Farewell to Romualda: The End of Almeria’s Iconic XXL Hats

Romualda lowers the shutter of its Salesas store. “Farewell, Almirante”, the brand posted on the window of its boutique when announcing the dates of its last activity at number 18 Almirante street in Madrid. Until January 31, an archive sale, also available on its online platform, will offer discounts on creations from these years, printed fabrics from past collections and original drawings and sketches by the designer. The firm has accompanied the announcement with a farewell text in which the founders describe the decision as “the most difficult of our life”. In that message, Romualda explains that she needs to slow down and recognizes that the effort to sustain a model based on unique pieces, produced in a close and careful way, “is not always enough”.

Behind Romualda have been the Madrid sisters Mariana and Cristina Aguirre. Their story began in 2020, as they themselves describe, before with a word than with a product. Romualda, the name that baptized their firm, was a Dutch artist who lived in the Almeria desert of Rodalquilar and who impressed the sisters when they visited family friends. That memory ended up becoming their brand, a family and artisanal project that fused painting with premium design.Then came the rest, a core offering of recognizable hats that gradually expanded thanks to the support of their adept customers, with garments and accessories with hand-painted prints and a discourse based on craftsmanship and collaborations with artists, brands and related trades.

The first launches consisted of ten models of hats that sold out quickly and began to circulate in cities like New York or Los Angeles through Instagram. Easily identifiable by their watercolor-reminiscent prints and exaggerated sizes that coincided with the boom of French Jacquemus’ giant pamelas, the designs catapulted the brand’s media development internationally. Halfway between fashion object and studio piece, the XXL hat became its hallmark, positioned around one hundred euros.

The atelier also accompanied this start-up. The first work space was in the Prosperidad neighborhood, in an old sewing workshop, where each piece required hours of tailoring. Over time, that location became a place where customers came to buy, and the founders decided to open a store on a more popular street. Thus was born the Almirante store, which now closes and leaves a free space in one of the most coveted neighborhoods for high-end fashion brands in the last two years.

Romualda went from being an Instagram phenomenon to settle in the Salesas store.

At the same time, Romualda opted for wholesale as a channel to gain visibility abroad. In fact, in this line, the brand even participated in the Parisian fair Tranoï. In its expansion phase, the company reached more than 140 international points of sale and later reduced its network. Romualda’s strategy of withdrawal thus consisted of a more niche positioning and a less rapid production, with more selection.

Until its farewell, Romualda has maintained its distribution in sixteen markets and nearly fifty points of sale. With Spain as the most represented market, the brand reached fourteen locations. Among them, El Corte Inglés de Serrano, Auka (Barcelona and San Sebastián), hotel Landa (Burgos) and Zel hotels (Costa Brava and Mallorca), as well as points in Cádiz, Lanzarote, Formentera, Seville, Vizcaya or Santiago de Compostela.

The United States was the second largest block, with eleven distributors and a network spread across different cities. From there, the brand has had a presence in the United Kingdom, Japan, where it was even present in Isetan, and Italy, in addition to Australia, France and Switzerland, and a more selective capillarity in Belgium, Costa Rica, Greece, Jordan, Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

On the supply side, the brand had also expanded categories. Although it was born around hats, it soon incorporated clothing and accessories. According to the founders, 70% of sales now came from garments manufactured in Madrid and the surrounding area. Hats, on the other hand, traveled north. During the pandemic, they found a seamstress in Asturias with whom they began to work, and since then that part of the product has been made there.

Romualda even set itself growth targets. In 2023, according to El País, the aim was to reach 900,000 euros in turnover. The goodbye now takes shape in a final sale this January. After that, the store will close.