Recently, Classic Pumps had the pleasure of talking with Pepe Jimenez, one of the two shoe designers that is the reason for our success. The words that follow are his story about his history in the shoe business.

Pepe Jimenez Shoes was founded in 1968 as a shoe factory by Pepe Jimenez at the age of 22. At the age of 11, Pepe began working in a shoe factory called Pablo Medina, S.L. collecting shoe nails with a magnet from the floor and making them straight again (at this time nails were recycled).

From that first day, his dream was to open his own business, to develop his design and manufacturing capability. Pepe worked at the all of the jobs assigned to beginners in a shoe factory. At the age of 17 he was Administrative Manager and also the sales representative for House Accounts. At the age of 19 he temporarily stopped his job to fulfill the obligatory Spanish military service. After his discharge from the military in 1967, he joined the Spanish shoe factory of Calzados Sesica, S.L. and established his own business a year later.

1968 was the grand opening of the Pepe Jimenez shoe factory. The first production runs and designs were directed to the young Spanish market, but he very soon realized that the big American market was also demanding shoes from Spain since American shoe manufacturers were already disappearing. 1972 was the year that Pepe Jimenez started his American business venture producing more than two million pairs for major brands in the United States in seven years.

In 1980, Pepe decided to change the focus of his business to utilize his experience acquired with the US market and apply it to the European market. This time frame was the beginning of negotiations for Spain to be part of the European Union.

During the process of developing his Spring-Summer 1980 collection, Pepe discovered a new shoe last. A last is a form which is used to stretch leather for each shoe size manufactured. This last allowed for a daring and bold low vamp cut according to the 1960’s fashion trends. This was the ever-popular Lola/Rossi/Nany last!

Pepe soon realized that it was difficult operating in two different markets. The large US market determined that it was the most appropriate to concentrate his efforts. After four years, he established an American base in Miami, FL and provided the best Spanish shoes for American customers.

In the early 90’s, Pepe met Walt Stagner during a Las Vegas Shoe Show. The collection was exactly what Walt was looking for – lovely, feminine shoes made of quality leather. This was the first time that Walt meet with LOLA and ROSSI! It was a very fine day, indeed!

Pepe and Walt established a friendly, successful business partnership. Today nobody can refer to Lola and Rossi Pumps without thinking about the team born in the 90’s by these two men.

From its inception the Pepe Jimenez shoe factory developed the Pepe Jimenez and Amour brand names to identify his products. The collections, drawn on paper by Pepe himself, were characterized by innovative design features. Their commercial, refined, classic and modern styles (pumps, ankle straps, sandals, mules, etc.) are his best vision of fashion, oriented to satisfy feminine tastes world-wide.

Today, Pepe continues to expand the range of his products by designing, producing and distributing new items according to current fashion trends, dedicated to classy, fashion-conscious women worldwide.