Do you remember the chic black flat Meghan Markle wore last week on a beach in Melbourne, when she swapped out her heels for the flats — twice? That chic black flat is called The Point and it’s from San Francisco-based start-up, and eco shoe brand, Rothy’s, whose mantra is to create beautiful and comfortable shoes for women on the go by reimagining everyday classics.

The most exciting thing about Rothy’s is the brand’s carbon footprint, or the lack of it really. The shoes are made from 100 percent post-consumer water bottles, which are hot washed, sterilized, then fused into a fiber that is then knit into yarn. So far, the company has repurposed more than 17 million water bottles, and counting.

But that’s not all! The insoles of the shoes are from recycled foam, and the rubber soles are carbon-free. The adhesives are non-toxic and vegan. The packaging the shoes come in is made from post-consumer recycled materials and is biodegradable. And when it comes to creating any waste from manufacturing, well, there’s practically none. (more on that, a bit later)

Rothy’s makes four types of shoes: The Flat ($125), The Point ($145), The Loafer ($165), and the newly released The Sneaker ($125). For this holiday season, the company is launching several new and limited edition collections, including Metallics for a little holiday shine. They also offer shoes for girls ($65) in ten colors, sizes 10 to 4.

Are you obsessed yet? Keep reading.

To take a deep dive into Rothy’s philosophy we caught up with the brand’s creative director and design guru, Erin Lowenberg, who — after 20 years in big retail (think Gap, Patagonia, Old Navy) — is happy and content creating magic at Rothy’s. Besides being a complete pleasure to talk to, Lowenberg is passionate, humble and extremely proud of the work she does at Rothy’s. Read on for her take on style, sustainability, and why you need a pair — or three — of the most comfortable shoe ever made. Plus,  scroll to the bottom to  check out our ROTHY’S GIVEAWAY, where one reader will receive a pair of Rothy’s on us.

 

Let’s talk about the eco pathos of Rothy’s. Can you describe your processes?

We’re a very humble brand. We tried a lot of techniques and had plenty of failures along the way. But we looked at it very differently. We looked at the entire pipeline and thought, wow if we want to make a shoe, and the top of the shoe — the upper — has a hole in it, which is how we put our feet in our shoes, why don’t we build a shoe that is without that hole? Which led us to the knitting concept.

So we really tried to think of everything in a new, logical, modern way and it led us to a lot of incredibly exciting, sustainable processes in our manufacturing. Not just our materials, but also the small amount of waste we create is based on our technique, knitting — we knit what’s called a dead fit but we basically knit to size. We don’t have really any trimming, we don’t have glue, we don’t have lots of pieces.

What can other brands learn from you? Because the fashion industry needs more brands like Rothy’s.

We have a very thoughtful process and then we save all of our excess, which isn’t much, and are constantly working on what can we use that [excess] for, what can we do. So I really feel like while we don’t stand on the position that we’ve got it all figured out, we do know we want to use materials that make sense and kind of close that loop of recycling and garments in the world of design, use and reuse.

But we also thought of our processes in a logical way — how do we make only what we need. I come from big retail background where we all could use a step back and say why are we doing this from scratch, how could we do it differently. And then the other  important thing is that we do have a pretty fast pipeline. We can read sales and see what our customer loves pretty quickly, and make our inventory based on that demand vs. traditional retailing, where we really need to take bigger bets a lot earlier because of the long lead time it takes. Those bets can be wrong and therefore you’ve created markdowns, or a landfill, just with inventory alone. So that’s another way we really feel like we’re not adding to that.

The brand has been around for only a couple of years and in those two short years Rothy’s has developed a cult-like following. Why do you think that is?

You know, we talk about it a lot. We absolutely love our customers, and they are so vocal. As they  learn about our brand they see something that is stylish and beautiful. And by the way, you can wash it! And by the way, it’s eco friendly! Once she’s worn it, the comfort is everything. You forget you are wearing shoes. And you look down and they look beautiful, and the color just matches your outfit. Or it’s the pop you wanted. But they’re so comfortable and stylish, that it’s that hybrid that keeps that customer coming back and thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I am so happy!’

 

It’s amazing what comfort does for women who are on the go, isn’t it?

Women are literally on morning to night. Their routine takes them to work, or commuting, or parenting, or on a soccer field, or they’re out with friends, or they’re traveling. And to have uncomfortable shoes on — it wrecks the day.  And that cult-like following has come from the style and the beauty, and then that promise of comfort that keeps them coming back. There’s an obsessive type feeling around it.

