How these “mom” shoes have become a favorite fashion girl

Didn’t you hear? Rothy stormed Paris. The brand of sustainable accessories is the star of a new pop-up boutique in Bon Marché, one of the most emblematic department stores in the city. He finds his way in the cupboards of local computer girls, such as Louise Follain and Alice Pilate, who recently attended a chic dinner very celebrating the arrival of the label in the city of the Enlightenment.

All this means a seal of approval, many brands that can only dream of: a warm welcome both in the world’s fashion capital and among its most demanding tastes manufacturers. Credit the product, marketing, known women by picking up shoes and bags, but it is undeniable that Rothy’s cool factor is increasing.

“I think that’s all that Mary Jane,” said the artist based in New York Maayan Zilberman. “Something about the square toe really strikes him on the brand, and I have the impression that they could turn their business just around this silhouette.” Zilberman is part of a growing framework of creatives, notably Bask Back Darling Harling Ross and the host famous by Instagram, Natalie Shine, who has publicly defended the business, often, yes, a pair of Mary Jane apartments or heels.

“I thought the Mary-Janes were the cutest things, then I spent a day in New York walking 15k + and I couldn’t believe how great I felt,” said Shine, who discovered the brand by a lunch co-organized by her friend (and her compatriot Rothy), the founder of Ghia, Mélanie Masarin. In fact, Shine loved her new apartments so much that she published a video on Instagram declaring her new obsession. Later, in 2024, she was appointed official ambassador of Rothy, a concert that meant running around the Westminster dog show in a retro skirt suit and blocking Mary Janes, while offering competitors similar pairs.

The Mary Jane, in particular, was a turning point for Rothy when launched in 2020. An ideal synergy between a major silhouette of the moment, the design sage and intelligent advertising, the shoe quickly became a classic cult. This did not hurt either, underlines the chief product of Rothy and the merchanting officer, Heather Archibald, and Jamie Gersch, the director of marketing of the company, that the shoe inspired a complete characteristic of the strategist to walk 15,000 steps around Florence, Italy, without pain. (This kind of coverage “I tried” style has become a signature for Rothy in several types of media, the most recent being a foot visit to San Francisco with the influencer Amy Rauch).

However, if Mary Janes secured the millennium consumer – she’s devoting cropped pants and nostalgia for the 2014 twee – it was the big hoof that won the Gen Z. ’90s.

Instagram Girls-sur-Ville, like Kianna Hedjazi and Ivana Ramirez, regularly publish on these styles on the grid, with very cute and coveted outfits to match. But Gersch stresses that the real collage factor is their multigenic attraction. These shoes integrate directly into the 20 -year -old closet who lives in a loose freight jeans and maximum floating lace skirts, but which are also an ideal solution for someone more decades, which just needs shoes without hassle.

The emphasis on comfort has always been cooked in Rothy’s recipe. When their first products arrived on the market in 2016, they were not hardly In itself, but could be better described as lasting work accessories that existed outside the trend cycle, rather than bait of engagement. Built with the mission of creating highly functional bags and shoes from recycled plastic waste, the initial offer of the label centered on simple and simple apartments and bins on which you could imagine a 9 to 5er rely for their trips.

“When I started and Jamie started at the end of 2022, there were five forms of shoes, only for women, and they have existed from the start,” said Archibald about a zoom call with Gersch. I asked them to define their reflections on the recent rise in Rothy to the relevance of fashion. After all, as a total fashion editor, I would be much more likely to shop for the label for my mother than me until last year.

“It was really a heritage, super comfortable,” explains Archibald. “Everyone knew what Rothys offered, but there was no effort to remain relevant with trends and big macro changes in shoes.”

And although Rothy certainly wants to integrate into the wider fashion landscape, he is not interested in completely abandoning his roots. While the company continues to evolve and put new parts in the world, it remains focused on the search for resonance with a generation of adult buyers newly created by social media And Those who have supported them from the start. Archibald and Gersch say they will never give up their group of OG customers. How could they? Their fans base is fanatic in the vein of fans of Marvel or Sanrio who adhere to their favorite characters, but in this case, it is the worship of cute and comfortable shoes and bags instead.

“There is a group (Rothy’s)” Toxicomans “that has existed for years on Facebook, and they are obsessed with the brand,” explains Gersch. “There are about 25,000 and they love us.” These super fans separated into groups of individual friends; They meet regularly. They too, underlines Gersch, always really like what Rothy, even if he continues to evolve.

Some recent Rothy successes: shoulder bags and shoulder bags – Millennial and Gen Z Go -Tos, respectively – that you can completely transform yourself by buying interchangeable straps (including the chain, the ribbon and guitar style options), small sassy slinbacks (which Gersch says that it has worn, without pain, for a multiple step in Paris) and of course With heels, with arcs…).

They also published Espadrille Mary Jane Flats for the spring and summer season in April. The style brings together two elements which are quite buzzing in the style space at the moment: the Raffia texture, which has been seen everywhere from the row to Jacquemus for the spring of 2025, and the unstoppable form of Mary Jane. That said, Archibald and Gersch know very well that the silhouette will only take the brand if before having to reinvent. To be part of the fashion conversation, of course, is to understand that the subject is constantly changing.

“I always tell my team that a little paranoia is good, and humility is a virtue,” said Gersch with a smile. She and Archibald are constantly talking about how to evolve their range of products without fully rewrising the DNA of their business: “You never want to become too comfortable.” Above all, she is right – the exception being if you just wear the right pair of Rothy.