Not every DTC apparel or accessories brand from the 2010s has continued to thrive all the way to the mid-2020s. Some have collapsed or closed, while others have pivoted into AI companies.
Rothy’s is one of the few to thrive. Its revenue has steadily climbed year after year to over $225 million annually; it has a robust wholesale business with partners like Nordstrom; and it has a growing fleet of its own stores — 40 and counting.
Now, at its 10-year anniversary, Rothy’s is in growth mode. The brand is launching its most expensive and widest-reaching marketing campaign to date along with a revamped version of its most iconic shoe, the Point.
“Point of View,” Rothy’s new campaign, features notable women like ESPN host Malika Andrews, artist Jane Moseley, actress Nathalie Love, and music producer Julianne Jordan. These women, 16 in total, will star in a multimedia campaign including video, social content and print ads, all answering the question “What do you know for sure?” in ways specific to their lives and work.
The Rothy’s team intentionally shied away from traditional influencers and content creators, choosing artists, photographers, writers, and ceramicists to differentiate from other creator-focused brand campaigns.
“In terms of medium and media, this is our most-wide-reaching campaign ever,” said Anna Doré, Rothy’s vp of brand and communication. “We have some incredible large-scale elements like out-of-home billboards and print ads. We’re also tapping into newer channels like Substack. There are many legs to this campaign.”
Substack has emerged as one of the most useful new platforms in Rothy’s toolkit. While it doesn’t have its own Substack, the brand has regularly collaborated with Substack writers by sponsoring newsletters and hosting in-person events with writers and their audiences. The “Point of View” campaign also included partnerships with five Substack writers, including Emily Sundberg, writer of Feed Me, and Erika Veurink, writer of Long Live. These writers were all asked to reflect on how their own lives have changed in the last 10 years for sponsored Rothy’s content.
This emphasis on a broad-reaching, brand-building campaign didn’t come out of nowhere. It’s a product of Rothy’s increasingly diversified revenue sources. The brand now has a sizable wholesale business, accounting for just under a third of its total revenue, and sells with Nordstrom, Anthropologie, Amazon, Bloomingdale’s and international retailers like Le Bon Marche.
“When you’re on shelves all over the place, you need a strong brand identity more than ever,” Doré said.
The Rothy’s team chose to highlight “women whose work has shaped how people think,” according to the team. The Substack partnerships, along with the campaign highlighting writers and artists, position the brand as one that caters to a sophisticated customer.
“Our distribution is increasing, through our own stores and with retailers around the world. Whether we’re on a shelf in Le Bon Marche or on a table in Nordstrom, we want the customer to know what we stand for, which means taking a more editorial approach to marketing.”
The campaign accompanies the reintroduction of the Point, one of the brand’s first products and still one of its core sellers. The third generation of the Point is launching in a dozen new colors, along with exclusive colors available at wholesale partners like Nordstrom.
Doré said that the team resisted the urge to stray too far from the core styles that have made the brand a success. She said the temptation to chase newness at the expense of a consistent brand identity has been a problem for many of the DTC brands that launched in the 2010s. At a time when consumers are shopping more selectively, Rothy’s is betting on a strategy of consistency and strengthening brand codes over constant evolution.
“If you look at our portfolio, we traditionally had two silhouettes: the Point and the Flat,” Doré said. “Over time, we went a little broader and launched more styles. Now, we’re trying to come back to a more focused assortment and build a bigger business around our core silhouettes.”
