A decade in, Rothy’s is marketing like a publisher. The footwear brand marked its 10th anniversary with “Point of View,” which it calls its widest-reaching campaign to date, pairing traditional out-of-home billboards and print ads with partnerships with independent newsletter writers on Substack, Glossy reported on September 8.
“In terms of medium and media, this is our most-wide-reaching campaign ever. 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.” — Anna Doré, vice president of brand and communication, Rothy’s, to Glossy
Who is in it
The multimedia campaign stars 16 women, among them ESPN host Malika Andrews, artist Jane Moseley, actress Nathalie Love and music producer Julianne Jordan. It also includes partnerships with five Substack writers, including Hunter Harris, who writes the newsletter Hung Up, and Erika Veurink, who writes Long Live, according to Glossy.
The casting spans sports media, art, acting and music, a range of perspectives that suits a campaign titled “Point of View” from a brand whose signature shoe is called the Point.
Why editorial, why now
The strategic logic is tied to distribution. Rothy’s revenue has climbed year after year to more than $225 million annually, it operates a growing fleet of 40 stores, and wholesale accounts for just under a third of total revenue, with partners including Nordstrom, Anthropologie, Amazon, Bloomingdale’s and Le Bon Marché, Glossy reported.
That wider footprint changes the marketing job. “When you’re on shelves all over the place, you need a strong brand identity more than ever,” Doré said. She added: “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.”
A sharper product story
The campaign also supports a return to focus. The third generation of the Point is launching in a dozen new colors, according to Glossy. “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.”
What it signals for brand marketers
Three ideas stand out for luxury and premium brands:
- Newsletters are media. Partnering with Substack writers places a brand inside trusted, subscriber-driven reading habits, a context closer to a magazine than a social feed.
- Editorial beats volume in wholesale. When a product sits beside competitors at a department store, a clear brand point of view becomes a merchandising asset.
- Anniversaries are reset moments. Rothy’s used its 10th year not for nostalgia but to narrow its assortment around its core silhouettes.
The approach reflects a larger movement in fashion marketing toward voices with built-in credibility, from customers to critics to independent writers. For Rothy’s, the bet is that the next decade will be won less by reach alone than by the clarity of what the brand stands for, communicated through people whose opinions readers already value.
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- At its 10th anniversary, Rothy’s is launching its biggest campaign yet, Glossy (Danny Parisi), 2026-09-08
Lead image: illustrative photo by Benita Elizabeth John on Unsplash.
