The Latino-owned footwear company centered on sustainability and accessibility is headed into new territory.
The sneaker landscape is ever-evolving. From innovations to emerging brands to household names entering new ventures, the sneaker industry is arguably at its peak.
Here’s how HOLO Footwear looks to climb its latest mountain.
In 2020, Rommel and Yuri Vega created HOLO Footwear with their passion for footwear and decades’-worth of expertise from Merrell, Columbia Sportswear, Saucony and PUMA.
Born from a kitchen table, HOLO Footwear got its name from the Earth’s current period — the Holocene epoch in which humans have damaged the planet the most. With the brand’s commitment to sustainability through footwear, the HOLO name was a no-brainer.
For Rommel and Yuri (CEO and President), they recognized a sizable disconnect from the outdoor, sustainability-led footwear brands & the Latino and urban community — main drivers in any industry, but especially footwear and its sub-culture.
“[The brands] weren’t really engaging right with the consumer; they weren’t really engaging with the community,” Yuri said. “I don’t want that to be us. We need to do a better job of really connecting community wise with the minority consumer because that’s essentially us. We started the company with the outdoor story; we are not an outdoor brand, or at least we don’t want to be considered one.”
While the brand prides itself of adding diversity to the outdoors scene with sustainable and attainable footwear by selling at REI, Nordstrom and Macy’s, HOLO has its eyes set on much more with performance basketball, running and even streetwear being upcoming categories for the company.
“We really want to build the culture of the company on people and what they like to do and not be pigeonholed so much,” Rommel said while referencing to the signing of Cleveland Cavaliers’ Isaac Okoro — the brand’s first NBA athlete partnership.
“When you think about it and when we get down to the core product, [consumers] like to see themselves in what they’re going to buy and to see someone else that either looks like them or represents what they like, which is why the signing of Isaac [Okoro] is really important because his values align with our values,” Rommel added.
And while HOLO Footwear’s designs, consumers and goals change, the brand’s purpose and identity won’t as Yuri credits the brand’s heartbeat to be the differentiator from HOLO in comparison to other conglomerate brands.
“We definitely don’t want to be aspirational but rather having a heartbeat behind the brand,” Yuri said. “We can portray life behind the brand, even if that means outside of the product and our own personal stories that can inspire you. We’re immigrant kids: I was born in Mexico and Rommel was born in Nicaragua, and we were brought to this country when we were little,” she added. “Never did we think we would be a CEO and President of our own brand.”
As HOLO Footwear readies itself for a new era, both Rommel and Yuri hope that the industry is ready for a change.
“One of the things that I really want the industry and the consumer to do is to think differently,” Rommel said. “It’s time to stop being a lamb and start raising the cattle — that’s what we’re here to do.”
“We want HOLO to represent a new day, a new superhero.”
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