.png)
Not very glamorously!! I first started by being an intern at a brand called Katayone Adeli. Then I worked at Banana Republic as a very junior designer. I spent the majority of my time in the photocopy room making tons of copies of tech packs to send out to factories. I remember coming home from the subway at 10 at night with my ruler spec’ing handbags I’d designed.
After I’d worked in the industry for a number of years my husband and I decided to try to start our own line of shoes. We were so lucky to find a factory and agent in Italy. We ended up selling into Bergdorf Goodman our first season which was beyond our wildest dreams. In the beginning it was just me home alone sketching with my little dog Romeo on my lap at our garden apartment in Baltic Street in Cobble Hill while Brian worked full time to support us at his job in advertising. Starting the brand was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done. I was so afraid of failing and really believed I only had one shot to make it.
I love the friendships I’ve made over the years. I think fashion gets a bad rap as being catty and having mean people. But the people I’ve met in the industry have been very kind and interesting.
That makes me so happy that Anna wore the Penny to her wedding. My favorite part of what I do is having our designs be part of important moments in people’s lives. I really believe that shoes have a unique power to bring pure joy to people. There is a true emotion and feeling that a great pair of shoes brings. I love that we can do that.
The Penny is one of the biggest hits the company has ever had. Before that we had a huge hit with our Matilde boot when we first started. These hit products are really rare and you have to savor the energy and momentum when you have them. We were lucky in that at the exact moment our Penny wedding shoe was having its moment, we were coming out of Covid, a time when there was over two years of a wedding backlog. The product just flew off the shelves. I think brides respond to that shoe because you can tell how much detail and care goes into the product. There are over 400 pleats in every pair. The hand tied half bow is asymmetric and unique. I think people feel like themselves in this shoe - comfortable physically and emotionally. And they feel very pretty too.
i really love what we have in the line right now. I’m wearing all of it! Current favorites are our rhinestone flip flops, our striped shorts, our red strappy Devon flats and our Left On Friday collab swim collection (including leopard printed suits).
www.loefflerrandall.com
@loefflerrandall
@jessie_loeffler_randall