The Shoes in Spain ...

Culture-Forward, Fashion-Backward

As the company grew, Fluxá realized that Camper had to be about a place. His friends were city people who wanted country shoes. So, he needed to make an explicit connection between his country and his shoes. "We didn't want to be just a fashion brand," Fluxá explains. "We wanted to take a more cultural approach." But what does it mean to be a culture brand, rather than a fashion brand? Last year, Shubhankar Ray, 32, a Brit who studied business at INSEAD and whose father is an anthropologist, moved to Majorca to help answer that question.

According to Ray, culture is not merely about geography: "Companies that become culture brands usually have an opinion about something that people value. People know that your company is about commerce, but being a culture brand allows you to have more of an emotional connection with your customers." Both Benetton and Nike, Ray says, have emerged as culture brands.

Camper stands for the preservation of rural culture -- both the setting and the values that are embedded within it. It's a timely message: Majorca's rural reality is rapidly fading. Across Europe and around the world, word has gotten out about the island's beauty. Last year, more than 9 million people visited Majorca. Some of those tourists are buying up land, and the island now has more than 600,000 full-time residents. Upscale chain stores and fancy Italian boutiques sit cheek by jowl with 800-year-old churches. Gradually, the island's peculiar charm and unique culture are giving way to global commercialism and economic homogeneity.

In an attempt to stave off some of this, Camper has become both a caretaker and a curator: In 1989, the company purchased an old country estate with plans to renovate the buildings for a design studio and employee retreat. Says Fluxá: "We bought the land to represent our love for the rural way of life -- to link Camper to its origins and to reclaim agriculture."

Design With a Wink

The most interesting connection between Majorcan culture and Camper shoes comes from the distant past. Islanders tell a story: Throughout the Middle Ages, control of Majorca passed from one European dynasty to another. Majorcans' solution to the threat of invasion by competing pirate bands was to build homes with interior courtyards so that they could sit inside (unlike in other parts of Spain, where it is customary to sit outside). From the outside, the houses appeared modest -- a design trick to keep the pirates guessing which homes held real wealth.

Camper shoes are not particularly fancy on the outside either. The designers think that wearing them should feel like having a funny conversation with yourself -- a notion reflected in the soles of the shoes. In the past, some pairs have had poems or messages stamped on the bottom ("Hispanic causing panic," for example). Camper employees count the number of Camper customers nearby by examining footprints on the beaches.

Why pay attention to something that's just going to get scuffed up? "The sole is the soul of the shoe," Fluxá says. "We've registered many of them as trademarks. They are an investment for us."

Camper has taken a similar low-key approach to opening its stores. Its target audience usually frequents upscale shopping neighborhoods -- where rents are high and remodeling permits can take time to get. Rather than waiting for all of the work to be finished, Camper piles up shoe boxes, puts the shoes on top, and sells them that way until the interior overhaul can legally begin. "People are begging us to keep the stores that way," says Dalia Saliamonas, 37, who is in charge of all sales outside of Spain. "It's sort of naughty, but we enjoy going into fancy areas with our lower prices." (At $120 - $160 a pair, Campers are much less expensive than many upscale designer brands.)

The best evidence of the brand's appeal? People from all over the world are now trying to move to Majorca to work for Camper. Ray moved from London last year with his wife and small child. This year's Camper design interns came from Japan and Scandinavia, among other places. Then there's Kim Fabio, 34, who grew up in the Caribbean and spent 10 years at Converse before moving to Majorca last year. "There seems to be a lot of inspiration at Camper," she says. "I wanted to see things the way that they see them here."

Ron Lieber (rlieber@fastcompany.com) is a Fast Company senior writer. Visit Camper on the Web (www.camper.es).