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https://www.barrons.com/articles/20-minutes-with-jack-rogers-lydia-park-luis-01555947015

It’s hard to think of a warm-weather shoe more iconic than the Jack Rogers’ flat sandal.

The story goes that in the middle of the last century, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy found a pair of flat, whipstitched leather sandals on a trip to Capri and had a cobbler in Palm Beach recreate them. From there a famous sandal, and a brand, were born.

In honor of the opening of a new Charlotte, N.C., store, the company known best for beachside shoes is partnering with Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation, an organization that advocates to protect the Catawba-Wateree River Basin’s lakes, rivers, and streams in North Carolina.

Jack Rogers will hold an in-store event in which a percentage of all purchases will be donated to the foundation, and the team will also spend a day volunteering to help clean up the river.

In addition to this initiative, Jack Rogers is looking to partner with “local water preservation/conservation organizations in the other cities where we have stores,” says Lydia Park Luis, the company’s CEO. “We believe this is a good way to connect to our local customers and to help enrich their lives.”

Park Luis joined the company as its CEO last spring. A fashion industry veteran, she’s previously worked at Rag & Bone, Tory Burch, and Coach.

PENTA: Your company is known for an iconic sandal style. But what new designs are you looking to roll out too?

Lydia Luis Park: We love sandals, and that doesn’t go away. So first it’s about how can we give her more options for sandals. We did some slides, comfortable cork bed, for the first time we’re launching espadrilles, espadrille wedges, using raffia, grosgrain, different materials.

We’re doing, also, more dressy heels. Our girl has been pretty casual, taking them to the beach, so it’s about how do we take her from day to night and still have the Jack Rogers aesthetic, which is a very feminine hand to the design. So we’re keeping all that. We’re just thinking about how we can give her more options and more fashion.

Your company is geared solely to women. Is most of you team female, too?

It is mostly women, yes. We didn’t go out just looking for women. My first hire is our chief merchant, Leanna Diller, and I’d worked with her at Tory Burch.

We were both at Tory Burch in early days. It was small and scrappy to begin with and we helped grow it into a billion-dollar business in 10 years. It became a big fashion house, but we missed that small and scrappy feel. We liked the idea of building it.

We really appreciated that there were a lot of female leaders at Tory, and what we appreciated most was the culture. So we said, how many opportunities will we have in our lives to build a culture? We were really excited about that.

What defines the Jack Rogers culture?

For us, it’s about honesty. How do you build teams with amazing work ethic where you’re having the tough conversations, too? We’re going to disagree on subjects across the table, and we want people to have the courage, if they have a seat at the table, to have those conversations there as opposed to the watercooler. The watercooler doesn’t create a good culture.

It’s about mentoring people to feel safe, and to trust each other. Our feeling is that we should be able to really go at it across the table and disagree with each other, but at night we should be able to go out for pizza or for a glass of wine, because one is business and one is personal.

We want to build a culture around that and always keep the customer and the product at the forefront.

We’ve found women who want to work really hard and build a brand from scratch. We want people to be nimble and humble. We all roll up our sleeves to get things done.

Your company is part of a long legacy.

It’s been three generations or more passing down the brand. And we’re focused on this idea of sisterhood—on how to empower ourselves, and how to empower our customers. They’re already living that sisterhood without knowing it. When we ask people about their first experience buying Jacks, they’ll say, “Oh, I bought them with my mom,” or “I got them in an Easter basket,” others have worn them with their sorority sisters during rush. You have these warm memories and experiences. The message is that the Jacks woman is never alone.

We’re there for your sorority, for your wedding, for your baby.

57% of your customers are millennials. Are their tastes and demands much different than those of other generations?

It’s not about age, it’s more about style. Are you more bohemian, or feminine, or downtown chic. You can be 60 years old and be any of those things.

You mentioned some of your new designs for spring, but what about the fall?

We’ve quadrupled the line in terms of the assortment. Instead of just a basic bootie, we’re giving her much more fashion, with up-to-the-knee boots, kitten heels. We’re following trends she can see everywhere, like menswear plaid, shearling, a crepe footbed.

It’s all about comfort and quality. After the sneaker revolution in Silicon Valley even women are not going to wear shoes that aren’t comfortable.

What makes Jack Rogers sandals stand apart and endure across trends?

We offer value, comfort, and style. (The iconic, hand-stitched sandal is $118; heels go up to $158, and boots up to $228.)

This a woman who wears Moncler and Rolex and Hermes. She’s in the country club, in Palm Beach, and in Nantucket. She can afford anything and she has multiple pairs of Jack Rogers. It’s not about the price. It’s about the fashion, the value and the craftsmanship. Those are the key points.

Are you noticing changing consumer tastes overall?

Comfort is important. With social media, you can know the newest trends at all times. Consumers want those trends, but they want their shoes to be accessible and approachable.

We know we can’t do the “dad sneaker” trend, but menswear plaid we can do. It’s about knowing your customer and what they really want.

It’s hard to think of a warm-weather shoe more iconic than the Jack Rogers’ flat sandal.

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