Granddaughter resurrects Buenos Aires leathergoods brand
14/05/2018
Mariana Vaisman has told local media that she had always resisted any attempt to lure her into the business that her parents inherited from her grandfather, who founded Welcome in Buenos Aires in 1930. Instead, she worked as a television producer and, later, as a designer of children’s clothes.
After coming through a tough period in 2012, her father, Arnoldo Vaisman, decided to retire and announced that Welcome was closing down. Queues of faithful customers formed in the street and bought up every last product.
The brand’s store, close to the capital’s Retiro station, remained closed for several years; the family was unable to find anyone willing to buy or rent it. Eventually, moved especially by the loyalty of the brand’s customers, Mariana Vaisman decided to reopen Welcome.
She says she has tried to bring a fresh approach to some aspects of the shop’s window display (it’s less cluttered) and to the layout inside, which now has a sofa and space devoted to letting customers try shoes on in comfort, but that she remains totally committed to Welcome’s pledge only ever to use the finest Argentinean leather available in its products.
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