Jessica Rich is finding power in slowing things down. The women’s footwear designer known for red carpet-ready heels is preparing to launch her fall 2025 two-part collection “The Power Drop” in strategic waves, which spotlight one shoe a week, beginning with the skin-tight Empire Boot on Friday.

Over the course of five weeks, the weekly shoe releases will build anticipation for customers and feature storytelling around each singular style. With pricing set between $200 and $375, the shoes will be available for preorder only. Part two of the collection will come later in the fall season.

Rich found that putting out 12 or six styles at once when she hit retail stores might have overwhelmed her customers, so she’s returning to the slower pace of her early days when she first launched her brand.

“Going back and just restrategizing, I personally like the slower release, and I think that was really my DNA,” Rich told WWD sibling publication FN in an interview ahead of the first drop. “And I’m just trying to bring it back to what my customers really like. They liked having a story around one item. They love to get obsessed with one piece and move on to the next.”

While Rich isn’t historically the biggest fan of boots, she eventually realized she needed a versatile pair in her own wardrobe — and she knew her customers were eager for her to introduce a boot. Enter the over-the-knee Empire Boot, which she likened to a pair of leggings. The black leather style, boasting a pointed toe and stiletto heel, makes a statement with bold white accents providing a stark color contrast.

“I want to have something that goes with everything,” she said. “And I want something that’s not over-the-top super, super trendy, just a staple that you can have. And with this new mold that I opened up with a white side and the white sole underneath it, that’s what makes it different.”

She continued to explain what makes the style special: “It’s very flexible, it can stay up on your legs — so people have bigger legs and calves, it stays up, it’s tight. And it’s just powerful, it’s definitely a statement boot. And you can dress it up, you can dress it down.”

The Empire Boot can also be found in a shorter calf-height style in the collection.

Through “The Power Drop” collection, Rich is delving further into print, colors and material exploration — think green leopard, for instance. A mesh mule heel, in another example, features delicate embroidery on the upper. The Soho Pump, offered in bold silver and gold as well as versatile black and beige options, features clear trim accenting the upper, hinting to the signature PVC look Jessica Rich is known for. Customers can also look forward to caged booties offered in metallic options and more colors.

In an ever-changing industry of passing trends and circulating fashion, Rich remains her authentic self and lets that guide her.

“I’ve never really paid attention too much to trends, because I’m so used to setting trends and letting that be the direction for me,” she said. “Trends can come in and out of style, and sometimes things come back. But I just stay true to what I feel like I like, and what I think that girls need in their closet. I want to be a forever brand.”

Launching her namesake label in 2017, Jessica Rich went on to win the Emerging Talent award at the 2022 Footwear News Achievement Awards. She also found success through a collaboration with Steve Madden, which launched in 2024; she counts Madden and Karl Kani as influential mentors along her fashion career.

A range of celebrities have embraced Rich’s brand, including Jennifer Lopez, Kylie Jenner and Heidi Klum, to name a few.

“There’s so many girls who really support Jessica Rich,” the designer said. “And I think it’s not only just because my designs are great. I think just me as a woman and what I stand for — empowerment. My story is different. I’m not a European designer, I’m a U.S. designer. And I think women love supporting women.”

Rich reflected on what it means to her to be an African American female designer in the industry.

“At first, it was very challenging, only because I feel like people didn’t take me too seriously in the beginning,” she said of her journey. “They may have thought maybe it’s a one hit wonder, or maybe she had a little bit of luck.”

She continued, “But after doing it over and over and over, and it’s another celebrity, another celebrity. And actually, okay, Jessica Rich is a real designer — I finally got the stamp of approval that I needed in the industry. And I feel like, was it hard? It wasn’t that it was hard. It was more so, why do I have to go through this? Your skin tone should not matter when it comes to who you are and what you’re good at. But it’s also a blessing — I’m setting the tone, I’m setting the bar. I’m opening a new trajectory for people out there to have confidence to try.”