Toni Pons grows 53% in 2022 and plans to double its store network

A few weeks ago, Michelle Obama received an unexpected gift while strolling through the Born with her husband and Steven Spielberg on their way to the Picasso Museum: a pair of espadrilles from the Catalan brand Toni Pons. Just that week, the firm had just opened its new flagship store in Barcelona on Paseo del Born, an establishment designed to boost its brand image and primarily aimed at tourists visiting the city who are looking to take home a local product that, in addition to being trendy, has a legacy and is artisan-based.

With over 75 years of experience, Toni Pons' origins are in the Girona town of Osor, in a small shop known as Cal Lluís Espardenyer and run by Lluís Pons Sureda. The company, however, has taken a turn in the last five years as a result of the incorporation of Jordi Pons, belonging to the third generation, into general management, who has doubled the company's turnover and launched an ambitious plan to open Toni Pons brand stores, which has resulted in growth of more than 50% in the last year.

Until 2017, when the brand's first establishment opened on Ferran Street in Barcelona, Toni Pons focused all its sales on the wholesale channel and sales in multi-brand shoe stores. Now, the brand already has 28 points of sale, 16 in Spain and 12 in the international market, where it has started with the opening of franchises in Saudi Arabia (8), Colombia (2), Ecuador and the Philippines. 15 more stores are already in the process of opening, ten of which will open in the Philippines, where the first store was inaugurated a few days ago in the Robinsons Place shopping center in Manila. "A couple of Filipino tourists, with different businesses in the country, discovered the Toni Pons brand in Madrid and fell in love with our product; they came to see us, we agreed, and now they will make a strong investment in launching the brand in the country," explains Ricard Llop, the company's marketing director.

"Since the arrival of the third generation, Toni Pons operates with a startup dynamic. In 2022, we invoiced 30 million euros, a 53% increase, and our goal is to maintain this double-digit growth in the coming years," highlights Llop, who advances the company's plans to double its store network in the coming years and also boost the online channel, which already accounts for 20% of turnover. "We are very optimistic, the international growth potential is enormous and, furthermore, espadrilles are a totally trending product; there is a growing interest in this type of shoe worldwide due to its versatility," he assures. The challenge is to grow between 20% and 25% this year and exceed 35 million in turnover.

Thanks to this diversification strategy into new channels, Toni Pons assures that in 2022 it has become the leading company in the espadrille sector, both in terms of turnover volume, 30 million euros, and units, with one million pairs. The other major Catalan espadrille firm, Castañer, grew by 25% in 2022, with sales of 24 million euros and more than 450,000 pairs sold. Curiously, Castañer also opened a boutique this spring in Barcelona, on Valencia street, after a few years without having its own store in the city.

"We have healthy competition with them and a good relationship. Our brand positioning is different; Toni Pons' proposal has an unbeatable quality-price ratio, but the important thing is that both brands act as ambassadors for a product that is originally from here, heir to a tradition, and that we are taking all over the world," assures Llop. "In the international market, there is a lot of interest in this type of modern artisan shoes that, in addition, have a legacy behind them, a tradition that comes from an espadrille master," he considers. Thus, 75% of Toni Pons' sales come from the foreign market, where it is present in 50 countries ---with a special connection to France--- and in more than 4,000 points of sale. The B2B channel, that is, sales to third-party establishments, continues to be the main source of income. In parallel, the online store, launched in 2018, allows purchases from 150 countries and already generates a fifth of sales.

The new store in Born is the fourth that the brand opens in Barcelona, also present in Ferran, Boters and Argenteria streets. Except for the establishment in Tarragona, the 16 points of sale in Spain are owned. This quarter, this B2C strategy (direct sale to the consumer) will continue to be promoted with the opening of new stores in Marbella and Palma de Mallorca.

100% own design and national manufacturing

Another path undertaken by Toni Pons is product diversification. Thus, of the 1.3 million pairs marketed in 2022, one million are espadrilles and the rest are other types of shoes, from water boots to Menorcan abarcas or slippers for being at home. The brand sells more than 400 references, with collections for women, men and children. In addition, it markets accessories, such as foulards, bags or beach baskets. 100% of the design is its own and all production is carried out in Spain. Specifically, Toni Pons has a central workshop in Girona, where its corporate headquarters are located, and factories in La Rioja and in the Elche area, which have production lines that work exclusively for the brand. Most of the espadrilles have the jute sole hand-sewn and the rest use the assembled technique.

According to Ricard Llop, the average price of their espadrilles is 70 euros, with pairs ranging from 40 euros for the most basic models to 130 euros for wedding designs.

To underpin this growth strategy, Toni Pons has reinforced its management structure with the incorporation of executives such as Llop himself and other professionals with experience in chains such as Mango (Christian Valle) and Eurekakids (Joaquim Llopart).

Llop assures that despite the ambitious growth plans they have on the table, the company is not in the process of looking for partners and that its vocation is to remain a family company. Although the family tradition dates back to the 1920s, it was Antoni Pons Parramon who founded the company in 1946. His son, Antoni Pons, was the architect of the company's expansion from the 1970s and now it is the founder's grandson, Jordi Pons, 35, who is in charge and has given a new impetus to the firm.

Three years ago, Toni Pons doubled the surface area of the logistics warehouse it owns next to its headquarters in Girona, but this expansion has already become too small and they have had to rent several satellite warehouses, so the company has already begun the search for land in the Girona area to build a new logistics center to cope with future growth.