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Alohas has landed in the U.S. for the first time.
Located at 260 Elizabeth St. in the Nolita neighborhood of NYC, the new store offers the Barcelona-based footwear brand’s range of sneakers, sandals, ballet flats and more.
According to Alohas, the store, which officially opened on May 1, was designed by Clap Studio, the award-winning firm based in Valencia, which has been working on the brand’s store design since the first opening in Spain. For this location, the firm was inspired by Hawaii’s volcanic landscapes, reinterpreting their shapes and textures to create the store’s atmosphere.
Alejandro Porras, founder and chief executive officer of Alohas, told FN that opening a store in New York was “the necessary and natural next step” for the brand.
“The United States is our largest market, and New York is a global epicenter of fashion, culture, and conscious living – values that perfectly align with our mission,” Porras said. “We are excited to bring our unique blend of cutting-edge design and responsible consumption to one of the most inspiring cities in the world.”
Founded by Porras in 2015 while he was living in Hawaii, the idea for the company came from the Menorquinas sandals he was wearing in his daily life while on the island. So, as an ode to his staple espadrille-like footwear choice while in Hawaii, the company was originally known as Alohas Sandals. But over the last 10 years, the company quickly grew to other footwear categories and has even added some ready-to-wear.
With a focus on women’s shoes that are made in both Spain and Portugal, the company also offers unisex sizing in its popular sneaker range, with sizes going up to a 46. In fact, the sneakers are one of the brand’s most popular categories, with customers finding the style through a spike in popularity thanks to Instagram.
“Social media was our main pillar of communication and how we acquired new customers,” Maria Viterbo, head of public relations and marketing at Alohas, told FN in an interview. “For the last two years, we have been working extra hard to grow a brand that people recognize and actually want to buy.”
Viterbo added that Alohas, which is mainly a direct-to-consumer brand, only recently started to open brick-and-mortar stores.
“We opened our first store in Madrid last year, followed by a location in Barcelona a few months later,” Viterbo noted. “This year, we recently opened stores in Milan, Amsterdam and a pop-up in Paris that we hope to make a permanent location. So, this expansion to New York not only marks the brand’s physical entry into the U.S. market but also signifies our first store outside of Europe.”
And while this store rollout may seem quick, Viterbo said that the desire to open physical stores were always part of the plan. “Our main goal with the stores is to have them be our main point of connection with our customers,” the executive noted. “We are going after locations in cool neighborhoods that are surrounded by other contemporary brands that have a similar customer as we do. So, we are being strategic in our approach to stores.”
The executive added that while this New York shop is the company’s “last confirmed opening” for 2025, more locations are in the works. “We are looking at locations in London, Berlin and more cities throughout the U.S. like Los Angeles,” Viterbo said. “But, like I said, we don’t want to open just anywhere. It has to be perfect for us.”
