Since 1880, the Basque company has been designing and crafting table linens and bedding that have graced the homes of distinguished families, including the House of Alba.
In the mid-19th century, the parents of Manuel Mendoza crossed the border from Fermoselle, a small village in Zamora, into Portugal to purchase Dutch lace shawls, which they then sold to their Castilian neighbors. And so began the story of Los Encajeros, a company that would go on to adorn some of the most luxurious bedrooms in Europe and the Americas. But the true origin of this small, family-run business — dedicated to the design and craftsmanship of table linens and bedding — lies a little farther north.
In 1880, just after turning sixteen, Manuel Mendoza moved to Bilbao in search of the prosperity driven by the region’s booming iron industry. “My grandfather laid the foundation for our company: always offer a product of the highest quality. That’s why he moved to Bilbao, where he found wealthy bourgeois clients,” explains José Manuel Mendoza, a third-generation member of the family business.
In the capital of the Basque province, Mendoza opened the first Los Encajeros store, where he sold fabrics and embroidery imported from across Europe — especially Belgium and Switzerland. “By 1902, the press was already praising my grandfather’s business acumen. El Eco de Madrid featured us in an article about having one of the largest fabric warehouses in Spain,” says his grandson, whose father, José Mendoza, later expanded the business further. In 1930, he opened the family’s second store in Bilbao and began working with artisans and workshops to produce exclusive pieces for their clients.
In 1958, the family passed the torch once again as a 19-year-old José Manuel Mendoza took over one of the stores. But standing behind a counter wasn’t his calling. Instead, he began traveling across Spain with Leandro Alfonso Luis Ruiz Moragas, the illegitimate son of King Alfonso XIII. “He had strong ties with the Church, so we’d visit convents to sell hospital bed linens, bridal trousseaus — even nuns’ habits,” he recalls.
It was during these travels that Mendoza realized how well their fabrics were received beyond Bilbao, and he began showcasing their collections in other cities.
“In 1983, we were in Seville, where we met the Duchess of Alba, who ordered some of our fabrics,” he says. That same year, however, floods in Bilbao caused serious damage to several of their stores. “Luckily, our warehouse was spared because it was located in Las Arenas, one of the city’s higher neighborhoods,” notes Mendoza, who, rather than giving up, chose to pursue international expansion. Three years after the flood, Los Encajeros exhibited in Paris, kicking off a journey that took them across Europe, Mexico, and the United States.
Today, José Manuel Mendoza’s daughters lead the business, which in 2016 opened its first location in Madrid and has since won over clients in New York, including finance magnate Leon Black.
