Summer fun, here we come! 10 years on and over a year in the making, we’re beyond excited to introduce you to Lochie—our first-ever sandal and Merry People’s sunny debut into warm weather adventures.
Enter our brand new Lochie Sandal! After over two years of design, countless sketches, emails, messages, voice notes, and several rounds of product samples, Lochie is finally here. A sandal that’s as durable and practical as our boots, but made for the sunny days ahead.
In this blog post we to step behind the scenes with Cass, our Head of Product, and Dani, our Founder and CEO, into the making of our Lochie Sandal.
Let's start at the very beginning...
The Idea
Merry People has always been known for its boots, and the idea of branching out into sandals was something Dani carefully considered: "People always asked me, 'Why don’t you do a summer option?' And I guess I always thought we would only be the gumboot brand. But after 10 years in business, I started thinking… maybe we should try it!”
“It was definitely a big step for me to think about, and to make sure that we were really happy and proud with what we're putting out to our customers,” Dani says.
An essential ingredient in a design process that results in a product you can feel good about is creative collaboration—and Dani and Cass have this in spades!
“In terms of process, Dani and I work really collaboratively,” Cass explains. “Both of us have eyes on the mark and our hearts in the brand, and know where we intuitively feel like it should go next.”
“We’ll chat about ideas and share inspiration—sometimes it’s as simple as me sketching an idea after a quick conversation,” Cass explains. Getting it down on paper sparks the back-and-forth, iterative process that transforms the Lochie from a sketch into a real sandal.
The idea for Lochie was beginning to take shape—something perfect for summer, yet built from the same ingredients that make our gumboots special.
The Sketch
With Lochie being Merry People’s first-ever sandal, the possibilities of what it could look like were wide open.
“I think what’s cool is that Dani and I have slightly different tastes, so we’ll challenge each other on what we think will work,” Cass shares.
What Dani and Cass agreed on, though, was that Lochie had to carry our brand DNA: waterproof, practical, versatile, and comfortable – just like our Bobbi Boot.
Cass explains, “From a design perspective, I wanted to marry that fun and colourful vibe, which has made the Bobbi so successful, with something a bit more classic. It’s about keeping the personality bright and vibrant while ensuring the sandal feels timeless and practical.”
After exploring lots of different iterations, the answer lay in borrowing and adapting the outsole profile from our Andie and Tully Boots, while pairing it with a sporty, stylish upper.
Cass also brought over some of the materials of our boots as well; with the neoprene lined straps and natural rubber footbed. It was important that the sandals would be water-friendly too, so borrowing these product attributes helped turn the Lochie Sandal into a functional sandal with waterproof materials. Classic but sporty!
When it comes to colours, our design team knows their stuff! Dani and Cass worked through a range of options, balancing practical, earthy tones with bright, fun colours. Drawing inspiration from Merry People’s existing palette, they experimented with swatches and samples, and finally settled on four shades that felt both versatile and fresh for summer.
With the designs ready, it was time to try Lochie on for size!
The Sample
It’s never a straight line from the sketch to the sample. As Cass explains, “It’s hard to read a sketch to a sample—you have to take a leap of faith in between.”
This leap of faith was made all the more significant when Cass worked with a new factory in Vietnam, a major step in bringing the Lochie Sandal to life.
For Cass, designing a product while onboarding a new factory was a first, and it proved to be a really interesting part of the process. The factory team produced exceptional quality and provided access to sustainable materials that aligned with Merry People’s values.
Our new factory’s capabilities allowed them to push the boundaries of what they could do with natural rubber and other materials, ensuring the final product is not only durable and practical but also made of high-quality sustainable materials; including FSC certified natural rubber, recycled PET textiles and a sugarcane EVA footbed to tread softly on the earth.
The first designs, sketches and even samples are never going to look like the final product. But, as Cass explains, “that’s normal for the process—it always takes time and refinements. I knew we’d nail it eventually!"
The leap of faith for Dani was more than just entering a new product category; it was creating a sandal that she knew she would personally wear. At first, she wasn’t sure if the design would click, but when she finally held the sandal sample in her hands and tried it on, she immediately knew it was something special. “I didn’t want to take it off!"
This moment of certainty was crucial—it meant the Lochie Sandal was ready to be shared with our customers. It was a big turning point in the process, and helped solidify Dani’s instinct that a sandal would be right at home in our Merry Family.
The Sandal
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about the behind the scenes production and design process that has gone into our brand-new Lochie Sandal.
We’re so excited that Lochie is ready to go out into the world! Ready for pre-order now, Lochie’s your new summer sole-mate that comes in four merry colours: Bright Olive, Clay, Peach, and Black.
