Mu the brand: a high quality sustainable Sneakers startup in Elche

Elche. A new brand of sustainable footwear, made in Elche that is born of the pandemic. This is the case of Mu the brand, a startup whose brand wants to "claim the quality of the footwear and skin of the country through close, sustainable and responsible trade with totally local production". This is maintained by the industrial engineers and founders of the company, Alicia Lopez-Ulloa and Angela Martín, who set themselves the goal of "creating a product that exalted the quality of the footwear sector and put in value Spanish leather, one of the best in the world, promoting, in addition, a close, sustainable and responsible trade."

The entrepreneurs have chosen to create sneakers or sports, with a unique and minimalist design "care in the slightest detail and totally timeless". The engineers have incorporated an innovative gel fortified template system lined with Microlining-a microfibre-"which make them very comfortable and fully breathable." In this sense, sustainability is important for the creators of this firm and they bet on the slow-fashion with serial and limited spins that can be personalised. Its principles are "simplicity, attention to detail, which is practical and timeless and of high quality and which contributes to responsible consumption".

Also, thinking in more public terms, they have a totally vegan model, the MU-05 series, which uses synthetic skins "providing the same performance as the series made with skin in terms of comfort, aesthetics and durability".

Producción en Elche y nuevos modelos en marcha

For its production, according to its creators, the brand is assisted by a factory located in Elche with experience in the footwear sector since 1947 "and which in recent years has seen its production reduced due to the relocation of the manufacture of large brands". In this way, the firm intends to make "a strong bet and hopes to be able to recover one of the most traditional industries in our country: shoes made in Spain".

The founders are friends of the university and, during the period of confinement, began to reflect feeling the desire to do something that really meant a motivation. Shortly afterwards, both coincided in a period of leave, Angela due to an injury and Alicia on the occasion of her maternity, at which time they decided to embark on this adventure in which they have been able to launch a brand in the midst of a pandemic and working 100% remotely from different countries, one in Spain and another in Turkey.

"we are restless, practical and we are always in a continuous search process. We were analyzing the different industries of Spain and we found in the shoe sector a good opportunity," comments Angela Martín, co-founder of Mu the brand. Alicia Loppez-Ulloa, the other half of this project, considers that "Mu is not another brand of sneakers, we pay attention to detail, quality and offer a limited product produced in Elche and manufactured from made in Spain materials." on the other hand, influences such as @ elshowthebritten and @ lookfortime support this brand.

The product is sold online with a free home return policy. In three months there is a waiting list for some models. The firm prepares the launch of new models for the spring and summer season and the design of a children's line, along with the opening of new physical distribution channels.