Nili Lotan is adding shoes to her vocabulary. The New York-based designer has launched her first footwear collection, translating the clean lines and utilitarian elegance of her ready-to-wear into a capsule of boots, loafers, and sandals. It is a natural, and overdue, extension for a brand built on wardrobe staples.
The footwear launch comes at a moment when Lotan’s brand is experiencing its widest reach. Her minimalist, slightly utilitarian aesthetic has resonated with a clientele that has grown weary of logo-driven luxury, and the footwear extension gives existing customers a new entry point into her world. Prices range from $450 to $1,200.
Lotan spent two years developing the footwear collection, working with Italian factories that specialize in the kind of construction she wanted: Blake-stitched soles, vegetable-tanned leathers, and a last that accommodates the actual shape of a woman’s foot. The attention to infrastructure is characteristic of a designer who built her business slowly, without outside investment.
Footwear is a notoriously difficult category for ready-to-wear designers to master. Sizing, fit, and production tolerances are merciless. But Lotan’s methodical approach, testing each style on multiple foot shapes across multiple seasons, suggests she has done the homework. Early buyers include Bergdorf Goodman and Net-a-Porter, both of which have placed orders for the fall season.
The collection comprises seven styles, each grounded in Lotan’s design philosophy: minimal hardware, premium leathers, and a silhouette that favors function without sacrificing proportion. A chisel-toe Chelsea boot in dark oak calfskin sits alongside a sculptural leather slide with a stacked wooden heel. There are no logos, no seasonal gimmicks, just shoes designed to be worn until they fall apart.
