Nothing brings customers into your store like new products, and there’s no better place to find them than a trade show. That’s why retailers were excited by the launch of MODE Market in Atlanta, Georgia, this January, which featured a carefully curated mix of market leaders and boutique brands. DRN walked the show—five innovations stood out.
The Heels Have It
Heels dancing is hot, and so is BLOCH’s Allure—a new commercial-dance shoe that hits all the marks. Available in both black and silver, it has a four-inch heel, a mesh upper reinforced with cross-hatched leather for stability, and a leather sole that won’t mark marley floors. This shoe is an excellent way for dance retailers to get in on a hot dance trend with a company whose quality they know and trust.
Cross-Training = Cross-Sales
Gaynor Minden expanded its range of Beyond the Barre training aids with six new products. Their new therapy balls, massagers, and balancers are targeted to dancers’ requirements. According to Eliza Gaynor Minden, dancers are doing more and more cross-training, and this is their way of meeting that need. For Eliza, this is all part of Gaynor Minden’s mission to keep dancers safe, and to help them meet the physical demands of today’s athletic choreography.
For retailers, this is a great opportunity to help customers be healthier athletes. Why not try creating a training-product corner in your store? You could also run demonstration videos on a tablet and keep a sample of each product out for your customers to try. The extra sales will be well worth the investment.
Innovation in Fabrics
At MODE, Ballet Rosa launched a new line of leotards made with active compression fabric. The fabric in their new Vitalité collection delivers therapeutic-level compression that supports core muscles and promotes better blood flow for shorter warm-up times and faster recovery. Currently the line features color-blocked styles, but due to high demand from retailers, Luis Guimãraes, Ballet Rosa’s co-founder, is planning to add all-black options to the line.
How dancers will respond to compression fabric remains to be seen, but if it works it could be a game-changing product for retailers.
To Help Your Dancers Recover
Paige and Kunal Moudgil, from the Pointepeople, have created a recovery sneaker for dancers. Marketed under the new brand name Ance, this shoe features a wide toe-box to let the foot spread out after being jammed into dance shoes. It also has a cooling insert that you can slip into the top of the shoe to reduce inflammation at the toes and bunions.
Dancers who have tested the shoe have found that it really helps their recovery. Zimmi Coker, from the American Ballet Theatre, says that “symptoms of plantar fasciitis have significantly reduced since I started wearing Ance sneakers.”
The shoe is available for preorder and will ship to stores in early April.
Pointe Shoes Reimagined
The biggest buzz at MODE was around Suffolk’s new Camber pointe shoe collection. For it, Mark Suffolk has completely rethought the shape of a pointe shoe’s shank. By looking at cutaways of broken-in pointe shoes, Suffolk realized that the shank actually had a slight double curve, or camber.
After much trial-and-error and testing, Suffolk created a shank that matches the ergonomics of the foot on pointe. According to Suffolk, the resulting shoe “feels worn in, not worn out.” It’s a shoe for dancers at all levels but could be especially good for beginners who struggle to get on their block.
It’s wonderful to see that even in challenging times, dance suppliers have the courage to be innovative. We retailers should follow their lead. Take a look at these new products and decide what fits in your store. Innovation and new products are what will keep customers coming into your store, especially in tough times.
Gilbert Russell is a seasoned dancewear retailer who helps independent stores thrive through his book “Retail AI Unleashed,” coaching programs, speaking engagements, and weekly newsletter.