There is a factory near Porto that runs on skill, patience, and a level of care that is genuinely difficult to explain to someone who hasn't seen it. Ismael has been running his father’s factory for years, and his son works there too.
We have visited Ismael and his team many times. The artisans who work there have hands that know exactly what they are doing. You watch them and you understand, very quickly, that a shoe is not a simple thing.
Every time, we leave feeling the same way — quietly grateful and slightly humbled. These are the people without whom there would be no us. We try not to forget that. We also try to throw a decent party.
Last week, the whole team made the trip to Porto. The founders, Kalle, Minna, Hannu, Ludo and Tammy. Lenny, all the way from Sydney. Maija and Anna, the customer care team from Barcelona. Tara and Antton with his camera. Jaana and Riitta from the Helsinki store. And Sini, who just started at VIBAe, and spent it in a factory courtyard in Porto, which is either the best or most disorienting onboarding in history. Possibly both.
It rained first. Thundered properly. Ismael topped up the wine and pointed at the food table and that was that. Rice and beans. Pork in a bun. A ping pong table that got very competitive, very fast. And then the sun came out, someone put on Alex Warren (who loves our shoes), and we all danced in a courtyard together like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Something so out of the ordinary.
It was, and it wasn't. This is just what it feels like when you love the people you work with — on both sides of the shoe.
Antton filmed all of it. Watch the video. Some things are better seen than read.
