Pikolinos is a bespoke brand of shoes and boots. The brand is driven by a simple idea: that the journey is always better than the destination. With a pair of great shoes on your feet, you’ll be on your way to making every journey worth remembering.
Simons Shoes offers every variety of this individualistic, high-quality, Spanish-made shoe. Whether you need women’s or men’s, or perhaps even different colors and makes, we can get them for you. After all, it’s not every day that you find the perfect shoe, so when you do, you’ll need to take advantage of it.
This high-quality line of shoes sets itself apart in a variety of ways, which is why it’s a part of the Simon Shoes lineup of exceptional pieces. Learn more below.
Pikolinos
Pikolinos
Pikolinos
Pikolinos
Pikolinos
Pikolinos
Pikolinos
Pikolinos
Pikolinos
Pikolinos is equipped with a rich and colorful history like its motherland, Spain. It’s a family-owned company that started out as Spanish leather tanners who eventually opened their own storefronts to sell their goods. In 1984, the brand was created by the Pikolinos Group head, Juan Perán Ramos. The company started with one main goal: to create a shoe of completely original quality, design, and comfort. As the company began to evolve, Juan started to fund his new foundation whose motto is “To help is life.” The goal of the company has expanded from just providing incredibly high-quality shoes, to helping limit and diminish inequalities in life. Now, the company has grown considerably in fame and renown for its exceptional offerings, and 80% of their yearly revenue is gathered from their exported pieces.
All of the tanneries for the leathers used in the shoes are still located in Spain, which is why Pikolinos carries a prestigious Spanish leather label next to their name. After all, there’s no better way to explain the type of quality a client is getting when investing in a PIKOLINOS BOOT. Indeed, the founder of the company believes it’s Pikolinos’ work to preserve the Spanish tanning methods and history. It’s a brand entrenched in tradition, but hardly afraid to branch out and represent new and modern styles. In their time, they’ve managed to bring the beauty of Mediterranean quality and tradition to people all over the world. Each new season’s line features exceptional new tanned colors and treatments to the leather that help make their shoes remarkably versatile and easy to wear.
From Italy’s delicate leather-clad boxes, a small memento originally made for Catherine de Medici, to the remarkable Spanish leatherworking traditions, the Mediterranean has always provided premium leather for the world. It's coveted for its velvety, buttery finish, durability, and oh-so-delicate stitching, and the Pikolinos brand is no exception to that rule. Indeed, it’s one of the last vestiges of the true leatherworking traditions that still remain within the consumer’s budget today. Why is that? Because of how each show is manufactured, designed, and the leather is cured originally. Each step of crafting a pair of Pikolinos is a study in quality control and passion.
When you unpackage your pair of Pikolinos shoes, you can smell the Mediterranean sea and the spices of Spain, you can sense the fine work and attention to detail in every angle and valley of the shoe. It’s a visceral and tactile feeling that is solely based on the old traditions used still to create each shoe. The experienced leatherworkers at Pikolinos only work with water-based leather treatments, which is where the distinctive Mediterranean smell and feeling comes from. The natural finishes on each shoe are the result of this careful process, and the careful brushwork on each piece of leather results in a remarkably artisan feeling that’s palpable the moment you hold the show in-hand, let alone slide it onto your foot.
These shoes and boots are all souvenirs from the past thanks to the dedication of the company and the hard work of their staff. For all the stitching on every shoe is done by hand. The careful lines of stitching work each piece of leather together with precision, making an encasement that’s closer to the construction of a glove rather than a shoe. This tactic, in tandem with the lack of too many overcoats on the leather, creates that unique Spanish leather shoe and boot feeling that allows the high-quality leather to carefully form to the foot.
"Pikolinos are Beautifully crafted. Comfortable and cute. I walk a lot and need to look presentable so this shoe fits the bill. Comfortable AND attractive! Will order another in a different color."
"Comfort! Comfort! Comfort! I know I already touched on this but this PIKOLINOS shoe is SO comfortable I can't get over it."
"I just received my Pikolinos boots, They are butter soft and oh so comfortable. This is my new "go to" brand for supreme comfort. I am very impressed by the quality of the leather and the workmanship."
The Happy Creators Manifesto
Several things set the Pikolinos brand apart, but the most notable, perhaps, is the “Happy Creators Manifesto.” The Creators Manifesto states that the best work will always be done when artisans feel happy. The idea is if they are content and feel free enough to explore their imaginations and look for inspiration, then they’ll continue to create truly great and beautiful work. The hope that treating working and the crafters of their shoes correctly and inspiring and encouraging their idea would make a better quality product has paid off remarkably.
Giving Back
Beyond treating their workers the right way, they also go out of their way to treat the world the right way and share their success with those less fortunate than them. The founder of the company, Juan, has repeatedly said that their mission is “to give back to society some of what society has given to me.” The company approaches this mission by first offering opportunities to those who are often socially marginalized, this can be for any reason, like their geographical location, their gender, their mental capabilities, and more. Pikolinos tackles these issues with specialized programs that are made to tackle issues like integration, developmental issues, and any potential educational issues. The idea is simple: create more opportunities for people who naturally have fewer opportunities. Specifically, the foundation has managed to partner with nearly 70 NGOs and more than 16,000 different families from all over, throughout the years they’ve been in business.
