How DTC brand Rothy’s grew to $227.7 million in revenue through stores, wholesale

If there’s one brand that’s part of the early wave of digital natives and has withstood the changing economic climate, it’s Rothy’s.

Established in 2016, the footwear company has grown to $227.7 million in revenue, with 40 stores. It has also tripled its wholesale business as it sells through Nordstrom nationwide.

But CEO Dayna Quanbeck—who joined the company seven years ago and previously served as CFO and president—believes there’s still plenty of room left for Rothy’s to grow beyond its own website.

Pointing to the brand’s Nordstrom partnership, Quanbeck told Retail Brew the shift reflects how consumers actually shop today, rather than an abandonment of its core DTC model.

“When you’re born online…your website is one point of distribution,” she said, adding that wholesale allows Rothy’s to “transact with [the customer] where she wants to transact.”

Quanbeck believes expansion is particularly a focus because Rothy’s already built the infrastructure required to support stores and e-commerce. It’s why wholesale can be added on top of the existing business rather than the company having to fashion an entirely new model.

Being omnichannel has helped the retailer diversify how customers discover it, whether it’s online, at Nordstrom, or at one of its brick-and-mortar locations.

“The acquisition has to sort of blend across all of them,” Quanbeck said. “The way that I look at wholesale is it’s really accretive to the top because the infrastructure is in place to support it.”

In addition to its 40 locations, Quanbeck said the brand could eventually add another 30–40 in the US alone. And the retailer isn’t just using stores to enter unfamiliar markets; instead it’s hoping to rely on customer data to find places where Rothy’s already has a presence.

“What we do see is that they cross-shop, and the value of those customers is multiples [rather] than just a one-channel customer,” Quanbeck said, adding that Rothy’s sees “a very high lift and correlation to where there are stores.”

Rothy’s is also expanding beyond its iconic women’s flats with sneakers, clogs, bags, and smaller men’s and kids’ items. For Quanbeck, it is less about chasing new customers and more about giving its existing customers more reasons to shop the brand.

Ultimately, Quanbeck wants Rothy’s to become substantially bigger without losing what made it stand out in the first place.

“My vision is to take Rothy’s to scale and build an extraordinary brand alongside that scale,” she said. “Some of the best brands in footwear have been able to achieve ubiquity and build a strong brand at the same time, versus one at the expense of the other.”