Cassie Rose

The Cassie is our signature. The shoe we set out to make when we could not find it anywhere else. It began with the traditional Spanish Mercedita, the Mary Jane that has been part of European childhoods for generations. Beautiful, but built for standing still. We wanted the elegance without the compromise. So we made it in plush velvet, the material of celebrations, and built it on a non-slip rubber sole. We replaced the tiny buckle with an adjustable velcro strap, so a three-year-old can fasten it herself. The result is a shoe that belongs at the birthday party and keeps up at the playground. It is our most photographed pair, and our most worn.

The Cassie is made in a family-run workshop in Alicante, Spain, where shoes have been made this way for generations. Every pattern is cut by hand. The uppers are assembled by seamstresses who have spent decades at the same work. The soles are natural rubber, vulcanized in individual molds and bonded permanently to the upper. The craftsmen who do this never weigh the rubber. After years at the machines, they know by feel exactly how much each size takes. Every shoe is made one at a time, and every pair is tested to European safety standards and independently verified for the US.