Hawkers was founded in December 2013 by Iñaki Soriano, Pablo Sánchez, Alejandro Moreno, and David Moreno; each had experience in a different area: programming, graphic design and business. These four had previously created Saldum, an online second hand webstore, in 2012. That project did not receive any external financing, and after a year and a half low sales forced them to find other sources of income. To raise money they started developing online stores for external clients. Noticing the platforms they developed for their clients were profitable, they decided to start their own online business. They started selling sunglasses of the American brand Knockaround with an initial investment of only $300. They followed that with the espadrilles brand, Miss Hamptons. The success of these two products led them to create their own sunglasses brand, and outsource its manufacturing.