Capezio and Bloch Vow to Release Wider Range of Shades in Dancewear and Shoes

Capezio and other dancewear companies are vowing to release more inclusive skintones in their clothing lines.

A petition was created by members of the dance community, urging Capezio to create more clothing and shoe options for people of color. The petition received over 300,000 signatures.

"Dancers of color are often told to obtain brown pointe ballet shoes (the hard-toed lace-up shoes you probably associate with ballet), and not the traditional pink," the petition reads. "But few manufacturers make brown pointe shoes - not only is there very little diversity in ballet itself, but what exacerbates the issue is that there is often zero diversity in shoe shades. If you don't fit the one shade of shoe color, you automatically feel like you don't belong."

After the petition began gaining traction, Capezio CEO Michael Terlizzi released a statement on Facebook, saying that the brand vows to release darker shades of its most popular pointe shoes in Fall 2020.

"We have heard the message of our local dance community who want pointe shoes that reflect the color of their skin, and now will offer our two most popular pointe shoe styles as an in stock item available worldwide, Fall of 2020 in darker shades," Terlizzi said.

Bloch, an Australian dancewear company, also released a statement promising to release darker shades in the fall.

"We are fully committed to following through with these plans and confirm we will be introducing darker shades into our Pointe shoes and Blochsox range in Fall this year, with further product announcements to follow," the statement read.