The story of the couple who reinvented themselves selling vegan Colombian shoes

Solarte Chile is an undertaking of vegan footwear that sells creative and innovative shoes made from processes and materials that do not involve any kind of damage to animals.

What are they made of? According to T13.cl Eduardo Muñoz, the co-founder of this business, the secret is to use synthetic PVC, that is, polyvinyl chloride resin, as a raw material.

"one resembles its characteristics to leather, both on the outside and on the inside, but does not mean any harm to animals. Moreover, our customers always praise their quality and comfort because that is something very difficult to find in a shoe today," said the entrepreneur.

He and his partner and partner Tatiana Oñate started this business a little less than a year ago. However, in that short time they have managed to sell shoes all over Chile and also obtain a high number of customers.

How did this business start?

According to Eduardo, it all started out of necessity. Due to the social outbreak and health crisis, the entrepreneur was left out of work and had to resort to creativity to get ahead and reinvent himself.

"I was with Tatiana, my partner, and I saw that she had very particular and beautiful shoes. She told me she bought them in Medellin a couple of years ago, and I found them so special that I immediately thought I could do a business with them. She and I are very good at clothes and we always found it difficult to find beautiful shoes and not the typical ones. That's why we both got excited about the idea right away, and that's where we started, "Eduardo said.

The shoes that enchanted the couple came from a Colombian store called Solarte, which is actually also a venture. Eduardo and Tatiana decided to ally with them and start importing their products into Chile. That's how Solarte Chile was born.

"Solarte is a business established in Colombia that has 10 years of experience. This support encouraged us to get to know the project and form an alliance with the Colombian brand. In addition, we thought that since Tatiana is from Colombia, she could travel from time to time to see the new designs and bring them here, "said the entrepreneur.

According to Eduardo, all Solarte Chile's shoes have a unique and special stamp, so they decided to name each model with the name of a woman.

"one of my favorites is Mia Tricolor, a very beautiful shoe and requested by all kinds of women. The ones who are over 40, the 30-year-olds, and the more Lolas. I love that it makes so many people happy, "said the entrepreneur.

Being a publicist by profession, Eduardo works watching the social networks of the business, while Tatiana is the face of the store. She also deals with clients throughout the sales process.

"I love the reception that people have with shoes and with us. For example, on social networks it is typical that there are people who throw bad vibe because they do, but our page is always full of affection and people who send greetings. Tatiana, who is the face of the store because she talks to the customers, always receives a lot of love from them," Eduardo said.

For the future, this couple plans to continue to innovate with their shoe designs, but also to add to their offer handbags, wallets and a line dedicated to men's shoes. They would also like to make alliances with other vegan clothing brands so that together they can start promoting "outfits" with this label.

You want to know more about this business? Visit your Instagram page @ Solarte.Chile