Rothy’s Launches Men’s Shoes — Can It Compete With Its Women’s Line?
Rothy’s just added a new category to its shoe lineup: men’s. For the first time, the sustainable brand is offering men’s styles in two new silhouettes.
Launching today are The RS01 Sneaker and The Driving Loafer, retailing for $175 and $185, respectively.
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According to co-founder and CEO Stephen Hawthornthwaite, the men’s category was always on its roadmap.
“It has consistently been our most requested category since we launched in 2016,” said Hathornthwaite. “We see huge potential for its growth — on a comparable trajectory to our women’s business. We recognize that there is a growing demand in the men’s market for stylish, sustainable footwear. Just as we’ve pushed for a more sustainable future in the women’s market, we’re proud to continue paving the way for sustainable innovation in a new category.”
Like its women’s counterparts, the new men’s styles are knit from 100% recycled materials — each pair takes over 3 hours to construct from repurposed plastic water bottles and are washable.
The RS01 Sneaker is available in multiple colorways, including white, bone, olive and black. The Driving Loafer, meanwhile, is offered in navy, black, forest camo and desert camo.
In addition to men’s, Rothy’s carries women’s, kids’ and handbags.
Despite a year of challenges, the brand saw growth in 2020. Rothy’s added 450,000 new customers year-over-year, despite reducing its marketing spend by more than 60%.
Last year, the brand also introduced more than 30 new silhouettes, 250 colorways and entered the handbag category, which contributed just under 10% of total sales last year.
Since its launch, the San Francisco-based company relied on word-of-mouth to grow its customer base, and it’s a tactic Rothy’s plans to lean on for its male audience as well.
“This trend continues to build year over year: 50% of traffic to Rothy’s website is direct and over 50% of customers purchase Rothy’s after hearing a recommendation from friends or family,” Hawthornthwaite said. “This remained consistent even throughout the pandemic while in-person interactions were limited — a testament to the strength of our brand.”
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