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Calonge walnuts
Cortijo Calonge is a family owned company enthusiastic about the cultivation of walnut and pecan, supported by the experience and equipment necessary to bring to your table a basic element in food such as walnuts, a Spanish nut with powerful nutritional properties that will delight your family.
Located in the municipality of Palma del Río (Córdoba) and Palma del Río – Lora del Río confederation road, Cortijo Calonge belongs to the Vega del Guadalquivir region. It is an area well known for its fertile soils and perfect climate for the cultivation of walnut and pecan trees, we could say that it is the California state of Europe.
Cortijo Calonge has 315 hectares planted with walnut and pecan for fruit and are governed by the Global G.A.P. standard. Plantation is respectful with the environment and complies with the criteria accepted throughout Europe in terms of food safety, sustainable production methods, welfare of workers and responsible use of water, seeking the proper growth of walnut and pecan trees in a natural and sustainable way and getting a completely natural nut with a unique flavor.
Their activity is developed from the cultivation of Cortijo Calonge walnut and pecan trees, to the marketing and sale of the nuts to end consumers. They are very proud of their walnuts and pecans operation, and are committed to providing the best of services. The care of the walnut and pecan trees is fundamental to obtain an exquisite fruit that reaches international consumers in excellent condition.
To do this Calonge has taken into account essential aspects such as the exceptional agronomic conditions of the farm, a privileged area in Andalusia, such as the Guadalquivir valley, next to the banks of the river that bears its name, which means that the development of the tree and the fruit throughout the growing season is unbeatable, resulting in high quality nuts.
Micolet wardrobe
The value of Micolet lies in its convenience. Those who decide to lighten their wardrobe through this website only have to worry about putting everything they want to sell in a box and fill in and print out a collection form. Micolet collects the box at Spanish homes for 4.99 euros and then checks the condition of the garments (15% is discarded, which is returned to the seller or donated to NGOs). They value them with their own software that takes into account variables such as colour, size or the time of year (shorts in winter do not cost the same as shorts in summer). The seller receives an email with the price and, if they agree, the garment is photographed and put up for sale on the website. When it is sold, Micolet keeps a fixed fee of 1.5 euros and 25% of the price. If the garment spends a long time in the warehouse, the price is reduced, but the seller is always notified.
The company already has more than one million satisfied users and saves around 60,000 garments a month that would otherwise be thrown away. In addition to Spain, where 80% of sales come from, the company sells (not buys) in Portugal, France, Germany, Italy and England. And over the course of this year, two more countries will be added, because they have set themselves the objective of entering Holland and Belgium.
This year has undoubtedly made Spanish consumers look much more closely at savings in the face of the lack of security in the future. Savings have been found in second hand online shopping, which is booming as it is also the safest way to shop in sites Micolet, Wallapop or Vinted. Not only that, but confinement has made many people stop and take a look at their wardrobes, and become aware of everything they accumulate there.
It’s Lava
Versatility, elegance and responsibility, this is It´’s lava. A brand of accessories for day to day, customizable and for all women. It’s Lava creations are made to make you feel good every time you leave the house, no matter what you wear. A responsible fashion brand that wants to make your life easier, make you feel confident and manage to create the perfect accessory for any occasion, playing with design and making it so customizable that you will not see another like it.
The brand held its first pop-up, at the ABC Serrano shopping center in Madrid during its first Summer Market, where it presented its new summer collection. The summer collection is shown as a clear commitment to versatility: from reversible and multi-position bags to changes of handles to create an all-terrain bag.
The idea arises from the manufacture of garments under a responsible fashion consumption, which encourages conscious consumption where customers acquire unique pieces that can be used for any occasion.
But this does not end here. The collection continues with sarongs and scarves with which you will not go unnoticed. Inspired by summer trends and wonderful sunsets, It´’s lava offers us versatile scarves that fit all your needs. How to use them? Just like the bags, these accessories become a piece you can play with: from donning it like a top to turning it into a bag handle or a headband.
Magrit shoes
Magrit, the Spanish manufacturer of women´s shoes has its headquarters in Elda. This Mediterranean town in the province of Alicante, Spain, has had a substantial presence in the footwear industry for more than 100 years. Since 1929, Magrit manufactures high-quality women’s shoes—in the most traditional way—for major international fashion and design firms. More than 100 skilled hands are responsible for imagining, interpreting, sketching and shaping each model, which makes the footwear ideal for the woman who seeks exclusivity and quality.
Since the Amat family founded Magrit, several generations have worked with passion, enthusiasm and determination to deliver spectacular shoes. “We have produced millions of pairs of women’s shoes and have exceeded the expectations of our customers expanding our expertise every day, season after season, generation after generation,” says Pepe Amat, the company´s current owner, who along with brother Manolo Amat, represent the third generation on this saga of master shoemakers.
Queen Sofia of Spain, Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Rania of Jordan wear Magrit shoes, and Camilla Parker Bowles, Duchess of Cornwall and wife of Prince Charles of England, came to her wedding wearing a pair of Magrits. But perhaps the person who unwittingly put Magrit in the spotlight was Letizia, the Spanish Queen, who is said to have over 100 pairs of shoes from the prestigious shoemakers from Alicante. She was a fan of the brand even before she was named Princess of Asturias in 2004. Queen Letizia likes to wear Magrit shoes for all her events and official duties.
