Ótima brand proves very popular
DARSIM Tool & Die, founded in 1992 by Jorge Simoes, began to really surge ahead after its Ótima housewares brand was brought to life by Jorge and his son Dario in 2012, as the need for quality and affordable houseware products emerged in South Africa, and later in southern Africa
By the time of the Ótima (‘excellent’ in Portuguese) introduction, founder Jorge Simoes had built up exceptional skills in thinwall injection moulding, not least based on his toolmaking prowess, allowing the business to split responsibilities with Jorge running the toolroom and Dario taking care of production. This arrangement has proved very successful for the business, with the high quality moulds built on site enabling it to convincingly expand production.
The Ótima introduction was opportune and timeous for the partners: the goal was to produce a range of quality houseware products that all households in South Africa can afford. So successful has the brand become that Darsim Tool & Die is now widely referred to simply as Ótima too. The on-going progress also necessitated successive moves to larger premises.
The Ótima products include a wide range of versatile, BPA-free plastic containers and lids that are proudly manufactured in South Africa. All 76 of Ótima’s products are designed with functional and innovative aspects in mind, so they can be used extensively across households, schools and offices.
Built on the foundation of the ‘Big Ó Promise’, Ótima offers superior quality products at an affordable price with an exceptional passion for the brand in all business practices. This gives the consumer a brand package deal. Ótima products are offered in an array of colours to carry the fun and exciting element of the brand through to everyone’s household.
During product development, Ótima is always mindful of the environment and has therefore focused its efforts on creating plasticware that offers a lifetime of use. The Ótima ‘Fishbowl’ container, for example, has a biodegradable straw inserted to eliminate single-use plastic products entering the market from its factory. Once this straw has decomposed, the user can replace it with a metal straw to continue using the product.
Ótima also enforces an in-house recycling programme, ensuring that defect and by-products are sent to regrind, in the process reducing production scrap levels to a fractional percent.
Ótima currently has distributors across South Africa, including some of the largest retailers in the region. Ótima has grown exponentially in the SADC region, including countries such as Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia and has recently expanded into Mauritius and the Indian Ocean Islands region.
Ótima is currently expanding to a global audience and plans to launch another nine products in 2021.
