To answer the question first. Is Rothy's worth the money? No according to AupairToes' case. Let her explain more.
AupairToes has been looking for affordable durable (e.g. at least one year daily wearing capability) and well-designed flats even before we become cautiously living more eco-friendly. Reasons are simple
- As busy professionals and children care-givers, people move from one place to another so quickly including from cars to places, classroom to office, home to park activities, etc. Flat shoes work the best. AupairToes does have one pair or two high-heels but wear them very occasionally
- As people who care about our appearance and the basic artistic as well as aesthetic need, we prefer wearing well-designed and good looking shoes
- Flat leather shoes or sportive shoes has been AupairToes' default for years. She usually spends $50 per pair in the US and by average that price range gives her good enough options but sometimes, shoes at that price range can be worn off quickly (less than a year in most cases)
- AupairToes is not into trendy fashion because history repeats itself all the time. Classics are what she goes for. This also gives her some room to increase price per pair to buy fewer shoes with better quality
After we become more cautious of living more eco-friendly, nothing above really changes but AupairToes is willing to pay extra for recyclable materials or better manufacturing process. So, when she saw the advertisement on Instagram about Rothy's washable shoes which leverage recycled plastics as materials, she was so excited and ordered the popular chili red pointed closed-toe flats below. After tax and discount, it cost total $135.31, still not cheap. The selling points for Rothy's shoes are 1) made of plastic bottles 2) washable and reusable (they recycle their own shoes).
The unboxing process was very pleasant and easy. There wasn't any plastic bag or paper, etc in the whole packing. Everything in the packaging can be reused or bio-degradable, except for the 3M strip that could have some plastic materials. It is attached inside the box just in case return happens, which obviously happened in AupairToes' case. To those who are not living a zero-waste style, this is acceptable as it provides the value that offsets the unavoidable harm potentially can be changed later. The packaging also includes instructions on washing the shoes and return policies. (click the link below for our story on Instagram or click the picture to one of the videos)
The design is beautiful with simple geometric lines to create the shapes around the foot. It's also fitting to AupairToes' standard-sized feet very well (you do need to order half size bigger than your normal size). Her feet fit standard shoe pattern easily so not sure how this design works for wide feet or other feet that have special needs. The color is very nice and well-matched with what you see on their website. (click the picture below for video)
However, AupairToes ended up returning this pair due to the reasons below
- It didn't pass her sweaty feet test. After wearing it for a whole day with a typical day walking and driving balance, the shoes made her sweaty feet situation worse. It's the material which is a composition of thread and plastics that don't absorb moisture from the feet as good leather or other fabric would do
- It won't survive rainy days or cold weather because it's knitted together with a lot of airy spaces around the whole shoe
- If you do some research online, Rothy's is not the only manufacturer that uses recycled water bottle to make shoes. Also, not 100% of the shoes are made of plastics as what their marketing tried to get you believe in. AupairToes would guess <40% plastics are used in one pair
- It does take over 7 days after order online for us to receive the product (chili red is the most popular color as it's sold off quickly based on other reviews online)
Based on all above, $135 (after $20 discount and tax) does give AupairToes a pair of shoes what is washable but not for her to wear frequently enough to make it a valuable pair in her closet. The price does give her a beautifully designed and well-fitted pair but she won't be able to show off it in her sweaty feet condition or cold/rainy days. Thus, she decided to move on and continue our journey searching for the ideal flats