About Us

The idea of ​​the PiCaSo Route (which stands for the Leather, Shoe and Hat Route in spanish) was born in 2011 in a classroom at the ‘Universidad Tecnológica de León‘ when Professor Manuel Miroglio talked with his students about how to enhance the attractions of León, highlighting the identity of the city. When the students answered that the leather and footwear sector was the most relevant industry in León, Professor Manuel Miroglio told them that in France, his country of origin, there was a form of tourism that consisted of making people known public the representative sites of an artisan or industrial know-how through guided visits in factories and workshops: “el turismo de descubrimiento económico“. A series of surveys applied in tourist areas of León and during the International Balloon Festival by the students of Professor Adriana Barberena from the UTL confirmed the public’s interest in a leather and footwear route. The professor and tourism consultant Carlos Ramos Montes, the lawyer María del Pilar Dawe Salas and the professor Luis Manuel Villegas quickly joined the project, who suggested the name of Ruta PiCaSo, a result of the contraction of the words Skin-Footwear-Hat. . At Christmas 2010, the project began to work. In the course of 2011, several presentations of the project were made to the municipal and state tourism authorities, however, despite the interest expressed, no concrete financial support could be obtained.

During 2013, the “Secretaría de Turismo del Estado de Gto” invited the entrepreneurs of the Ruta PiCaSo project to follow its program of the “Factory of tourist products” to offer them specialized training in tourism entrepreneurship. A pilot route took place with Maricarmen Obregón and “Eduardo Yarto“, the main consultants of the “Factory of tourist products”, who issued very positive comments related to its feasibility. At that time, Alexia Maldonado, the Director of the economic-administrative area of the Technological University of León, facilitated a meeting with Oscar Soja, the Director of “Prospecta“, the Center for Innovation and Prospecting of the Chamber of the State Footwear Industry de Gto (CICEG). The PiCaSo Route team was thus able to present their project to the CICEG Board of Directors later on.

On January 14, 2014, thanks to a contact from Rocío Acevedo, the new Director of Prospecta, the first tour of the PiCaSo Route was launched with 30 students from the Bachelor of Fashion Design and Marketing from the “Universidad Casa Blanca” of Culiacán, Sinaloa, who greatly appreciated the experience. On February 19, 2014 the operator Ruta PiCaSo was legally created by María del Pilar Dawe Salas, Carlos Ramos Montes and Manuel Miroglio. On March 23, 2014, Ruta PiCaSo was installed in an office inside CICEG. On March 26, 2014, Ruta PiCaSo was invited by CICEG to announce its initiative during a press conference of SAPICA, the most important Leather and Footwear Show in Latin America.

The León Convention and Visitors Bureau (OCVL) began to organize several familiarization trips for fashion, culture and tourism journalists. The General Directorate of Tourism of León carried out a press trip that allowed the publication of an artículo about Ruta PiCaSo in the REFORMA newspaper on August 31, 2014. On October 23, 2014, Ruta PiCaSo was invited by the Secretariat of Tourism of the State of Mexico to open the presentations of the “Feria de Turismo Cultural” in San Miguel de Allende.

On December 10, 2014, Ruta PiCaSo was invited to give a conference on entrepreneurship at the Multidisciplinary Forum Promotion, Economy, Tourism organized by the University of the Gulf of Mexico and CANACO in Poza Rica, Veracruz.

On December 18, 2014, Ruta PiCaSo received from the Government of Gto, through its Secretary of Tourism, the 2014 Gto Award for Tourist Competitiveness in the category “Innovative Idea“.

In its first year of operation, Ruta PiCaSo received 321 visitors of regional, national and international origin who were able to appreciate the legendary know-how of the Leather-Calzado de León productive sector, visiting the footwear companies Julio de Mucha, Verde Tabaco, Confratelli, Atelier Amareto, las tenerías Le Farc, Vargas, Santamaría and the leather goods manufacturers Animal Exotic y Camposanto.