La Pisada Roja that inspired young entrepreneurs and gave work to footwear artisans from Ambato

The footwear is made by 60 people from two ambato factories. They have a product demand nationwide.

Wearing a red cam and sports shoes and the background music of the famous song Bad, by Michael Jackson, the now president -elect Guillermo Lasso premiered his admission to the Tik Tok social network last February 25 to announce that he was in the second electoral round.

These nine seconds were enough for the attention of many on social networks, including the Sebastián brothers and Julián Alvarado, two Quito of 25 and 22 years, in their order, who saw the opportunity to start an entrepreneurship and created the concept of Pisadaroja.ec.

Sebastián, a software engineer, says that comments and people who were increasingly wearing red shoes began to see on social networks. "It began to position itself as a unity symbol, of that unit that we want all Ecuadorians. We realized the trend and we said is a good opportunity to create something that people can join and feel part of ...", he says.

He points out that his family has been involved in the “all life” footwear industry, so at the beginning of this idea they traveled to Ambato and contacted artisans from two factories, each of thirty people, to make the shoes model like the one the candidate had.

Beyond the red shoe is this sense of unity, to support local production, to be more connected to the products we have and generate an inspiration for other young people who plan to undertake.

Sebastián Alvarado

He expresses that they risked to invest and 120 pairs of good quality were made to see if they managed to sell them. They promoted sales in social networks and web pages, to deliver at home without recharge, at a cost of $ 35 and with the supply of whether the value has two is $ 60. They had a high demand and they have been selling about 3,500 pairs and have about 400 orders of people who want to use them for the day of possession, he says.

He says that the reception exceeded their expectations so much that last week they had to close the page because they no longer had in stock because they are a small group. Today again they were activated in networks and begin to confirm orders.

Some pairs were presented to known or famous people in the middle to promote them and have already had a meeting in Quito with Lasso when I was campaigning.

We made a logo, a concept, but we wanted something beyond selling shoes. We really wanted in these elections to make a change (...). This idea is born that the red footprint is the footprint towards the change, the union, towards hope, we try to transmit that in our shipments, our networks, in the people.

Sol Peñaherrera

Sol Peñaherrera, which is part of the team that integrates it eight young people and manages sales in Guayaquil, mentions that in addition to generating sales they aroused hope in people.

He comments that a mother who works with them told them that one day the staff was tired one of the factory workers got up and encouraged them by saying: "Let's continue because we are going to show that our products are of quality."

This 24 -year -old hopes that Lasso fulfills her promise to go to Ambato and meet with the artisans of this industry and with the people who have also been economically affected by the pandemic.

He emphasizes that they are not affiliated with the Lasso party or had contact when the project began, but they did feel affinity with their government plan.