Basics—dress-code leotards, tights and slippers, the foundation of dance merchandise that customers buy repeatedly—can easily be taken for granted. While less glamorous than fashion dancewear, and perhaps less of a revenue generator, basics can play a key role in telling your brand story.
The market for basics is broad: This is the category that can address clients at different stages of their dance lives, or at different levels of interest. Basics can also drive repeat business. You can count on dancers coming in for replacement pieces—often in multiples—as they wear out or grow out of their leos, tights, and slippers. This means healthy inventory turnover.
So how does a store build a strategy to make its basics the go-tos in its dance community? Take a few lessons from these retail and branding experts on how to effectively market basics to keep them on-brand and make sales strong.
Consider Cost
Dancers have many sources for basics, particularly online, which can beat you on price. “You want your basics to be a good value, but you also need to offer a basic at different price points,” says Joy Ellis, owner of Footlights Dance & Theatre Boutique in Frederick, MD. Attitude Dance Boutique, a destination for fashion items and the newest on-trend styles in College Station, TX, is dedicated also to basics. Owner Emily Mayerhoff says they’re focused on providing “for the customers who are more budget-conscious but are still looking for high quality.”
Curate and Brand Your Basics
When you consciously make basics part of your brand story, you give customers a reason to return to your store, and yours alone. So how do you choose the basics lines to stock? A good rule of thumb is to source quality basics from manufacturers your customers know, and price them only slightly lower than your fashion items.
You might carry several tiers of basics: a good and a better, or a better and a best, depending on which brands are your top performers in fashion categories. “Because our boutique focuses more on fashion than basics, it is important that even our basics are fashion-forward,” says Patrice Powell, co-owner with Kelley Descher of Bellissimo Dance Boutique in Franklin, TN. “Our basics can be described as ‘anything but basic.’ Style always influences our choices.”
If you can, add your store name or a private label to the basics you sell, says Georganne Bender of Kizer & Bender retail consultancy. “If the vendor won’t do it for you, then add your own sticker or alter the packaging, so the customer always remembers where they bought that particular item.”
Variations on Studio Themes
How you curate your basics should also be informed by your local dance studios. “We offer lots of choices, but the individual studio teachers determine what they consider ‘basic,’” says Ellis. Even when your store incorporates the dress-code must-haves of nearby studios, that can be a moving target. “In the last few years, tap, jazz, and hip hop have moved away from your classic dancewear into a more casual style of dress,” she adds. “We have seen the market switch to more tops and bottoms or even streetwear.”
A dancer will never be satisfied if she perceives basics as bland or generic. With standard core pieces, “the danger is allowing them to look like what everyone else has,” says Bob Phibbs, CEO of The Retail Doctor, a New York City–based consultancy, and author of the The Retail Doctor blog. “You’ve got to make it look better, different, unique.” Beyond the pieces you choose, thinking about how you characterize your basics collection to a customer—even the words you’d use to describe a basic leo’s winning features—will help achieve this. Bender adds: “We live in a fast-fashion world where updating and changing your product mix is no longer a luxury. It’s mandatory. Stock the most beloved basics, but don’t be afraid to try new renditions of those items. Let customers vote with their dollars.”
A Place for Predictable Dependability
Dependability—for the customer and the retailer—is a key business factor when it comes to basics. Customer loyalty, says Bender, depends on merchandise always being in stock. “Can you imagine your favorite grocery store running out of milk?” she says. “You have to be that dependable to build loyalty.”
To deliver that dependability, seasoned owners look to reliable vendors and manufacturers that they’ve established solid relationships with. “We want vendors we can count on to have supplies when we need them,” says Ellis. “We also look for consistency from year to year, since most studios keep the uniforms pretty much the same. It helps them build their brand.” Mayerhoff, who purchases “well-fitting, well-priced basics from some of our top-selling brands” for her store, says she wants to know that “basics are available to restock frequently, especially during back-to-dance season.”
Turnover vs. Quality
According to Bender, basics should have a higher turn rate than most other categories in the store, because they are needed most often by customers. “Since they are the lifeblood of a category, manufacturers constantly run production,” she says. “Shipments of basics are readily available, so you don’t need to invest in six months’ worth.”
However you should never sacrifice quality just because basics are the most “expendable” apparel items. If you’ve built your reputation on quality, your customers will expect it from every aspect of your business. Once that confidence is lost, it’s very hard and costly to recover.
Merchandising for the Upsell
In addition to devoting an area of the store to basic tights and leos, consider placing some near the cash wrap. Then as customers are checking out, you can ask them if they need basics such as tights; often they’ll remember at that point and stock up on a couple pairs. This tactic presents an opportunity for loyalty clubs, too. “Buy 12 pairs of tights; get the next pair free” offers are still popular with customers. “Shoppers love programs that allow them to earn points toward future purchases,” says Bender. “This will also appeal to people who prefer online shopping.”
Back in 2017, Attitude Dance Boutique introduced their “Ballerina Bundle” for the back-to-dance season. “It’s been a way for us to promote the well-fitting, high-quality designs that we carry, to get new customers into the store and to combat the discount stores or online shopping,” says Mayerhoff. The bundle includes a basic tank leotard, a pair of pink leather ballet shoes and a pair of pink tights for a discounted price. “Almost all customers add a skirt or two, tap shoes, or a bag,” says Mayerhoff. “It has been a great tool for upselling.”
Every dance retailer will have a different point of view about what basics covers, based on a thorough and intimate understanding of her customers and their diverse needs—from entry-point apparel to core wardrobe to studio uniform. But some truths hold the same everywhere: Your basics pieces must tell your brand story, reflecting you and your values—committed to quality, dependable, and always up-to-date. Stay true to your values, and watch your business soar.
Charlotte Barnard is a writer living in New York City who often reports on retail trends, design, and branding.