While remembering the exotic gifts that their mother brought them every time they returned from a trip, twin sisters Sayana and Claudia Durany Clarasó had the idea of creating their own brand of clothing and accessories. It was on a flight between London, the city where they were studying, and their hometown, Barcelona. Initially, it was going to be the final year project for Sayana, who studied Fashion Business, but Claudia's training in finance and their passion for fashion led them to found Gimaguas in 2018, when they were 22 years old.
The sisters have entrepreneurship in their DNA. Her parents are Montse Clarasó and Sergio Durany, the founders of the Natura chain of stores, known for their items from all over the world. This inheritance marked the beginnings of Gimaguas. “We started collaborating with artisans and artists from India and South America, but in order to scale the business we have moved most of the production to Igualada,” explains Sayana.
They define themselves as “a brand for people who are happy with the Mediterranean lifestyle and climate”, which they missed so much when they were in London. They market through their website, to which they have added about 30 third-party physical sales points around the world and their first own store in Barcelona, opened a few weeks ago. “Our focus is online sales, but we want to have physical stores in the main cities of the world to position the brand,” says Claudia. Its main market is the United States, with 30% of sales, followed by the United Kingdom. The sisters, who have a staff of about 25 people, plan to invoice 6.5 million euros in 2023.
In case you were wondering: jimaguas is what they call the twins in Cuba, a country that the sisters visited as children.