What are some of the moments that you’re most proud of with a brand?

I certainly have been proud of the milestone moments of recycling water bottles and getting to a million. And then suddenly we were at ten million, and I couldn’t believe it! I have two children. They’re middle school aged girls. And to be able to explain to them as they’ve been able to explain to their friends, ‘Hey, when you put that water bottle in that recycling bin instead of throwing it away, something’s happening with it. And you can actually be wearing it.’ There’s some really deep pride in what we’ve been able to teach and uncover in our communities, but also in the communities we touched around different cities.

And I’m really proud of the design and color, and what we’re getting ourselves known for, and the intricacies of satisfying women’s really strong personal needs. This is how I want to work, and this is what makes me feel confident.  And it makes me so proud to know that there are women who say, ‘Thank you for making me feel beautiful today.’ Or, ‘Thank you for offering size five twelve-and-a-half. Cause no one does.’ Or, ‘Thank you for making these affordable and washable so that I don’t have to spend a lot of money on a lot of different shoes.’  That’s really where my personal pride comes.

Why do you think women have such an intimate relationship with their shoes?

Well, I think the thing about shoes is they are a necessity, first of all. There’s a justification factor on footwear because you have to put shoes on.  Shoes are a way to change the entire outfit, and you can wear clothing and apparel in so many different ways if you got some variety on your feet. It’s not so in your face, it’s not the statement top. It’s not big jewelry. It’s not super high stakes — although obviously footwear can range in the thousands. But it is also  personality based.

Shoes link to a woman’s sense of personal style. They do; and they can be sexy, and they can be sensible, and they can be whatever your mood really is. I think that’s why shoes are so special. And again, I go back to the fact that we have to wear them.

 

An interesting thing I read about Rothy’s is the fact that even though your two founders are men, your brand has an all female executive team. Was this a conscious decision of the brand, or was it more of a coincidence?

Our brand hires people, not resumes. We are still a very small team. But the concept of building the strength and empowerment of women in leadership roles is definitely intentional, and it’s a women’s brand. Our two founders both have deep genius in them. One in business, one on design, and yet they know we want to surround ourselves with strong women. We want to speak to strong women. We want to build incredible women’s brand, and we want a team around us with that point of view.  It’s a very inclusive, strong organization. It’s not full of lot’s of layers and bureaucracy; we’re still young and small and nimble, and there’s a deep teamwork between founders and executive team.

Speaking of the executive team, and your job in particular — does forecasting come easy for you?

I don’t think it comes easy but I’ve built that muscle over 20 years of working in retail. I have a very good belief in my gut. I don’t think anything in retail is easy. And I think these days because there’s so much feedback from the world pretty quickly if you do anything, the digital space is so speedy that if your gut is wrong you know pretty quickly. And again we are in an inventory position where if my gut told me to do something, and we had to make that call, we still don’t have to buy to some fictitious demand — we can replenish to the real demand. And that’s the beauty of not wasting inventory.

Do you ever follow the runways for inspiration?

I use trends services, but I also look at the line at an airport and the TSA. I also very much pay close attention to ready to wear, and runways. I look at Fashion Month both times of the year. Part of it is just the general feeling, the sentiment of what designers believe consumers minds are all about, and part of it is relevance. We want to be relevant. We don’t want to be trendy and fast, but I want to feel relevant. I want to feel like our assortment is relevant to how the rest of the fashion industry is going to serve up editorial for her that fall or spring. So it’s all very important to me. But one of my favorite things is the wisdom of the customer. They write us, they ask us for things. So I use all these great resources that I’m blessed with.

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ROTHY’S GIVEAWAY!! (CLOSED)

Score a pair of the newly released Metallics collection — particularly the Twilight Metallic Loafer ($165) above, which is a perfect addition to your holiday season wardrobe.  There are two ways to win:

1. Comment below how you would style the Twilight Metallic Loafer.
2. Follow Rothy’s on Instagram + follow FashionFiles on Instagram. Tag a friend on this post OR repost the same post on your Instagram stories with the hashtag #FFGiveaway for a chance to win.

The contest ends on Friday, November 2 at 11:59pm CT, and is open to US residents only. A winner will be picked at random and will be contacted via email or Instagram.

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Disclosure: This post was written in partnership with Rothy’s. All reporting and opinions are those of the editorial staff of FashonFiles. Our editor has  received  a pair of The Point style flat.