ILSE JACOBSEN

seaside town of Hornbæk on Denmark's north coast, a place where residents deal with rain and sunshine in the same afternoon as a matter of course. That environment shaped the brand's entire approach: clothing and footwear built to handle unpredictable weather without looking like it. The idea reportedly started when Ilse noticed a woman navigating a rainy day in heels, elegant but clearly fighting the weather rather than working with it, and set out to design rainwear and shoes that didn't force that trade-off. The brand has since grown into a genuinely international name, sold across nearly 30 countries, though it's still headquartered in Hornbæk. Ilse Jacobsen passed away in 2022, and the company continues under the design philosophy she built the brand on.

The Tulip: An Eco-Conscious Signature Shoe

The collection's core product is the Tulip, a slip-on sneaker-flat hybrid built without glue, using recycled microfiber uppers and a natural rubber sole instead. Skipping adhesive construction isn't just an environmental choice, it also tends to make the shoe more flexible underfoot from the start, since there's no rigid glued bond restricting how the sole moves with the foot. The Tulip 4271 Kit and Tulip 4273 Falcon represent the brand's more structured, platform-style versions, while the Tulip 139 Black and Tulip 3074 Falcon White lean into the classic low-top perforated sneaker silhouette the brand is best known for.

Danish Design, Built for Real Weather

Scandinavian design generally gets credit for being clean and understated, but Ilse Jacobsen's version of that is functional first. The shoes are meant to actually work through rain, damp pavement, and shifting temperatures, not just look good in dry weather. That's a different design brief than most fashion-forward sneaker brands work from, and it shows in details like the rubber sole compound and the perforated uppers that let moisture escape rather than trap it.

Versatile Enough to Wear With Almost Anything

The low-profile, sneaker-flat shape of the Tulip works with jeans, dresses, or work pants without looking like a mismatch, which is part of why the style has stuck around largely unchanged since it was introduced. It sits in a different category than a performance running shoe or a purely fashion sneaker, closer to an everyday flat that happens to have sneaker-level comfort and flexibility.

Fit and Sizing

Because the Tulip skips traditional glued construction, the fit tends to feel closer to a flexible slipper than a structured sneaker from the first wear, with less break-in time than a typical leather or synthetic shoe. Most customers find true-to-size works well, though the perforated styles run slightly more open through the upper than the solid colorways.

A Few Things Worth Knowing

• The glue-free rubber sole construction is genuinely more eco-conscious than standard sneaker manufacturing, not just a marketing claim

• Perforated styles are better suited to damp conditions and airflow, while solid uppers offer a bit more coverage in colder weather

• Free 2-3 day priority shipping applies across our women's sneakers collection

Related Collections

Shop All Ilse Jacobsen · Women's Sneakers · Women's Slip Ons · Women's Waterproof · All Women's Footwear