After Debuting His Vintage-Inspired Fall 2025 Collection, Jonathan Simkhai Reveals That Shoes Are His Fastest Growing Category
Simkhai’s fall/winter 2025 collection draws inspiration from a chance find while shopping the Rose Bowl flea market in Los Angeles.
According to the collection’s show notes, designer Jonathan Simkhai “came across an antique brooch from the 1920s and imagined the hands and lives that the brooch touched throughout the decades.”
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Indeed, this vintage and antique theme is central this season’s inspiration – all the way down to the shoes. This season’s footwear range features a slingback mule from spring which has been reimagined in new finishes, with worn leather details mirroring details from the jackets. Boots were also seen in distressed leather, embellished with a buckle, in a motorcycle silhouette.
In an interview with Simkhai backstage just after his show on Friday, the designer also spoke about his love of embellishments seen throughout his collection. “My grandfather had a lace and embroidery mill in Iran in the ‘70s,” the designer told FN. “I found that out after I started the business, so as we evolved the brand and learned about the lace and the embroideries, we started to incorporate them more into the ready-to-wear. And now it’s in the handbags and footwear as well.”
But as for his best-selling shoes, Simkhai noted that boots are his hottest category within the footwear assortment and this season definitely showed the emphasis on silhouette.
“Boots have been a really promising classification for us,” Simkhai said. “We’re seeing styles like day boots, but also dressier boots with point issues and also rounder toes, perform well.”
And for the shoe category overall, Simkhai said that footwear is his fastest growing segment right now. “Shoes have seen our highest percentage growth as a category,” he said. “We are obviously still in the growing phase, but it’s growing very fast. And we’re seeing really strong sellers.”
The category, which first launched at the end of 2021 for the spring 2022 season, was introduced with ten styles, and each came in multiple colorways. Simkhai noted that his brand’s women’s shoes can be found at Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale’s, Revolve, Saks, Fwrd, Moda Operandi, Shopbop, and his own retail shops.
“I always love to give something an extra detail, or a reason to stand out,” Simkhai said. “But it’s so funny, because our cleanest looking things are just the most practical and wearable and sell the best. And shoes are such a great thing, because you always need a good shoe, even if you have nowhere to go.”
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