First, why we called our brand BERT?

 It should be BERTA instead. Berta is my beloved dog, whom I rescued from the streets of Bogotá, Colombia, and has been my loyal companion ever since. 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 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, 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 the growing problem of homeless dogs and cats in Colombia, which exceeds 3 million in number. 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 spay/neutralize more than 100 dogs and cats. But it didn't go far; we didn't have the sales we expected, so I had to pay for the spaying activities.

The idea was about to die if it weren't for a coincidence and valuable advice at the right time from Santiago, my husband. Santiago is a dedicated athlete, 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 and 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 attend bike races, 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 Berts 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.

Without knowing it, we found a new approach that could create a new category in the competitive world of sports footwear, not competing against them but complementing it.
We had to change our shoes for this new positioning, which has worked great. And here we are, proud of our latest and very prosperous brand of pre- and Post-Activity Shoes.