“We come from a family of industrialists. At one point we started selling footwear supplies and almost without realizing it we decided to create our own brand. We had everything we needed. This is how it was born Bagunza 10 years ago,” he says. Luciano Gianzi, the creator of the brand along with his parents Néstor and Roxana, and his brothers Emiliano and Mauro.
A venture that went viral when Lionel Messi, a few days after becoming world champion in Qatar with the Argentine National Team, in December 2022, shared a story on Instagram wearing his flip flops. A photo that changed everything.
A story not suitable for the faint of heart
“In 2021 we gave strength to the project and began to release our own models of flip flops. When the team wins the Copa América that year, We decided to pay tribute to Lionel Messi, and that’s where Mess10 was born. that model that he used almost two years later,” recalls Gianzi.
The idea of sending it to the footballer was born in the middle of a barbecue with friends. It wasn’t easy, but when they heard the word “Messi” they couldn’t get it out of their heads and they began to do everything possible so that the captain of the National Team had his personalized flip flops.
“At first we contacted the AFA press officer, we immediately started working on the famous box that also attracted attention for its design. It was one for Messi and another for Rodrigo De Paul: it was impossible to do for the entire team and, for this reason, the press tells us that it was not possible that way. ‘The team is very united and it’s all or no one,’ was the official response,” he says.
They didn’t have time. It was the last time that the National Team came for the playoffs and, if not, we had to wait until March. They needed another option. There Gianzi remembers that a soccer teammate with whom he played in childhood had contact with Rodrigo De Paul.
“We sent the photo of the flip flops. And when De Paul saw them, he asked that we take them immediately to the AFA property, in Ezeiza. Finally we leave them in a place full of gifts for all players. The next morning, I received a message from Rodrigo’s aunt.
He said that he and Lionel had loved the flip flops and that they were going to take them to Europe. Those words were like touching the sky with your hands. Because, for us, it was never a commercial gift, each one we wrote a letter thanking them for the Copa América.
Furthermore, I told them that that was the best week of my life because on July 8 my daughter was born and on the 10th we were celebrating the cup. My wife told me to add her Instagram and thanks to that, later we heard from her again,” says Luciano, who still can’t believe when that December 6 received a private message from Lionel Messi.
“I have blurry images from that day, I didn’t know if it was a joke or not, but the notification was there. I immediately told my brothers and happiness was absolute. He asked us for flip flops for his wife and his children, we agreed that in January 2023 we would deliver them to him.
Once again we left them at the AFA property and it was only when they won the Finalísima against Italy in July that Lio thanked us. We still couldn’t believe it and a few months later, Antonela Roccuzzo asks us if we could do more for the childrenthat the father was going to Qatar in a week, if we could have them ready.
Obviously we said yes, we worked day and night to be able to fulfill the order. And when we go to deliver them, he writes to us apologizing that she had made a mistake and that the father was already traveling. The disappointment did not last long because I immediately contacted some acquaintances who were also traveling and brought the flip flops,” the creator of Bagunza continues the story.
The wait was worth it
That was the last communication that Luciano had with the Messi family until On December 23, Lionel shares a story from his Instagram account using flip flops. He was with Antonela, Luis Suárez and his wife. Those 24 hours that the image lasted on the social network changed everything.
“It was a before and after of Messi for us. We receive messages from journalists, producers… Well, for three days we were the Rolling Stones More or less, we were in all the media. Incredible. But we also had a problem, the model was old, we used it for the Copa América. For the Qatar 2022 World Cup, we made a new one, but obviously everyone wanted Messi’s. We had stock, but we weren’t ready for the demand we had. At once there were more than 20,000 orders“Everything blew up so quickly that we had to look for companies to help us with production,” he says.
“Luckily, within a month we were able to meet our new clients. Today clearly the Mess10 model is already a Bagunza classic and the best seller. There are tourists who leave the Ezeiza airport exclusively to come to our location on Avenida Garay at 3500, in Boedo, just because they want to buy their idol’s flip flops,” adds Luciano, who still cannot believe what he and his family are experiencing.
A little over two months ago they opened a corner in Abasto Shopping, the first of many that they have in mind. Thus, in record time,
Bagunza went from being a family business to a company that exports and It does not stop growing. They are currently official suppliers of the AFA and most of the big clubs in Argentina. Your next goal? The Brazilian market.
