Beyoncé has made them part of her “Cowboy Carter” wardrobe, Katie Holmes has taken them for a spin in her New York street style, and Gwyneth Paltrow has put them in two of her Goop stores.
Launched in L.A. in 2023, Partlow is experiencing rapid growth in its first year with made-in-Italy cowboy boots. Founder sisters Kasey Lemkin and Lawren Sample have elevated the American classic to the realm of luxury footwear, with styles in supple, vegetable-dyed calfskin with padded insoles and walkable heels, $895 to $2595.
The brand has exceeded launch projections by 50 percent, is on a seven figure run rate in its first year of business, and tracking a 60 percent sales increase from Q4 to Q1.
The well-connected female founders are hitting the social set from Newport Beach to Houston, and on their way to building a new American luxury leather goods brand with shades of 1990s success story Lambertson Truex.
Before Partlow, Sample worked as a celebrity stylist in L.A for 20 years with Christina Hendricks, Mariah Carey, and other clients, while Lemkin was a fashion merchandiser.
The past few months the designers have been hoofing it, selling the brand at trunk shows at private homes and boutiques in L.A., Montecito, Newport Beach, Dallas, Houston, Aspen, Locust Valley, Greenwich and beyond, and through Neiman Marcus and Ssense, both of which have placed replenishment orders.
They just debuted their first new category — belts — on Moda Operandi this week, and have been picked up by Saks Fifth Avenue for pre-fall.
The brand launched in August with six core boot styles named after the designers’ friends and women they admire, including the chestnut leather with ombre stitching Christina after Hendricks, the black leather with suede tuxedo stripe Jordana after Jordana Brewster, and the vintage-inspired croc accented Whitney after entrepreneur and former Bumble chief executive officer Whitney Herd.
They added shorter ankle boots in suede with a higher 3-inch heel, and for fall will have over-the-knee boots as well.
“Our customers keep coming back because for the design and the style,” Lemkin said during a joint interview with her sister Thursday at Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills, where they were for a client lunch, following a dinner at the Chateau Marmont the night before hosted by their good friend Tina Craig to celebrate the spring collection with Hendricks, Rocky Barnes, Langley Fox Hemingway, Bailee Madison and others.
“When we first started getting our numbers back, it had been two weeks, and 30% of our customers had already come back to buy a second or third pair. I thought it was a typo,” she said, adding that Partlow is growing so fast, they are working to keep up with supply.
The sisters’ high-fashion personal styles underscore how they are elevating the cowboy boot beyond Western wear. Lemkin is wearing the brand’s black suede Leigh Ann ankle boots in a clean, modern way with a Louis Vuitton moto jacket and a Sacai white mini skirt, while Sample is wearing them in white with a more boho eclectic Stella McCartney floral print maxi skirt.
“Lawren and I have always worn cowboy boots. We have pictures of us wearing our little red cowboy boots on tricycles from when we were children,” said Lemkin. “And in L.A., we’d always wear them, but we could never quite find the right style and wanted something a bit more modern. When we actually put pen to paper on it, we realized we should go to Italy, where they have the best leather craftsmanship.”
They sought out the softest leather, and used riding boots for inspiration, rounding the toe a bit to make the look more refined.
They also had comfort in mind, but didn’t want to shout about it necessarily.
“It’s our hidden weapon in a way…we wanted something that we could wear on set all day or walking around but not to tell people exactly…because comfort is not exactly synonymous with chic,” Lemkin laughed. The secret is the softer leather, and light padding in the footbed.
To get the word out about Partlow, they’ve been tapping into affluent regional communities (Lemkin now lives in Dallas, and Sample is in L.A.), relying on digital marketing and department stores.
“They’ve been great at facilitating getting our name out and reaching different clientele. There’s a woman here at Neiman Marcus this morning from Capri who came in and bought a pair of our boots, and now our boots are going to Capri!” said Sample, adding that international expansion is on the horizon, too. “There’s definitely a want for in Paris with everything being Texas and Americana…When we first had our samples, we were going through the Paris airport to Italy and three chic Parisian women stopped us…we said ‘oh yeah, this is going to work’,” Sample laughed.
The “Cowboy Carter” effect has created a lot of excitement around boots recently, they said, and their customers and friends are looking forward to the country music themed Stagecoach Festival later this month in Indio, California this year more than ever. “They used to not be able to give away tickets and now it’s all anyone is talking about it,” said Lemkin.
Their goal with the brand, however, is to transcend trend.
“We want to create a new category of shoes. We love cowboy boots, and we didn’t understand why people weren’t wearing them more often,” said Sample. “We want to create a staple that you would reach for in your closet on a regular basis.”