Staying Green
Another reason the Pikolinos brand stands apart is all the work is still done by hand. Pikolinos isn’t concerned about the push to become more automated, to cut human work out of production. They actually revel in the idea of competitors doing so. Pikolinos has always believed that work done by hand is better and that machines are an inferior imitation of the precision of skilled human work. Incidentally, it’s been quite easy for the Pikolinos brand to stay environmentally conscious. They’ve brought it a step farther though, as they use only the best and most ethically sourced materials for their products too!
For these reasons, Pikolinos has easily set itself aside as an example of how green and ethical a company can be while still creating extremely high-quality goods and making exceptional leaps in profit and economic success. They’ve successfully modeled that it’s entirely possible to bridge the gap between a viable business plan and giving back to the community as much as possible.
Pikolinos takes tremendous pride and places a lot of value in the use of only the best quality raw materials. Their leathers are treated, tanned and dyed with the environment in mind. Pikolinos proudly guarantees the quality of the leathers and views their commitment to the environment on the same terms.
For over 30 years, Pikolinos has been dedicated to making certain that every shoe is unique. The artisan process prides themselves on being at the forefront of comfortable fashion for both men and women. While the shoes themselves are on trend and unique, their style will last a lifetime.
It consists of special collections we launch in partnership with communities at risk of social exclusion and people with special needs in order to support their sustainability and integration and, of course, to sow hope and encouragement in their hearts.
Incorporation of the Happy Creators Manifesto into their day-to-day lives alongside the emphasis they place on helping others, Pikolinos has managed to create a memorable culture that many companies around the world use as a model. In fact, they’ve created a lifestyle that favors humanity over other unnecessary virtues. The 500 employees dedicated to the remarkable quality that sets the brand’s designs apart and sets consumer expectations all have one thing in common which is a way of seeing the world. Indeed, it seems Pikolinos has managed to do what every hopeful millennial generation individual could hope their company would do - make the world a better place with a simple product done well. The culture of this company is remarkable and admirable for one main reason: everything they do is driven by the hope for greater comfort.
With each pair of shoes they craft, they proclaim that there’s no reason you can’t be fashionable and comfortable. That there’s no reason you can’t be good to your community and make profits. That there’s no reason that production and quality should suffer in the name of an ever creeping culture of automation and cutting out the human element in every process. They strive to find better, greener solutions to every problem they come across.
But the principal is ultimately simple — the way things were done in the 1500s or the 1600s wasn’t harming the environment, and it was probably a better method. The idea isn’t complicated: why fix it if it’s not broken? The leather techniques that have been used throughout the European continent for hundreds of years have hardly been improved upon. That’s why the cultural spice that comes with every unique and beautiful pair of Pikolinos appeals to your senses in a strictly Mediterranean way. They’re not better, they’re the same as they’ve always been and in a modern world without constants, perhaps the only vestige of control we’ll have is over the simple things — like keeping our leather working techniques really old school.
What makes Pikolinos’ work so high-quality? One main thing: remarkable endurance to wear and tear. First, Pikolinos’ collection of talented and unique leather tanners and designers start their work with only the highest quality leather. When you purchase shoes from Pikolinos, you can rest assured that every material used in production is either full-grain, remarkable quality leather or an even more unique and durable textile that’s been added for the purposes of modern styles. During the tanning process, the leathers are treated with only natural waxes and products. From their water-based tanning procedure to their vegetable-tanned skins, the products used are only ever the products of the earth. That creates a more natural hue in every design they produce. It also creates a unique and remarkably noticeable Spanish leather feel.
When you pick up a Pikolinos shoe, you’ll immediately feel the high-quality of the leather. That’s due solely to the all-natural and simple tanning procedures used on the material. It’s buttery and silky, but it doesn’t have much give yet. You’ll be able to note that the leather is uniquely stiff and doesn’t provide much give when pushed or pulled. When people use the term “break-in” they likely mean something along the lines of what you’ll have to do to this pair of shoes. Because of the organic and traditional cobbler style construction of each of the pieces, you’ll spend about a day or two breaking-in the leather, but once that’s done, the leather will adhere and form to your foot’s unique shape. That means you won’t need inserts or something similar to make the sole or toe of this shoe comfortable. Especially since every single piece is made with comfort in mind first, before style. The current style of the shoe is wrapped around the immense comfort each pair provides to the user.
Indeed, Pikolinos are always looking for new ways to make their styles competitive and interesting in the market. For example, they’ve recently reached out to the Maasai community to offer them sustainable work to decorate the Pikolinos shoes with unique designs that you won’t be able to find anywhere else. The Maasai are a Nilotic ethnic group from all around Kenya and northern Tanzania. They’re known for their distinctive dress and culture and have taken pride in being provided with an opportunity to gain an independent living. However, this is only one example of how Piklinos works to set themselves apart and provide added value to each of their consumers and their purchases.
Want to know what it feels like to have a shoe mold and form to your foot? Want to know what it’s like to support a green company that makes an example of economic and sustainable prosperity? Perhaps it’s time to invest in a pair of Pikolinos incredible, hand-crafted pieces of art. Encourage the simple yet profound idea of the Happy Creators Manifesto, put your money behind a brand that cares about others just as much as its bottom line. Shop Pikolinos remarkable work on Simons Shoes for unbeatable prices and efficient delivery. You shouldn’t have to wait for this season’s shoes. So, don’t. Choose Simons Shoes as your premier shoe provider for all the seasons and start shopping our grand selection now.
