October 21, 2019
What do Megan Markle and NoMad have in Common? — SHOES!
Rothy’s the sustainable shoe brand known for its collection of comfortable and colorful eco-conscious flats, loafers and sneakers, signed a 10-year lease for 7,500 square feet on the 10th Floor of 236 Fifth Avenue, between 27th and 28th Streets in NoMad.
The San Francisco-based company was founded as an online-only brand in 2016, but as many other online retailers they are seeing the advantage of having a bricks and mortar presence. They recently opened a 600-square-foot retail space in San Francisco and plan to open five more locations around the country in 2020, including a spot in the West Village. The office space in NoMad will also contain a showroom, joining fellow trendy tenants Gear Patrol, a men’s lifestyle publication, and Bill Blass the fashion house.
Where does Megan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, come in? Back in the fall of 2018 when she was pregnant with Prince Archie, the 37-year-old Duchess stepped out in a pair of Rothy’s flats while on a royal tour of Australia with Prince Harry. As the editor of PureWow puts it “The Aftermath? Let’s just call it the Markle Effect.”
The day that Megan wore Rothy’s Black Point shoe, sales of the style quadrupled. Other colors surged too. Marigold, Persimmon and more saw sales double. Site traffic on the company’s website exploded and Instagram activity and e-mail lists grew.
It seems that the Duchess was introduced to the shoe brand by members of the Prince Harry and Megan Markle’s team of publicists and media coordinators, which asked Rothy’s to send Megan a couple of pairs. Rothy’s doesn’t ship international, but unsurprisingly, they made an exception for Megan. (Now Rothy’s is preparing to test international shipping, excited by the tremendous opportunity to grow.)
What makes Rothy’s so special. They’re styled beautifully for day or evening wear and come in a range of colors, but they are also practical—comfortable, can be washed by machine, and ecologically friendly. Its shoes are made from recycled plastic water bottles, along with vegan, carbon-free rubber and other sustainable materials. In fact, the brand is committed to sustainability— from the materials it uses to the way it treats its employees. They directly own their factories and every day they weave some of the world’s unrecycled plastic waste into its shoes, diverting plastic bottles from landfills.
With a wonderful product and a great vision, it sounds like they’ll be right at home in the NoMad community.