With my mother's sewing machine next to my architecture board, POSCO's story began 10 years ago in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
I was studying architecture at the time and spending most of my time in my bedroom preparing project after project for university. My room was really small, and it was a mess. The architecture board was almost on top of the bed and there were sketches, rulers, mock-ups, glues and whatnot scattered all over the place. There wasn’t space or time for any new adventure, but sometimes the best ones are born like this.
Around 2am on a Sunday night. I was bored, tired, distracted and close to burning out. You know that feeling when everything around distracts from the one thing you really need to do? Well, that was happening to me, but particularly with my favorite pair of sneakers. I couldn't stop looking at them and wondering "why are comfortable shoes always so ugly?"
So, sleep-deprived and high from the glue fumes, I turned to the kitchen with a pair of sneakers to make myself a coffee. Instead, I decided to tear apart the sneakers with a knife. I wanted to understand how shoes were made so as to make better ones. My self-taught journey in footwear began that night. POSCO was born out of it.
An architect on paper, but a shoemaker by nature. An entrepreneur on the go.
I then worked day in day out on sample after sample till I produced my first 24 pairs of sneakers. Right after, I signed up at a local fair to showcase them. The shoes didn’t have labels on them, but that didn’t matter, I used sticky papers with my contact email and the name POSCO handwritten on them all the while thinking: "This is it, the world is going to meet my little family of handmade shoes." But don’t get too excited. I didn’t sell a single pair of shoes and no one tried my grandma’s legendary empanadas for that matter either, who came all the way down from Chaco - the province where I spent my childhood - to support me bracing a massive storm on her way there.
My road is full of bumps like this one. I didn’t have a big idea, experience, money or connections. I was and still am just following my instinct, which has led me to unforgettable achievements and moments that I could've never imagined. Flash-forward to launching my first flagship store, to appearing on the cover of FORBES Latin America 30 Under 30 Most Influential Entrepreneurs, to having the best feet in the world wearing my shoes (Yes, Lionel Messi!) and most importantly, to meeting so many talented and inspiring people along the way.
Familia. Amigos. Relationships. Heritage. Stories.
Because if there is one thing I've learned along this journey is that nothing is ever achieved alone. I made it all the way from Chaco to NY thanks to the unconditional support, talent and hard-work of other crazy doers that pushed me to do better and to move forward. Always con pasión, like a familia.
They are the reason I made it this far. They helped me realize that I didn’t just want to make shoes, I wanted to tell stories. My story, their stories and your story now.