Magrit sells more than 150,000 pairs annually from which it exports about 90%. Furthermore, this Spanish luxury footwear company increased its production by 30 percent thanks to online sales and recent market expansions in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
La Spiaggia serum
If you heard of La Spiaggia, you might think we’re speaking Italian. You’re right: Spiaggia means ‘beach’ in Italian. However, in this particular case, we’re referring to the firm of Olga Borrell, a cosmetics enthusiast who after a defining chapter in her life decided to quit her job at the bank to try her luck in this ever-growing industry.
This Barcelona-based brand refers to the coast is not a trivial matter: Borrell herself confesses her predilection for tanned skin (always with sun protection). After all, this effect is considered attractive in Europe, although in Asia it is considered a crime against the skin. And you know that the only way to talk about a safe tan is through treatments and products that change our skin tone without resorting to solar radiation, such as self-tanning products and colour serums.
After researching, formulating and testing several samples first hand, La Spiaggia has included in its catalogue The Color Serum, a tinted treatment for all skin types with two basic functions: Caring for the skin on its inside and leaving it in perfect magazine condition on the outside.
Through a medium tint which adapts to all skin tones it provides the so popular Mediterranean skin tone without having to wait for summer or pay for UVA sessions. And thanks to its non-transfer technology, it doesn’t stain. As Freddie Mercury would sing in Bohemian Rhapsody: “Is this the real life? We’ve tried it and it is real, believe us.
Wonders love
Wonders is a Spanish company based in Elche which offers high quality women and men’s footwear. They stand out for making all their products in Spain, with handmade processes, offering unparalleled quality in all their products. They combine tradition, culture and know-how, offering appropriate footwear with the latest trends at affordable prices.
Wonders is one of the few companies that has remained entirely in Spain, and they constantly make this clear with their slogan “Made with love in Spain”. Its founder, Jaime Carbonell, founded the Droell shoe shop in 1967 with no previous experience in the sector. He offered private label shoes to large supermarkets. Although at first business was good, at the end of the 70s the company began to decline to the point of closing 80% of its factories.
Like a phoenix, Jaime did not cease in his efforts and rose from the ashes to found Wonders, which he decided to locate exclusively in Spain, despite the fact that all his competitors were manufacturing in Asian countries. This bet turned out to be beneficial and nowadays it has establishments all over the world, exporting 50% of its footwear.
Benefits of locating their production process in Spain allow them to control the entire manufacturing process, offering a quality that the rest of their competitors cannot try to reach. In the same way, the capacity to react and the contact with customers is much closer, offering a much more exclusive service.
Wonders manufactures high quality women’s shoes. High-top boots, leather ankle boots, sandals… A wide variety of shoes made with quality products, with handcrafted procedures that will make you feel special and unique.
Zahati hats
In Spain there are many areas where there is a great tradition in the handling of natural fibres to create handcrafted pieces of great value. Entire families are dedicated to a craft that this fashion is bringing back. One of them can be found in Gata de Gorgos: the Zahati firm.
Since 1920, the family of the current owner, Sandra Mira Zaragosé, has been dedicated to the manufacture of hand-braided wheat straw hats. A skill that has been passed down from generation to generation in this village in Alicante, where many of its inhabitants are dedicated to it. So much so that it even has a museum.
At Zahati they make hats from 100% natural fibres and dyes (totally sustainable), in a totally artisan way, which is why each piece is unique. Committed to Made in Spain and traditions, from their workshop in Alicante they sell their designs all over Spain. In addition to hats, they also have an interesting line of bags and baskets and another line of accessories such as bracelets and rings that are surprisingly original. And given that from now on there is one more accessory in our lives, face masks, this small company has launched its own design, only suitable for the daring.
FOS Eyewear
At FOS Barcelona they want to mimic nature where everything is in constant movement, transformation and balance. This way, infinite closed cycles are generated, eliminating the concept of waste. FOS Barcelona is a brand that explores the current production and consumption systems, waste management systems and cultural habits around these through products that offer an extended vision about the meaning of quality.
Quality as the property by which a product performs well for a long period of time, while keeping in balance the ecosystem it interacts with. Quality should go beyond the mere tangible properties of a product. It should include its wide impacts in society, economy and the environment. If as users we aren’t educated to understand this, then quality becomes perception of quality, which is generally not linked to actual quality.
FOS Barcelona is a prototype towards changing the paradigm of the current industrial economy, where cities function linearly importing products and producing waste, for an ecosystem where materials flow within the city and the information spreads globally.
This is why they offer a package called “Powered by FOS”. A set of trainings, designs, and tools to allow organizations to start producing sunglasses locally the way they do in Barcelona.
Ande dem shoes
Ande dem means “walking together” in the Wolof language of Senegal. This work comes after five years of existence of the Sindicato Mantero and Top Manta store in the city of Barcelona, organizations that have formed a cooperative. Years ago, Lamine Sarr risked his life to travel from Senegal to Spain where he found himself on the streets selling counterfeit goods. He is now trying to help people in a similar situation.
Top Manta is an appropriation of the name given to street vendors in Spain, a job performed by many people who, because they do not have working papers, go out to sell products ilegally on the street, thus suffering constant police harassment. Ande dem sports shoes are manufactured in small companies made up mainly of racialized people, located in the cities of Valencia (Spain) and Porto (Portugal) with environmental care guidelines, as being vegan sneakers.
Ande dem advertising is based on the individualizing slogan of Nike sneakers, which is discussed by the cooperative Top Manta. To the sneaker giant’s Just do it, this cooperative proposes that “It’s not about just doing it, it’s about doing it right”. In the campaign’s promotional video they explain: “We didn’t come just in search of a dignified life for ourselves and our loved ones. We came to change the rules of the game. To make them fairer for everyone. Because it’s not just about doing it, but about doing it right”.