Röhma Motorsport

“It’s like a pair of eyes. You’re looking at the umlaut, and it’s looking at you.”

So said Spin̈al Tap frontman David St. Hubbins when asked why his band’s name featured the decorative didactic. But while the heavy metal umlaut may not have inspired this brand, it’s in part why it caught our eye.

Röhma Motorsport is the brainchild of Anthony Hope and Hing Yeung, two footwear designers. And not just any footwear. Anthony ran his own BMX apparel brand before moving on to Adidas and Nike. Hing, meanwhile, also worked at Adidas, then went on to design for Reebok, Puma, Vision Street Wear and Airwalk, plus Piloti where he was a creative director.

A good background for a company that makes rally boots and pit crew shoes. A background that benefits the leather sourcing, manufacturing, and overall design, too. But more intriguing—to us, at least—is that neither Anthony nor Hing come explicitly from an automotive background beyond working with their certain clientele.

We’ll be the first to admit, the car scene can be a little myopic at times. Enthusiasts are the backbone, but when that enthusiasm comes at the expense of other interests, it dulls the overall experience. Thanks to the context of its co-founders’ backgrounds, Röhma products have a different type of visual interest, while the brand itself takes on a mien normally reserved for BMX and skate culture rather than the automotive.

And that’s a good thing. Röhma shoes aren’t just gear, they’re a reflection of the wearer’s perspective. An attitude of “let’s do the wrong thing, but in the right way.” That’s what gave Red Sox Nation its Yankees Suck t-shirts—and the Röhma Oh Shit sticker that inspired this whole write-up.