Voladora wins the Open Call programme and will open at GranCasa for a month

Voladora, the Aragonese fashion brand created by María Pérez-Perruca and Nuria Colomer, has been selected as the winner of the Open Call programme, an initiative launched by Sonae Sierra to support entrepreneurs and emerging brands in the retail sector. As part of the recognition, the company will have a free retail space at GranCasa for one month, with the opening scheduled for next October.

The call enabled various emerging projects to present their proposals with the aim of validating their business models in a real retail setting. Once the application period closed, the selection process highlighted the talent, creativity and potential of Aragon’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The quality of the projects received made the choice of the winning proposal particularly demanding. In the end, the jury opted for Voladora, a fashion brand born in Aragon that has developed its activity mainly through digital channels and short-term physical activations.

A brand born during university

Behind Voladora are María Pérez-Perruca and Nuria Colomer, two entrepreneurs who met while studying for their degrees in Valencia. They began developing the brand during their third year at university, when the project was still at an early stage.

The initiative began with an investment to acquire just 30 sweatshirts. Over time, that first step became a business project that has sold more than 100,000 garments.

After completing their studies, the founders moved to Zaragoza to professionalise the activity and establish the company. Since then, they have worked on building a brand with a defined identity, based on distinctive, timeless garments with an artistic element.

Voladora’s offering is aimed mainly at women who want to stand out through their clothing without giving up comfort or versatility. Its designs seek a balance between comfort and something special, with garments featuring distinctive colours, prints, silhouettes and details.

The brand also distances itself from the fast pace of trends in favour of designs intended to stand the test of time. This vision forms part of the identity of a brand seeking to offer recognisable, characterful garments that can be integrated into different styles and situations.

A month to test selling in a physical space

The Open Call programme will allow Voladora to take a step forward in its relationship with the public by opening a retail space at GranCasa. The shop will be available for one month and its opening is scheduled for October.

The experience represents a particularly important opportunity for the brand, whose growth has taken place mainly in the digital environment and through short-term in-person activations. The free use of the space will allow the founders to observe how the brand performs over a longer period within a shopping centre.

“It is an incredible and important opportunity. In addition to being able to offer a shop in our city and in a location such as GranCasa, from a business perspective it will allow us to test many things and obtain information for future openings. It will give us a completely new perspective”, María and Nuria explain.

The shop will bring Voladora closer to new audiences while also facilitating direct contact with its regular community. The brand will be able to analyse customers’ responses, learn more about their behaviour in a physical setting and obtain useful information to assess possible future steps.

The brand’s managers acknowledge that the opening period also represents a challenge. “We have never opened a pop-up lasting this long. We normally run shops for two or three days, so having a space for a month is going to be great fun and, at the same time, a real challenge”, they say.

The presence at GranCasa will allow Voladora to reach more people, both new and existing customers, in one of Zaragoza’s commercial areas. For the brand, the project combines the possibility of strengthening its visibility with the opportunity to see how its activity develops in a stable retail space.

Support for entrepreneurship and local retail

With the selection of Voladora, Sonae Sierra is reaffirming its commitment to entrepreneurship, innovation and the development of local retail. The Open Call programme is designed to give emerging projects the chance to validate their business models in a real-life context, with the support of a retail space.

The initiative also enables GranCasa to incorporate distinctive offerings and provide new growth opportunities for brands linked to the region. In this case, the shopping centre will host an Aragonese brand for one month whose journey began with a small production of sweatshirts and which has subsequently exceeded 100,000 garments sold.

GranCasa is located in Zaragoza and has public transport connections from different parts of the city. The centre has more than 200,000 square metres of built space, of which 80,000 square metres are devoted to retail activity, as well as 170 retail units.

Trivium Socimi, one of the four funds managed by Sonae Sierra in Spain, is the majority owner of GranCasa. The centre is regarded as one of the country’s established retail spaces because of its location, retail offering and services.

Sonae Sierra, for its part, is a multinational company operating in the property sector, with a focus on urban transformation and innovation. The company has projects in more than 35 countries and currently manages assets worth more than €8 billion.

The company places sustainability among the pillars of its strategy and positioning across its various business areas. Its activities include creating customised investment vehicles, developing and modernising sustainable mixed-use urban spaces, providing property services and managing assets.

Voladora’s arrival at GranCasa will bring the brand’s identity into the physical space for a month and give its founders a new perspective on the business’s performance. The opening scheduled for October will also be its longest experience in a temporary shop since the start of its activity.

Official sources: GranCasa and Sonae Sierra.