Starting a sustainable dancewear brand

It’s hard to believe that Imperfect Pointes launched on Instagram 5 years ago. It's been an astonishing journey from making those first social posts talking about our plans, to where we are now: building a community and becoming a loved and trusted, recognised dancewear brand. With a mission to do things the right way since the beginning. 

How Imperfect Pointes came about  

Before Imperfect Pointes, I didn’t really have a clue about ballet,  I didn’t know the difference between first and fifth position (not sure I do now either to be fair, lol) but as the mum of a ballet dancing daughter, I knew that I wanted to change some things about the industry my daughter was going into, and I have been constantly learning ever since. 

I was frustrated that, within the multi-million-pound dancewear industry, very few brands were focusing on sustainability. From my point of view, the dancewear industry was largely based on the principles of fast-fashion with high waste and new leotard collections sold online every week. Today, the dance industry contributes a huge amount to landfill.

I found a gap in the market and I decided to go for it. Imperfect Pointes was born. To start with, it was a side hustle, and I was sketching leotards knowing that one day I would turn my designs into reality. Reality came sooner than expected, when, in the first week of the full pandemic lock down, in March 2020, I got made redundant from my marketing job at a global sportswear brand ASICS. Like many people, that milestone of losing my income forced a huge lifestyle change and sent me onto a new path, making ethical dancewear my new career. 

During the lockdown in 2020 all the factories were closed and not making any clothing. There was no way to put any of my ideas into production and even if I could get some leotards made, I didn't have access to dancers, photographers, or a studio. I had to basically build an Instagram brand to raise awareness that Imperfect Pointes was coming.

Why the name Imperfect Pointes? 

I decided on the name Imperfect Pointes because I wanted a new take on a ballet brand. I believe you don’t need to be perfect to do ballet and you don't need to aim for perfection in sustainability either. Aiming for perfection is unattainable. There’s no such thing as a fully sustainable product or brand. You just need to do better and try to make a difference. I was determined to ensure sustainability for Imperfect Pointes means addressing social issues as well as environmental issues. At the time, there was so much in the media about the appalling working conditions in some clothing factories, I knew I had to carefully address traceability and fair conditions for workers in our supply chain.

Our brand values, became the heartbeat of what we are about. I knew that the brand needed to stand for inclusivity and that dancers would be made to feel welcome regardless of their ability, skin colour, body size or gender. Working towards a more open and accepting ballet world, making space for more dancers to enjoy ballet because they feel accepted and seen and ‘good enough’ has always  been the driving force. 

Focus on inclusivity in ballet 

The 'whiteness' and lack of diversity of the ballet industry has always been an issue, and it was something I aimed to tackle head on, starting with Imperfect Pointes brand messages and visuals. It felt great to define the purpose of my own brand, start shaping the culture and look ahead to what ballet dancers I wanted to work with, to show inclusion and representation. Today, we sell many styles and ballet tights in size XL and work with many trans gender dancers. 

After a decade of working in fashion and sportswear, including stints at at Boohoo and Misspap & seeing the darker side of fast fashion this prompted me to deepen my knowledge on sustainability. I wanted to set up my sustainable business properly from the ground up,  I took an intensive course on Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cambridge to increase my expertise. During my studies, I became deeply disturbed by fashion’s wasteful culture. I've always been aware of the impact on the planet that the mountains of throw away, polyester clothes, from my first hand experiences.

As a result, my family has changed its habits around plastic waste and consuming clothing. On the whole, I stopped buying new clothes and shoes over five years ago and mainly buy from charity shops and preloved websites, giving me a love of sustainable styling. 

If we take a look back at those Instagram posts from May 2020 - the messages are still as relevant for the danceworld today as they were then. I am proud that this is how Imperfect Pointes has done things since the start. But as attitudes towards sustainability have shifted - its no longer the headline, its deeply embedded in our range of dancewear products.  

We are proud to have worked with some amazing brands and dancers over our 5 year journey from an activewear Collaboration with Royal Ballet and Opera, to a year long collaboration with Principal Dancer Mayara Magri as well as exciting projects with Biscuit Ballerina and Constance Devernay. We also provide an annual financial assistance scholarship to a day student at Yorkshire Ballet Seminars and we are patrons of Pointe Black, a Black Owned Community Ballet School in London. 

Here's to the next five exciting years of building a stronger, perfectly imperfect community!