By Holly Kline
Fishers-based company Piro Shoes recently created a charitable program that donates shoes to those in need. Piro’s give back program is called PIRO HAS (Hearts, Arts & Soles) and the goal is to donate 10,000 pairs of shoes by the end of 2014.
PIRO CEO and President Peter Asquini explained that the plan for PIRO HAS is to request artistic designs from well-known artists, athletes or celebrities. Those designs will be made into a high quality shirt available for sale at pirohas.com. Each sale results in one pair of donated shoes. 2014 is the first year for the PIRO HAS program and the donated shoes will be distributed to Americans in need via the Tennessee-based Soles 4 Souls charity organization.
The first PIRO HAS artist is Nekoda Witsken, a Fishers native who painted the initial Fishers public art mural for the 116th & Jaycee St. pocket park. Witsken donated a vibrant and colorful design to PIRO HAS called “Love Does Not See in Black and White,” which became a unique piece of wearable art. “To work for a donation program is to work towards everything I want my art to represent,” Witsken said. “The fact that we are translating paint strokes into shoes for needy American kids really highlights the power of art in a community setting.”
Asquini is thrilled to work with Witsken. “Nekoda is the first artist we went into production with. She has the same sort of philosophy about giving back so it’s a good partnership.”
Next, Asquini hopes to expand the number of products available through PIRO HAS. “Now that I have rolled it out and we worked out the process, the logistics and all of that, we’re ready to start being able to implement more well-known celebrities,” he said. “We would like to be able to get someone from a sports team to donate for us and Rapper Bow Wow has expressed an interest,” said Asquini.
“Piro Shoes has been in business since January 2009,” Asquini said. “Right now we design and manufacture higher-end shoes that are handmade in Italy.” Asquini wants his company to be one that give back and set up PIRO HAS to fulfill that philosophy.
Learn more at http://pirohas.com/
