Tools in a runner’s recovery arsenal may include a foam roller, compression boots or a massage gun.
Roll Recovery — a Boulder, Colo.-based company that makes those very items, as well as an analog massage contraption that looks something like an elaborate bench vise — is making the case that your shoes should be another one of those instruments.
Fourteen years after it was founded by Jeremy Nelson, a mechanical engineer and husband to professional marathoner Adriana Nelson, Roll entered the footwear market this year with a lineup of the SuperPlush Slides, SuperPlush FlipFlop and Super SuperPlush Classic, a slip-on with a knit upper. All three are named for the proprietary engineered footbed made from Bloom foam, a sustainable mix of algae and EVA.
“We noticed there’s been so much emphasis on performance footwear,” Nelson said on a call earlier in August with Footwear News. “We see so many athletes wearing $250 performance shoes, they get done with their workout, and then they’re slipping on, like $10 sandals.”
is a great business to be in right now, too, as a report from Fact.MR put the total market at $16.21 billion in 2024 and projected it to hit $28.76 billion by the end of 2034. Shoe giants including Nike and Hoka are ramping up their efforts in the space with new models, but Roll starts with the first word in “recovery footwear” rather than the second.
Roll Recovery’s SuperPlush FlipFlop.
The process to offer runners something better began roughly six or seven years ago, Nelson said he’s almost embarrassed to admit. Creating shoes was an even bigger undertaking than he and his team expected, from both a financial and production standpoint.
Particularly tricky was the footbed for the slides and flip-flops, originally intended to release in 2024, which is manufactured with a press mold rather than an injection mold. The former process is far more time-consuming and costly— a factory may produce 80 pairs a day using press molding, whereas it could do thousands in the same time using injection.
But the payoff is in the level of precision that can be rendered, allowing Roll to create a dual-density footbed with more dense sidewall for support (the SuperPlush Classic’s sole is one density). It conforms more accurately to the original mold rather than billowing out past the true proportions. The orthotic pattern making contact with the foot, as well as the branding, just wouldn’t be as detailed otherwise. Another brand might add a separate insole to hide such flaws, but Roll’s full footbed comes out of the mold finished to Nelson’s high standards from training as an engineer.
“As far as we know, talking with people in the industry, we don’t know anyone that’s ever done a press mold where both the top and bottom are finished,” Nelson said.
Among those he’s spoken with are two mentors of sorts at Crocs, the headquarters of which is just a 15-mile drive away from Roll’s in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, who’ve said they’ve been begging for such material innovation from their own company.
After the footbed is done, it’s attached to the strap, which comes out of a more traditional injection mold. The final products on offer now are phase, and for phase two Roll will replace the foam strap with suede coverings akin to a Birkenstock sandal releasing later this year. Using velcro fastenings, wearers can dial in the fit better while getting the style factor and premium sensibilities of suede.
Nelson isn’t shy about teasing developments coming even further down the line. Also in the pipeline is a laced version of the slip-on for the first quarter of 2026 and an adjustable flip-flop that may very well end up as Roll’s most innovative footwear development. Footwear News was shown a prototype of the latter, which brings a tech aesthetic and functionality to flip-flops novel enough for Roll to currently be looking into applying for a patent.
The footbed is the body of mass around which all these impending models will orbit, and Roll sees it as something it can keep on the market for a decade with minimal changes.
Roll Recovery SuperPlus Classic slip-on.
In addition to its direct-to-consumer sales, Roll is slowly starting to creep into specialty retail as well. Both Fleet Feet and Road Runner Sports have committed to rolling out the footwear in roughly 10 of their store locations, and the vendor has been chipping away at mom-and-pop retailers as well.
This year’s Bolder Boulder, the Memorial Day 10K with the fifth-highest participation of any race in the world, marked Roll’s first activation, and Nelson said it impressed with both runners and outsiders who just happened to stop through the exhibition on the city’s pedestrian mall.
From the more macro perspective, the Roll founder said there hasn’t been any pushback on its higher price points, running from $45 for flip-flops up to $110 for the slip-ons.
In October and November, Roll will have a presence at two of the U.S.’s world major marathons, Chicago and New York City. It’ll then head to San Antonio in December for The Running Event, which will offer opportunity to expand its retail presence.
Nelson sees it as crucial to get in front of customers and retail buyers so they can see the difference in what it’s offering. “Online, it’s hard to tell,” he said. “It really comes down to us explaining that and marketing it. I do feel a huge difference between this and, say, an Oofos or some other recovery footwear.”