Abaeté embodies the spirit of its designer and founder, Laura Poretzky: it captures French femininity, Brazilian sensuality, and American simplicity. Abaeté (pronounced ah-BYE-ah-tay) is Laura’s family name and translates roughly to “person of virtue”. The logo is the original Portuguese family crest, which was awarded to her great-great grandfather in the mid-1800’s for his work as a leading abolitionist and service as the President of the Brazilian Senate.
Laura began Abaeté in 2004 with a well-received, Japanese-influenced resort collection for the 2005 season, which debuted in stores such as Kirna Zabete and Linda Dresner. Several months later Abaeté held its first fashion show for the Spring 2005 Collection during New York Fashion Week at the Altman Building.
The Spring 2006 Collection was sponsored by UPS, and for the first time Abaeté took part in IMG/Olympus New York Fashion Week in the Tents at Bryant Park. The collection, based on the movie Black Orpheus, was immediately hailed a “stellar debut with a selection of richly colored, beautifully trimmed (pieces)” by the New York Post, and received much attention from both major national and international press.
Soon Abaeté was approached by Payless ShoeSource in an effort to create their first-ever designer shoe collection. The first Abaeté for Payless Collection hit the runway during the Fall 2006 Show in February of 2005, this time in the Atelier at Bryant Park. While garnishing much attention from the Wall Street Journal, WWD, USA Today, and most of the major fashion publications, it also experienced extremely high sales figures with many styles selling out, prompting a continuation and expansion of the collection.
