Ask any fashionable Tica about designer shoes and the name Daniel del Barco immediately comes to mind. Mr. del Barco is the founder of Calzado del Barco, a footwear design and manufacturing firm in Costa Rica that is a favorite among the proud winners of the Miss Costa Rica beauty pageant. Mr. del Barco is a native of Guanacaste who spent his childhood in Playas del Coco, and he draws inspiration from the province to create his unique and elegant designs.

In late 2012, introduced his “Morena de mi Vida” collection, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. This collection, which is named after a quintessential Guanacaste folk song, was inspired by the sunsets on the beaches of Guanacaste’s Pacific coast, the flat grasslands and other aspects that make up the natural beauty of the province. According to an article in business daily La Republica, the new del Barco collection featured neon colors, earth tones, metallic textures, and even faux snake skin patterns.

Former Miss Costa Rica Nazareth Cascante from Alajuela was on hand to introduce the collection. Her predecessor Johanna Solano is also big fan of del Barco shoes. It is not surprising that the current Miss Costa Rica Fabiana Granados, who is a Guanacaste native, will wear del Barco at the upcoming Miss Universe pageant in Moscow.

Mr. del Barco, who was an attorney before he became a shoe designer, found himself in need of extra cash during the 1980s. This was in the midst of the Latin American debt crisis, a dark economic era for Costa Rica. While still at the University of Costa Rica (UCR), Mr. del Barco began designing and manufacturing shoes for fashionable women. This was not such a bad idea; after all, the footwear design industry in Italy at the time was beginning to produce shoes that commanded very high prices.

In the Americas, New York was the center of high fashion shoe design, and this is where Mr. del Barco and his mentor Guadalupe Briceno Garcia landed to take his burgeoning shoemaking business to the next level. By the 1990s, Mr. del Barco took advantage of globalization to solidify his business, and the rest is history.

Although Mr. del Barco has found international success, Costa Rica is his favorite market. Women in Costa Rica are very attuned to shoe fashion, just ask one of the more than 4,000 followers of the Facebook community “Ticas who are proud of their shoes.”