INTERVIEW


respecting our DNA and our raison d’être. These new designs will be released early next year.


Q: How do you engage with your end consumer via your retail partners and other channels? TB: We take good care of our British customer; we will provide them with all the material and the support they need to make the sale to the end consumer a complete success! Our end consumers are supported by our customer service, where they can contact us with any questions or suggestions. We learn a lot from our customers, and we are equipped with strong teams so that they know that we are always there for them.


The plan is to continue along the same lines but improving every day. Passion is our way of life, and represents the commitment


to Pikolinos’s values and the involvement of the entire team. It is a brand that was born to create and love what it does. Our commitment to a job well done, the heritage we have received and our know-how with leather make quality the greatest of our qualities!


Q: Tell us more about why sustainability is so important to your brand? TB: If we don’t think about possibilities for improvement and how to do better, we simply won’t evolve. Continuous improvement is our philosophy and our efforts with this will help to not only get us closer to our end consumers but also closer to excellence.


Every pair of shoes we manufacture travels to the end consumer in a cardboard box, and we are well aware of the impact of that packaging. Today, we can say that 100 per cent of our shoe boxes are sourced from recycled cardboard and


paper. We have completely eliminated plastics from our packaging (shoe trees, bags, etc.) and replaced them with recycled and recyclable paper and cardboard alternatives. Not only this, but 100 per cent of the collective packaging used for transporting the product comes from recycled cardboard and paper too. But we also care about reusing materials. Between 35-40 per cent of the collective containers that arrive at our Pikolog logistics centre are reused to send goods to our end customers. This enables us to reduce the amount of new material we use. The introduction of our handbags and accessories collections is also included in our move towards increasing our sustainability, as the family of washed leather bags – our icons of continuity – come from LWG Gold Certified suppliers.


Q: How does this feed in to your other responsibilities as a worldwide brand, and your impact across the globe? TB: The Juan Perán Pikolinos Foundation was set up in 2007 and since its inception it has allocated more than Ð5 million in direct aid that has reached more than 347,000 people, collaborating with some 1,100 organisations working mainly in the social and development spheres, but also in culture and sports. Every year, the Foundation carries out projects at home and abroad to help the most disadvantaged.


Outside of Spain we have been involved in projects in countries such as Kenya (with the support of the Maasai community), Morocco (sending food to the Sahara camps), Guinea Bissau (with the Kasumai NGO) and India (with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation). We’ve been also part of other projects in Guatemala, Bangladesh, Peru and Senegal, targeting the most disadvantaged groups, including children and people with functional diversity. Over the course of 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 health crisis, the Foundation carried out a total of 96 projects reaching more than 40,000 people. The huge number of projects were mainly aimed at improving the quality of life for people with functional diversity, women, children and families at risk. Activities under these projects concentrate on basic needs such as health, food and education. The Foundation allocated a total budget of more than €1 million in contributions from Grupo Pikolinos and the Perán Bazán family as the main donors.


For sales enquiries please contact Russell Galliven at Galliven Agencies Ltd. Phone 07493 443 432 or email info@gallivenagencies.com.


14 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • DECEMBER 2023


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