The Danish outerwear house builds dedicated infrastructure behind its debut waterproof Dry Boot range as it works toward a three-pillar business
Key Takeaways
- Rains has launched its first footwear range, Dry Boot, marking the brand’s global entry into shoes.
- Co-founder and creative director Philip Lotko describes the effort as building a new business inside the company, with dedicated supply chain, warehousing and in-store display systems developed specifically for footwear.
- The brand’s business is currently split roughly evenly between outerwear and bags, and Lotko has said the long-term goal is a three-pillar structure with each category contributing close to a third of revenue.
- The launch follows earlier footwear collaborations with Umbro, Zellerfeld and Vans, which tested demand ahead of a full owned-product investment.
Rains has moved into footwear for the first time, launching its waterproof Dry Boot range as part of an effort to build shoes into a third pillar of the business alongside its established outerwear and bags categories. The Danish brand, known for its minimal, utilitarian rainwear, framed the expansion as a significant operational undertaking, requiring infrastructure investment well beyond a typical seasonal product launch.
According to cofounder and creative director Philip Lotko, the project was treated internally like building a new business inside the company. He said it required a dedicated supply chain, a new warehouse setup, and in-store displays designed specifically for shoes, infrastructure that outerwear and bags did not demand in the same way. Lotko attributed the timing to sustained demand from customers and wholesale partners who had been asking when the brand would extend its rainwear expertise into footwear, and noted that the category also completes a full-look vision the brand had been building toward through prior collaborations with Umbro, Zellerfeld and Vans.
Rains’ business is currently split roughly evenly between outerwear and bags, and Lotko has set a long-term target of a three-pillar structure in which footwear, outerwear and bags each contribute close to a third of revenue. That ambition points to a brand looking past its rainwear identity toward a broader lifestyle proposition, one where category diversification functions as a hedge against reliance on any single product line.
The Dry Boot family launches globally across multiple silhouettes, giving Rains its first real test of whether its rubber, utilitarian design language can translate into footwear demand at scale. Should the category gain traction, it would mark a meaningful shift in how the brand’s revenue is structured and could inform how other outerwear-driven labels think about extending into adjacent categories.
