Since its creation in 2016, Sajú has not stopped growing. Glasses made from recycled plastic, “monkey tails” or glasses holders and other accessories, have forged a catalog of more than 12 references with which they have conquered more than 10 countries through distribution. And even, they have already appeared in the world of NFTs.
This year, one of the great milestones was the opening of its flagship store in Bogotá, which, according to its general manager and co-founder Juan Pablo Pradilla, has improved the customer experience. In the remainder of the year, the magnifying glass is on expansion and workgarlic with other brands.
How has it gone with your first flagship store in Bogotá?
It changed our business model a bit and strengthened the issue of glasses. He convinced us that Sajú goes beyond a product and delivers experiences to customers; Expectations have been exceeded, so much so that we will open the second store in Medellin on August 20, which will be much larger.
What is the growth goal for the end of 2022?
At the end of June we are growing 64% versus what was recorded in 2021, and the goal is to end the year growing between 50% and 60% compared to last year, to finally reach US$1 million. It depends on the dollar.
How many references do you have in the portfolio? Will it expand?
The glasses complement and leverage the sale of other products: the Sajú portfolio has 12 references in three categories: glasses, glasses holders and accessories. One of the recent launches is the ‘Phone Holder’ designed not to recast the cell phone, which has been a total ‘hit’. We also have new glasses lined up, a second version of the ‘Phone Holders’, which will have to store cards, cases for glasses and cleaning, anti-fog and lens care products.
The use of recycled plastic has made you stand out, will you implement it in more categories?
It is a more difficult process to migrate everything to recycled plastic because it requires triggering all production, but we are starting to work with recycled PET fabric for our eyeglass holders, and looking at how we can implement it in the other products in the portfolio. All our efforts are to ensure that each day our processes are in the best possible way. Within the actions that Sajú carries out, there are some processes that are not 100% sustainable because we are still a small company and we depend on the industry.
Do you have partnerships with local recyclers?
We are closing agreements, because something sad is happening, and that is that propylene, which is the material that we use, is the one that recyclers in Colombia are least interested in collecting because it is the one that pays the worst, but we want to integrate efforts so that they ‘put the 10’ with propylene and we can repay them.
Your ‘trial and error’ videos have gone viral, how do you encourage collaboration with big brands?
We love to test, record and publish it and as a result of that normally when a video contact usn the brands to see what else we can do. Now that we have the experience in the store and that people have their 12 colors to choose which one to put on their glasses, what we are doing is making two of those colors available to collaborate with brands. The most recent was with Tanga, with sunscreen covers, which we put as one of the possibilities so that store customers can use it as an ingredient to prepare their glasses.
What other brands are on the table?
We are going to make another interesting alliance with a hamburger brand from Medellin called Clap; We will also make a big alliance with Johnnie Walker, a collection of glasses holders, and with Mini we will have a Mono roadtrip, with which we will make glasses while we travel around the country in these vehicles. We also want to implement something called “plastic stories”, that with the plastic that we have in the store we can tell you what the origin is and what has happened by way of traceability, that there is an emotional connection.
Which countries will they conquer this year?
The focus is to strengthen Colombia, but we are also structuring the franchise model that will be in two or three months to open them at the end of the year in countries like Chile and Uruguay, which are in summer.
