Chilean footwear brand Bestias will close the factory in the Victoria neighborhood where it has been producing shoes since 2013 on December 31, according to Diario Financiero. Its founders, Ignacio Ríos and Felipe Velasco, will move manufacturing to Brazil.
The announcement comes as the brand turns 15. It all began in a workshop in Bellavista, where the pair designed and sold shoes. Today it has stores in Galería Drugstore, Parque Arauco and Casa Costanera.
The idea is to keep design in Chile and move manufacturing to places with more specialists. Ríos explained it this way: "going out to find the craftsmanship for each product wherever the best specialists are". The company has been moving production to Brazil for more than a year.
Ríos also named Mexico, Portugal and China as countries with footwear industries. He said demand and capacity come together there, allowing for better processes, production volumes and raw materials.
The closure has been in planning since 2023, following the pandemic. Ríos said they realized they had an "incredible" brand, but it was limited by what the factory could produce. Think of a restaurant with a solid customer base and a small kitchen: if you want to grow, you first have to expand the kitchen.
Bestias sells between 2 thousand and 2,500 pairs a month. Its revenue totaled $1,300 million in the first half of the year. The publication also mentions a change of 6% compared with 2025, but the article does not clarify whether this was an increase or a decrease.
Velasco had studied footwear design and patternmaking in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Ríos had previously worked at Bata. They started in 2010, at the height of the entrepreneurship boom, but with a local shoemaking industry already in decline.
Ríos estimates that in the 90s Chile manufactured around 35.7 million pairs a year. Then came Asian competition and imports, and today he doubts production exceeds 1 million pairs. In his view, Chile will not compete by manufacturing more cheaply. It can compete through design, branding and relationships with customers and retailers.
From now on, the company wants to focus on design, add product lines and find strategic partners to grow. The plan is to go from three to 12 stores by 2030. The article does not say which cities they would open in or how much they would invest.
