I Wore Rothy’s for a Year — Here’s What Nobody Tells You Before You Buy
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Let me be honest with you: I bought my first pair of Rothy’s because Meghan Markle wore them.
I’m not proud of it. But there it is.
I’d been seeing them everywhere — on Instagram, in airport terminals, on every woman who looked like she had her life together in a way I aspired to. Shoes made from recycled water bottles that you could throw in the washing machine. Stylish enough for work. Comfortable enough for a full day on your feet. The sustainable choice that didn’t look like a sustainable choice.
So I spent $149 on a pair of The Points in a deep burgundy and waited for them to arrive.
What followed was a year of genuine surprises — some great, a few frustrating, and one that made me stop and reconsider the whole thing. Here’s what I wish someone had told me first.
The First Week: The Sizing Situation Nobody Talks About Enough
The Points arrived and looked exactly like the photos. Slim, elegant, that signature pointed toe. I slid them on and immediately felt my toes compress into the front of the shoe like they were late for a meeting.
I’d ordered my usual size. Classic mistake.
After some research and a quick exchange — Rothy’s return process is genuinely painless — I went up half a size and suddenly understood why people love these shoes so much. The fit clicked into place. Not roomy, but right. Just enough space for your toes to exist as separate entities rather than one consolidated unit.
This is the piece of advice every Rothy’s review mentions and yet somehow every new buyer still learns the hard way: size up half a step. Every time. For every style.
If you have wide feet, size up and cross your fingers, or honestly consider whether the Sneaker style might be a better fit for you — it’s the most accommodating silhouette they make.
The Rainy Tuesday That Humbled Me
About three weeks in, I wore my Points on a day that looked dry but wasn’t.
By the time I made it from the tube station to my office — maybe a seven-minute walk — both feet were completely soaked through. Not damp. Soaked. I spent the next four hours at my desk in what felt like wet swimming socks, slowly air-drying from the inside out.
Here’s what I learned: Rothy’s are not waterproof. They’re not even water-resistant. That beautiful open-weave knit construction that makes them breathable and flexible and lightweight? It also absorbs water with impressive efficiency.
These are fair-weather shoes. Not shoes for British weather. Not shoes for “it probably won’t rain” days. Fair. Weather. Only.
If you live somewhere it rains with any regularity, keep a backup pair of options you don’t mind getting wet. Wear Rothy’s on the days the forecast is genuinely clear.
Month Two: The Smell Conversation Nobody Wants to Have
Somewhere around the eight-week mark, after daily wear through a warm stretch of weather, I came home and my partner made a face.
Not a subtle face.
The recycled plastic knit that makes Rothy’s so washable also doesn’t breathe the way natural materials do. After enough warm-weather wear, they develop a smell. This is documented by enough independent reviewers that I feel comfortable calling it a feature of the shoe rather than a fault of my personal hygiene.
The good news: this is exactly what the machine-washable design is for.
Gentle cycle. Cold water. No dryer — air dry overnight. The next morning, they come out smelling like nothing at all and looking nearly new. I’ve done this more times than I can count and the knit has held up every single time without any visible degradation in the fabric.
That washability isn’t a marketing gimmick. It’s a genuine, practical, weekly feature of owning these shoes — especially in summer.
The Arch Support Conversation (Or Rather, the Lack of One)
By month three I was wearing my Rothy’s four or five days a week. Work, errands, weekend brunches, the occasional longer walk. And my feet started talking back.
Not dramatically. Just the low-grade tiredness that comes from spending hours in a shoe with minimal arch support on a thin, flexible sole.
I want to be clear: Rothy’s do not pretend to be orthopedic shoes. They’re fashion flats. But the gap between “comfortable for a few hours” and “comfortable for a full day on your feet” is real, and if you have any pre-existing foot concerns — plantar fasciitis, flat arches, anything that makes you reach for specific insoles in your other shoes — you will feel that gap in Rothy’s.
The fix, for me, was a half-size insole from a pharmacy. About £8. It made the shoes genuinely wearable for longer days without changing the fit significantly.
If you need serious arch support, no insole is going to turn Rothy’s into the right shoe for you. But for moderate daily wear with a simple insole addition, they work well enough that I kept reaching for them.
The Washing Machine Test (Over and Over and Over)
By month six, I had washed my Points at least a dozen times.
Let me tell you what they look like now: almost exactly like they did the day they arrived. The knit hasn’t frayed. The color hasn’t faded significantly. The shape has been retained through every wash and air-dry cycle. The sole shows some wear at the toe from regular use, but the shoe itself looks like it has years left in it.
This is not universally true for every Rothy’s style — I’ve read accounts of clogs unravelling at the ankle area after 18 months, and loafers deteriorating after hand-washing. My honest take is that the core styles — The Point and The Sneaker in particular — have the strongest long-term durability evidence, and the more structurally complex styles carry more documented risk.
But for The Points specifically: yes, they wash as well as advertised, and they keep washing well for years, not just months.
The Part That Bothered Me
About eight months in, a friend bought a pair of Mary Jane style Rothy’s — the ones with the bow at the front. Within a couple of wears, the fabric on the straps tore. Not from rough use. Just from the tension created by tying the bow tightly enough to keep it from falling open.
She contacted Rothy’s, explained what had happened, and described it as what it appeared to be: a design issue with how tightly the bow needed to be secured to stay in place.
Their response: $30 off a new pair.
On a $145+ shoe. For a defect she hadn’t caused.
I’ve seen similar responses documented elsewhere — clogs unravelling after 18 months offered a link to the recycling programme. Fabric deteriorating after hand-washing with mild detergent dismissed as a washing issue. The pattern is consistent enough to be worth saying clearly: Rothy’s warranty responses tend toward store credit and replacement discounts rather than repair, refund, or replacement. That’s a real thing to factor into how you think about this purchase.
A Year In: Would I Buy Them Again?
Yes. And I have — twice.
Here’s the honest version of what Rothy’s are: they’re genuinely stylish, genuinely washable, genuinely lightweight travel shoes that hold up better than most things at their price point for the specific use case they’re designed for. Fair-weather city wear, desk-to-dinner versatility, travel packing where space matters.
They are not: waterproof, arch-supportive, suitable for all-day standing on hard floors without an insole, or backed by the kind of warranty that gives you real confidence when something goes wrong.
The sweet spot is buying The Points or The Sneakers in a style you love, sizing up half a step without exception, adding a basic insole if you’re going to wear them for long days, and washing them regularly before the smell situation becomes anyone’s problem.
Do that and you’ll understand why there are people still wearing their original pair five years later.
Don’t do that and you might spend a very damp Tuesday wondering what you were thinking.
Before You Buy: The Checklist
Do buy Rothy's if:
- You want a genuinely stylish, machine-washable everyday flat
- You’re a fair-weather city dresser or frequent traveller
- You’re comfortable sizing up half a step and doing it every time
- You have normal-width feet or slightly narrow feet
- Sustainability and recycled materials matter to you as a purchase factor
Don't buy Rothy's if:
- You live somewhere it rains regularly and want to actually wear your shoes
- You need meaningful arch support or have plantar fasciitis
- You have wide feet (the Sneaker is the exception — try that first)
- You expect a generous, hassle-free warranty response if something goes wrong
- You’re buying as a long-term investment piece expecting 10+ years from a single pair
By Elody Von
By 
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