It’s no coincidence that Sophia Loren wore Guban shoes, or that Elena Ceaușescu covered her ankles in pastel colors: pink, yellow and green. In the not so distant communist past, Guban used to be the brand that was a standard in Romania, with a large percentage made for export. Blaziu Guban’s patented shoe polish was making its mark. Guban shoes was renowned worldwide, considering the United States President Harry Truman was wearing them. 

As the years passed, after the fall of the regime, the company is slowly disappearing from the local history leaving behind an intangible quarter of industrial halls.