Sergio Gamisans and Vicky Pinar: "We are from the generation that believes that one should enjoy their profession"

The word “influencer” has been fashionable in recent years. Those who set trends and also influence society. Do you consider yourself the “influencers” of the island's clothing stores?

SERGIO: Not at all. We were born and grew up around the idea of ​​"we don't make clients, we make friends" and we do that every day. We believe that it defines us perfectly, exemplifies how we work in Maricastaña. We try to be nice, fun, original and creative. We are from the generation that believes that one should enjoy their profession, be happy doing what they do. That is why we bet on this project, we created a different place and made for people like us, with colorful, fun, original and unique clothes. From there and with the push of social networks everything went ahead. Of course, struggling a lot every day.

VICKY: In the digital era in which we live, you cannot stand still, you must generate visibility to succeed. We work in a sector where there is enormous competition. Zara, H&M, Springfield, Pull & Bear, etc. Large chains with communication and marketing teams with which it is difficult to compete. For this reason we try to use the tools we have, Facebook, Instagram or our website; public and free platforms where we can show our products to the public. We show them who we are. Apparently they like our transparency and they have placed us in this beautiful moment.

But it is clear that today you are one of the leading Mallorcan stores in the sector. Do you have any communication and marketing strategy?

S: It's going to sound funny, but at no time did we sit down and come up with a plan. We just saw that people liked it when they saw a picture of Vicky trying on a dress or making a video with our products. Apparently the joy and naturalness that emerges in each publication fascinates people. From there we bet on making the so-called “Instahistories”, “Boomerangs” and uploading natural photographs (without retouching). Later we transferred this to Facebook and it seems that they also liked it. Regarding the web, the strategy is different, we use it as a simple sales tool, very similar to online clothing sales platforms such as Asos.

V: (we have removed the luck) Sometimes you hit the key without wanting it and you manage to attract the public. I remember that everything was born from the videos we made on Instagram, with the Boomerang effect. If I'm not mistaken, we were one of the first stores to use them, we began to grow on social networks thanks to the videos, people came to meet us and see our different way of understanding fashion. We could say that from these videos we developed our communication. Originality and innovation have been the strongest props.

The road to the top, has it been as easy as it seems?

V: It has been and is a very sacrificed path. I don't think we've reached the ceiling yet, we still have a lot of growth left. But it is true that the road up to here has not been easy. We have fallen many times, we have made mistakes. It must be remembered that we bet on brands a priori unknown to the majority of the public and that carries a great risk.

S: The worst are the beginnings, in life I had to fill out so much paperwork. It is true that you find a multitude of aids for young people and that there are employers such as PIMEM that support you, but when you see that government institutions ask you for so many requirements to request aid, you collapse. There were days when we noticed that we were wasting time. If you look back, you realize that it has been a long road, in which we have spent many hours.

Maricastaña has touches of a retro store, something that is very fashionable, but then the reality is very different since it seems to be evolving towards digitization. Is that so?

S: The Internet is the world's largest storefront. We evolve towards online sales but we are committed to maintaining the face-to-face format because we realize that what really sells is our way of treating the customer. When a customer arrives at the store, we try to make them feel at home, offering them our best version.

V: It is true that since we use many digital tools, people think that Maricastaña will grow to become an online store, but as Sergio says, the store is what it is, because of its treatment of the public.

Do you think that Maricastaña has generated a dependency in its public, that there are people who are waiting for your publications? If so, does it put you under a lot of pressure?

V: We really enjoy our work in the store and on social networks, every day we wake up thinking that we are going to publish today, we ask ourselves, how do we feel today? It is clear that there is an influence of the fashion of the moment, but above all it is trying to express with clothes how we feel. From there we let the imagination do the rest. The images and videos we make define us and people seem to like that. I don't think we will generate a great dependency in the public, but it is true that during this month that we have been on vacation, we have seen that Maricastaña was loved and longed for by many followers. If there is pressure, it is not to disappoint them.

It is clear that the virtual world has given you a lot, but is everything always so good?

V: Like everything in this life, there are positive and negative things. In my opinion, the positive ones outweigh. Rather than negative facts, I prefer to stay with strange and funny anecdotes.

What kind of strange anecdotes are you referring to?

S: We are surprised that sometimes we see how they use our own HASTAGS, our way of expressing ourselves in publications. These are strange but also funny moments. We have been asked what type of product Vicky used in her hair, which we believe is a question more focused on an influencer profile, not a store profile.