her for them so much, but it wasn’t that I wanted them, it was that I didn’t want to be discriminated against,” Santiago explains.

This type of behavior, in which a person or group of people prefers brands primarily from abroad, is known as “malinchismo,” a term adopted from the figure of “La Malinche,” who is historically remembered for “helping” Hernán Cortés during the conquest.

In order to combat these biased tastes and promote the national market, the Mexican government is promoting “Made in Mexico.”

“This strategy has resulted in an average of 65 percent of Mexicans preferring national brands and 57 percent planning to buy local brands, but in the luxury and technology sectors, the market is currently still dominated by foreign brands,” explained Edson Noyola, general director of “Tlapalería de ideas,” a marketing agency.