Our Story

Pronounced Sol-ee-yas and meaning ‘sun islands’, Solillas was born to share our love for the magical Balearic Islands - their character, creativity, and free spirit - and our fond memories of wearing traditional Menorcan sandals as children.

We're SJ and Jonnie, we're married, in our thirties and have two bambinos. This is our story of our tribe and our quest to share our love.

Our story begun with the traditional Balearic avarca sandal. Our lifelong passion for this shoe started in the Balearic Island of Menorca over thirty years ago, wearing them as toddlers and never spending a summer without them firmly on our feet. In 2009 we set about bringing this traditional style back to life with fresh, fun designs and vibrant, quality materials – always staying true to the Island’s shoemaking heritage.

We met with our friend Carlos who's family have a factory in Menorca in a town where the community is built up around this special sandal. Carlos employees traditional craftsman with decades of experience. The fit could not have been better.

With a set of samples on our kitchen table (yes, that old cliché) and determination in our bones, we set about building our own online store. Now that was a learning curve.

In March 2010 our website opened and the orders came in.

As well as looking good, we are about feeling good with a laid-back attitude and style. Comfort, ease and durability are key design principles that are integral to our brand.

Two years down the line we got a call from a buyer at Urban Outfitters who had a pair and wanted to place an order for their UK store. URBAN OUTFITTERS! We were in shock.

With the first baby of the tribe arriving imminently, SJ was in the early stages of labour whilst Jonnie presented the range to Urban. We did everything we could to bring our Balearic dream to life.

A couple of months later British high street giant OFFICE called to say they wanted to stock Solillas. OMG! It nearly killed us, but within three weeks OFFICE had their order and we waited to see if their customers would buy our shoes.

From that fateful summer we have continued to build our brand with OFFICE being our anchor retailer and our loyal following has grown.

We started getting industry recognition for resurrecting this style. In 2014 were we credited by Drapers for pioneering a new trend, and were finalists for their Best New Business award. The following year we won this award and have been a finalist every year since for Women's Fashion Brand of the Year.

The Balearics are in our blood. The sun, the energy and life of the Islands inspires everything we do. The true home of bohemian life, our designs are inherently reflective of this culture.

Inspired by the bohemian life of the Balearics, we drive our own trends, and are not afraid to experiment and take risks. We are never overly commercialised and love to share, from supporting local creatives to our collaboration with the legends like Ibiza Rocks at Pikes House.

Our community of followers, the Solillas Tribe, forms the bedrock of Solillas and we design everything we do with this in mind.

With our products on the high street we decided to get physical ourselves and opened various pop up stores across London each summer. From Boxpark in Shoredich, to Old Street Station and Westfield in Shepherds Bush, meeting our customers in the flesh inspired us even more and helped us get closer to our tribe.

Here we are in 2018 ...

Our tribe has expanded with another baby and we continue to spend as much time as possible in Menorca and Ibiza. Our head office is in London and we've reclaimed our kitchen table, yet our home is still constantly filled with the smell of leather from sample pairs and swatch books.

We are set for our most exciting year yet. With ASOS as an additional lead retailer and Nordstrom in the United States, we are so excited about sharing our love across the world.

From humble beginnings, Solillas is now retailed worldwide, but we will always stay true to our roots, never taking ourselves too seriously and with sharing, loving, collaborating in our heart … and sunshine in our souls.