By Jesús Aguado
Every year, tons of shoes are exported from San Miguel de Allende to the world. The factory is located on Calzada de la Estación, and although it reduced its staff during the health contingency, 86 families still depend on employment there with most of the workers being women.
The brand San Miguel Shoes started as Botín Rojo on Insurgentes Street. The founders — Martha López, ‘La Señora del Sombrero,” and Santiago Gallardo — passed away this year. However, in “playing” they sowed in their sons and daughters the seeds of hard, honest, proud, and quality work which has become part of the city’s economy.
Gallardo was an accountant from a shoemaking family in León. He came to the city to work as an accountant—for a number of successful companies like Taboada, and La Esmeralda, and his work was well recognized.
Meanwhile, López, was a primary school teacher; one of 14 siblings. With her eyes fixed on a better future, she always told herself that she “would never marry a teacher,” because the work was not well paid. One day she was invited to a wedding, and although she had no desire to go, she did attend and it was there that she met Gallardo. He became the man who brought her shoes every weekend for her to sell at the door of her house on Loreto Street.
“The first batch that my father brought her, she sold everything, and she gave him the entire money to reinvest,” the couple’s daughters, Paulina and Isabel Gallardo López, told Atencíon. Later, Gallardo decided to start designing and manufacturing on a small scale. The two daughters still remember the first seamstress, Martina and Pablito León, who sewed the shoes. Gallardo worked hard, until he created the shoe “that struck him.” The shoe had a natural sole, it fit the foot well, and it was malleable. Foreign clients named them “the cocktail battle sandal,” and the slogan became “Strong as a tank, soft as a glove.”
The Gallardo sisters grew up amid shoes in the store. They learned to promote their brand, to sell, to manage, and to export them when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was passed. It was then that the shoes began to be exported by Canadian David Kufles. Today the creations can be found in the United States, Canada, South America, and Europe.
We visited the factory on Calzada de la Estación. Spread on a table were designs of the new footwear to be manufactured—the latest, the potential models. We then went to the production area. This is where the leather is cut, the sole is molded, materials are glued, the seam is made, it is pressure glued again, it is decorated, and then packaged. The explanation may be brief, but it takes hours to make a pair of shoes.
Recently, a large batch of shoes was consumed by fire. However, the Gallardo López daughters had learned a life lesson from their parents. When life throws stones, branches, and bad spells on you trying to get you to your knees, the only way to go is up, to keep your eyes forward, to spread your wings like an eagle and fly through the wind.
For this reason, instead of crying for their loss, they emerge like the phoenix with the reopening of the San Miguel Shoes store on Calle Relox 27. This is a tribute to La Señora del Sombrero, as the clients already knew López; the elegant lady who always knew what, and how to sell. Nobody left the store without a pair of shoes.
The reopening will take place at 5pm on Thursday, December 23, with cocktails and other surprises. In addition, it will include a showing of part of the new line of accessories: bags, belts, hats, and other products that are already being prepared. Everyone is invited.
