My name is Juliana and I´m the founder of Bert. As a young entrepreneur, I was somehow a dreamer and altruist. For me, a venture had to have a business component and another equivalent at a social level.
Given my love for animals, and living in a small apartment in Bogotá, Colombia, whose climate is unpredictable, cold, and rainy in the mornings for most of the year, I found it uncomfortable and time-consuming to take off my warm slippers and wear sneakers to take Berta (my dog) for a walk.
That's where the idea of
Bert was born in its first version.
With the valuable support of my uncle, Alberto Mantilla, a prominent industrial designer based in NY, we set the task of creating a product that would allow people to feel comfortable at home with a pair of shoes that were easy to put on and take off, and at the same time fashionable and more "dressing"
than slippers. We wanted people to be able to use them to go out in the morning to walk their pets, in a much more comfortable way.
However, creating that product was only part of what I envisioned. I wanted to attack a growing problem of homeless dogs and cats in Colombia which exceeds 3 million in numbers.
My idea was perfect: Bert would be a shoe in which we would all feel like we were in slippers but with which we could go out on the street and look good.
With part of the profits, we began to hold sterilization programs in remote
places in Colombia, managing to sterilize more than 100 dogs and cats in our first two years.
Unfortunately, the design and quality of the shoes had some areas of opportunity that caused sales to be less than expected.
Consequently, it was impossible to maintain the sterilization program for stray dogs and cats. Ironically, some people preferred to donate for the sterilizations even without
purchasing the shoes.
The idea was about to die if it weren't for a coincidence and valuable advice at the right time from Santiago my husband. A dedicated athlete and also
an entrepreneur and owner of Scarab Cycles, a successful custom-built bicycle company.
Months ago, Santiago began using his Bert before and after riding his bike. Any cyclist knows how important it is to wear special shoes for riding a bicycle, but also how uncomfortable they are to walk when you are not on the bike.
Without knowing it, Santiago was finding a new life for Bert.
On his frequent bike rides, he always arrived at the meeting place wearing his Bert, switching to cycling shoes for the ride and quickly and easily wearing them back afterward.
When he traveled to participate in his cycling events, his Berts took up
practically no space in his luggage and weighed almost nothing.
His friends asked him insistently about his shoes and where to get them. The Scarab Cycles store began to sell Bert with great success.
This way was how Santiago, having seen Bert's potential as shoes for before and after sports, encouraged me not to give up, redesign the product, and re-launch
it under a new concept.
The idea flourished quickly since any athlete of any discipline who requires special footwear for their activity found in Bert a comfortable and practical solution for before and after sports activity.
This story tells how we arrived at the Berts of today, with variations and improvements in design and materials and a new marketing approach that Cyclists, Golfers, Horse Riders, Athletes, Triathlonists, Motorcyclists, Climbers, Skiers, and practitioners of different sports who need comfort and practicality in their footwear love for before- and -after the action.
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