Since 2020, French dance and luxury brand Repetto has been without its former brick-and-mortar retail presence in New York City. Now, “we want to be back in the U.S. market,” says Apolline Quennehen, the company’s area manager for America; Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA); and Australia. Repetto already made some initial moves at the end of last year, from partnering with New York City dance studio Dance Workshop to being stocked at Printemps’ Wall Street location from March 2025, with more plans on the horizon. DRN caught up with the brand to find out what’s driving, and what’s next for, its stateside comeback.
A Legacy of Dance and Craft
Repetto’s fashion shoes, bags, clothing, and accessories are among its bestsellers today. Yet, the brand is keen to communicate its roots as a dance-first company. “When we opened in 1947, Rose Repetto created a pointe shoe workshop,” says Quennehen. She explains that they only began producing everyday footwear when Brigitte Bardot, then a dancer at the Paris Conservatoire, asked Repetto to make her a pair of city shoes as comfortable as her pointe shoes. Today, 80 percent of Repetto’s footwear is still crafted in its French workshop using the company’s trademark “stitch-and-return” method: Shoes are sewn inside out and then turned right-side out, resulting in their signature softness.
“Everything we develop is really dance-related,” Quennehen says. Across both dancewear and lifestyle lines, colors, shape, design, and materials—such as tulle and satin—are chosen to reflect what they describe as the femininity and softness of ballet. While their product offerings align with the enduring balletcore trend that many brands have embraced, Repetto distinguishes itself from others who have more recently hopped on the trend. “This isn’t something we just invented,” says Quennehen. “It’s truly been part of our heritage from the beginning.” This is reflected in their stores. “When you enter a Repetto flagship, you truly feel like you’re at the Opéra de Paris. And all of our windows reference dance, not [everyday] shoes.”
Dance Workshop—Repetto’s New York City Home
While Repetto hasn’t yet opened its own flagship store in the U.S., it has partnered with former celebrity stylist and Dance Workshop co-director Nanci Grasso. A selection of Repetto’s dance and activewear products—including T-shirts, sweatshirts, legwarmers, warming boots, bags, skirts, and tutus—is already available at the dance studio’s new Manhattan location on East 60th Street, which opened in September 2025. Over time, the goal is to expand the range of Repetto products, including pointe shoes, and Grasso recently received training from Repetto’s master fitter at its Paris store. “What an experience!” she says.
“[Grasso’s] the only person to have those categories here in New York,” says Quennehen. “The location [of her new studio] is perfect for us,” she adds, referencing Dance Workshop’s proximity to French nonprofit L’Alliance New York and the renowned French restaurant Le Bilboquet.
Dance Workshop doesn’t only boast exclusive Repetto products: Being owned neither by a distributor nor Repetto itself makes Dance Workshop the only establishment in the world to feature window displays designed by Repetto’s France-based team. “It’s an amazing savoir-faire that we’ve been doing for many years now,” says Quennehen, explaining that the displays at Dance Workshop will change seasonally. Already, “the feedback in New York has been tremendous,” says Grasso. “It’s become a tourist attraction, and brought so much joy to the community. I know how people feel because [the Repetto windows in Paris] stole my heart the first time I saw them in my early 20s.” The Repetto windows have created some confusion too. “[Dance Workshop] is running around 200 classes a week, but people are coming in and asking, ‘This is a boutique, right?,’ ” says Grasso. “I’m like, ‘Well, sort of!’”
Upcoming Collaborations Set to Make Waves
Aside from its work with Dance Workshop, Repetto has two major collaborations on the horizon. “One with an amazing, trend-forward brand,” says Quennehen, comparing the project to partnerships they’ve recently had with Jacquemus, Comme des Garçons, and Marine Serre. The other, launching in February, will be U.S.-focused. While it centers on Repetto’s fashion-shoe line, it will feature a celebrity and have a strong link with the dance and artistic scene.
“The celebrity just loves Repetto, and this [collaboration] came out of the fact she wanted to do something with dance,” says Quennehen. “Every time we work with celebrities or press, it’s really because they have a link with dance or the artistic scene.”
While we’ll have to wait for the full reveal, 2026 already promises to be a big year for Repetto on both sides of the Atlantic.
Emily May is the editor of Dance Retailer News.