Originally Posted by
Leaves 
Fun facts about Carmina you may or may not know.
José Albaladejo is, apart from being the owner of Carmina, of course also a renowned shoe designer. He’s a gentleman in his sixties of a very subtle and kind demeanor and every time I’ve met him he wears a shirt and tie under his work robes.
Mr. Albaladejo’s wife’s name is Carmina and this is where he got the name for his company from. What a tribute to his beloved!
The majority of Mr. Albaladejo’s large family works at Carmina Shoemaker in Inca. Betty is his daughter and most of you have heard her name, she’s the sales manager at Carmina and she also handles all direct sales. Betty’s sisters; Carmina and Magda are both shoe designers and work for their father’s company. Antonio Albaladejo (or Tony as some of you may know him as) is José’s son and the man in charge; he is the Managing Director of the company. Mr. Albaladejo’s passion is for design so he seems more than comfortable to let his capable son Antonio run the company. One of Antonio’s kids name is…yeah you guessed it: Carmina.
Adam a.k.a Earnest with Betty Albaladejo
José Albaladejo has two more sons (Mr. Albaladejo is productive in several fields of expertise as it seems
) and they own Meermin. Pepe Albaladejo is José Albaladejo's grandson.
The primary language spoken in the Carmina factory is actually not Spanish; it’s Mallorquin. This is a completely separate language from Spanish, not a dialect, but Mallorquin is similar to Catalan. The written language is similar to Spanish but anyone who knows Spanish can testify that spoken Mallorquin/Catalan is very, very hard to understand.
Natural sole edge Spanish: canto cuero
Mallorquin: cant cuir
No pull tab Spanish: sin tirador
Mallorquin: sense tirador
Flat laces Spanish: cordones platos
Mallorquin: cordons plats
Excuse me Spanish: perdón
Mallorquin: perdoni
How are you Spanish: cómo está
Mallorquin: com va
Mr. Albaladejo used to travel in the US and this is where he got the inspiration for the names of some of his lasts; Detroit, Philadelphia etc. After that he switched to Majorcan cities and villages; Inca, Soller, Alcudia etc. The new lasts though…no one knows but him.
Inca used to be a major shoe manufacturing center back in the days. At one time over 50 shoemaker factories where open for business here, now only two remain.
These two shoes were owned by José Albaladejo's grandfather, so they must be over 100 years or so.
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