Shoe entrepreneur wins the attention of Argentina’s president
29/06/2016
New president, Mauricio Macri, took up his post at the end of November and has caused concern to Argentina’s footwear sector by extolling free-trade and open-market policies. Shoe manufacturers in Argentina fear that this will favour brands and retailers that want to bring in cheaper, lower-quality made footwear from Asia and elsewhere to take market share away from local firms.
During the campaign for the 2015 presidential elections, Gastón Greco noticed that Mr Macri appeared on camera wearing the shoes of Italian and US brands, but not locally manufactured products. So he sent a hand-written letter saying he believed the president of Argentina ought to wear Argentinean shoes and with it he sent a pair of shoes from his brand, Posco.
More than four months went by without Mr Greco receiving any response but then one day Mr Macri, by now installed as president, appeared on the front page of newspaper La Nación proudly wearing his Posco shoes. This won lots of publicity for the brand, which Mr Greco is now working to turn into sales. However, no matter how famous his company becomes, he insists he will never compromise on the principles with which he set up.
Self-made and largely self-taught, Gastón Greco went to Buenos Aires in his teens to study architecture. With no background in the footwear industry, he just decided one day that he wanted to design and make shoes and set about building up his knowledge, skills and company from there. Posco stands for (‘Products of simple composition’) and its ranges are dominate by casual style shoes with leather uppers and rubber soles, often in white to give an appearance similar to that of a deck shoe.
Since his success with President Macri, Mr Greco has won the attention of other famous people in Argentina, such as singer Fito Páez and television presenter Andy Kusnetzoff. He says he would like to use his success so far to convince older-generation footwear artisans to pass on their skills to a new generation of footwear workers “before it’s too late and the knowledge is lost”. He recounts having found an artisan in Chaco who had been making the same traditional-style deerskin boot for 65 years. He will now teach younger people how to make the product.
Away from Chaco, Mr Greco has said he next wants to set up in Patagonia, at the opposite end of Argentina, convinced he can find footwear factories there that have closed and local styles that people have almost stopped making. His aim is to revitalise both factories and footwear styles and breathe new life into the industry.
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