AFTER GRADUATING COLLEGE, Mr. Martin worked in finance on the East Coast before moving back to San Francisco to help run operations for a small biotech company. “From there,” Mr. Martin says, “I got very interested in design, and I started a gallery called ‘Hedge’ which I ran for about 12 years.” Eventually though, he wanted to move on. “I got to a place where I was pretty frustrated with trying to scale the business. I wanted to do something in design that was more scalable and had mass market appeal.” This led him and a friend, Steve Hawthornthwaite, to take a look at the clothing industry, where “we were seeing an incredible change in how women were dressing. ‘Casualization’ was taking over workplace (dressing decorum), and black leggings were everywhere. There was no logical shoe to pair (with leggings).” This realization set Mr. Martin and Mr. Hawthorthwaite out to design a shoe that would do just that— the shoe that eventually became Rothy’s. Progress was slow and difficult at first. “I took shoes for granted—I didn’t realize that they were so complicated to make!” After over a year of trial and error, he and Mr. Hawthorthwaite developed a knitting process that had never been used before with footwear, and that allowed them to create shoes that were not only comfortable and stylish, but that also nearly eliminated the extra fabric and waste that they’d noticed was widespread in the shoe industry. When it came time to release the shoes, they were nervous about how they’d be received. “We had some initial success when our wives and friends tried them on, but we didn’t know whether they were just being kind,” Mr. Martin remembers. It wasn’t until they released them to the public at the end of 2015 that they realized they had a true hit on their hands. “It was a surreal moment—we always thought it’d be successful, we just didn’t quite realize it was going to be as big as it was.” They sold over a million pairs in 2018 alone.
Roth Martin 2018
“I took shoes for granted—I didn’t realize that they were so complicated to make!”
WALKING AN UNLIKELY CAREER PATH IN COMFORTABLE SHOES ROTH MARTIN ’87 AND HIS ROTHY SHOE BY MATT THIER ’00, Alumni Program Coordinator
Our school team love their Rothy's.
Today, Roth Martin ’87 is the Chief Creative Officer of Rothy’s, the footwear brand that’s become a fashion sensation since its founding in 2013. (Just ask Meghan Markle, Cathedral teachers, or any of the other one million plus customers how much they love their shoes.) But there aren’t very many shoe company founders whose resumé includes experience in derivative trading, biotech, running an art gallery, and SCUBA diving. As Mr. Martin would be the first to tell you, his path from Cathedral School student to international shoe mogul was, in his words, “a very non-linear one.”
see how the School has grown, and what an incredible and supportive environment it still is.” In addition to their women’s line of shoes, Rothy’s recently introduced a kids’ version as well. But if you’re hoping to see CSB students sport them at school, you may have to wait. “I’m not making an all-black shoe! You can write that. It would be great to get the School in on it, though.”
He credits much of his success to the education he received during his time at Cathedral, which he attended from kindergarten to second grade. “I loved Cathedral. It laid a great foundation for me—my time there was very formative. Wearing a uniform, tying a tie, all of that made me have a fastidious view of the world.” And with his two sons currently attending the School, things have come full circle. “It’s such a cool experience to
Roth Martin 1979
46 | CATHEDRAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS
FALL 2019 • RED & GOLD | 47
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs