Dancewear Solutions

What Dancewear Solutions does

Dancewear Solutions is a direct-to-consumer e-commerce retailer of discount dance apparel, footwear, tights, and accessories, headquartered at 6750 Manchester Avenue in Saint Louis, Missouri, and operating as a subsidiary of Weissman, a long-tenured dancewear company that also runs a separate wholesale platform at Weissmans.com for studio owners and coaches. The storefront sells across multiple categories — leotards, tops, bottoms, dresses, shoes, tights, kids, dance team, gymnastics, performance wear, and accessories — and carries both proprietary in-house brands (Balera, Balera Performance, FlexTek Soft, FlexTek Smooth) and third-party brands (Bloch, Capezio, Bunheads, Mirella, Pastry, Apolla Performance Wear). Underlying technology is a standard e-commerce retail platform with no disclosed proprietary features, APIs, or integrations, supporting unit-priced transactions, free shipping on orders over $45, sitewide promotional discount codes, and a dedicated clearance ("Last Look") channel.

The business model is straightforward unit e-commerce revenue: customers purchase directly through the website for shipment to all 50 U.S. states, with marketing driven by an owned content library (DWS Obsessed blog), email and SMS campaigns, and organic social presence across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, and YouTube. Pricing is set at the SKU level with promotional markdowns as the primary demand lever rather than algorithmic or personalized pricing. The customer base spans individual dancers, parents of dance students, dance teachers, studio owners (routed to the wholesale site), and dance teams, with no disclosed enterprise or anchor contracts. Leadership is headed by CEO and founder Ken Ellingsen; no funding rounds, acquisitions, M&A activity, or leadership transitions beyond the founder relationship are documented in available sources.

Name

Dancewear Solutions

Legal name

Dancewear Solutions

Website

https://dancewearsolutions.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Dancewear Solutions is a Saint Louis-based direct-to-consumer e-commerce retailer of discount dance apparel, shoes, tights, and accessories, owned by Weissman and serving dancers, teachers, and studio customers across all 50 U.S. states.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Dancewear Retail

NAICS

Shoe Retailers (45821), Clothing, Clothing Accessories, Shoe, and Jewelry Retailers (458)

SIC

Retail-Shoe Stores (5661), Retail-Apparel & Accessory Stores (5600)

akta.pro primary industry

Specialty Footwear Retail (Dance, Skate, Cleats, Bowling, etc.) (CRAAADAJ)

Keywords

• Dancewear retail
• Dance apparel
• Ballet costumes
• Dance shoes
• Leotards tights

Headquarters

HQ city

St Louis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Direct E-commerce Sales: Direct-to-consumer online retail of dancewear, dance shoes, tights, and accessories. Customers purchase through the website with orders shipped to the 50 U.S. states. Revenue generated through product sales with promotional discounts.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Dancewear Solutions is an online retailer that sells discounted dancewear, dance shoes, tights, and accessories to individual dancers, students, and parents across the United States. The catalog spans practice wear, performance costumes, team uniforms, kids dancewear, and gymnastics apparel, sourced from a mix of in-house brands (Balera, FlexTek) and third-party brands (Bloch, Capezio, Bunheads, Mirella, Pastry, Apolla). A separate wholesale channel at Weissmans.com is operated by the parent company for studio owners and coaches.

Product overview

Dancewear Solutions is an e-commerce dancewear retailer offering a comprehensive portfolio of discount dance apparel, costumes, shoes, and tights. The platform provides products across multiple categories including leotards, tops, bottoms, dresses, shoes, tights, kids dancewear, dance team gear, gymnastics wear, and performance wear. The company carries both in-house brands (Balera Dancewear, Balera Performance, FlexTek Soft, FlexTek Smooth) and third-party brands (Bloch, Capezio, Bunheads, Mirella, Pastry, Apolla Performance Wear). They also operate Weissman Teacher Site as a separate wholesale platform for studio owners and coaches. The product offering spans practice wear for class, performance costumes for stage, and accessories for dancers of all levels.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Dancewear Solutions Online Store Direct-to-consumer online retail platform selling discounted dance apparel, costumes, shoes, and tights for dancers of all levels across the United States.
• Leotards Dance leotards in camisole, tank/halter, short sleeve, long sleeve, and unitard styles in various materials and designs, for practice and performance.
• Dance Shoes Dance shoes including ballet slippers, pointe shoes, jazz shoes, tap and character shoes, hip-hop sneakers, lyrical and contemporary shoes, and acro and gymnastics shoes.
• Tights Dance tights in convertible, footed, footless and capri, fishnet, stirrup, and body styles, starting at $5.95.
• Kids Dancewear Dance apparel designed for children including leotards, tops, bottoms, dresses, skirts, tutus, unitards, accessories, shoes, and tights.
• Dance Team Apparel Coordinated dance team apparel including leotards, unitards, tops, bottoms, dresses, accessories, and shoes for team uniforms.
• Performance Wear

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• WeissmancoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDancewear Solutions is owned by Weissman, which operates a separate wholesale website (Weissmans.com) for studio owners and coaches. Weissman provides wholesale pricing on exclusive dancewear styles for dance studios.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Amazon: Mass-market e-commerce marketplace stocking numerous dancewear brands including Bloch, Capezio, and Balera. Competes on breadth, Prime shipping, and price, but offers limited specialty guidance for sizing, style matching, and dance-specific fit.
• Lululemon: Large athletic and studio-wear retailer with growing share of dance, yoga, and pilates apparel purchases. Represents an adjacent incumbent whose brand strength and omni-channel presence could pull demand from DWS's premium tier.
• Bloch: Premium international dancewear brand stocked by DWS. Operates its own retail and wholesale globally with focus on ballet pointe shoes, leotards, and footwear, overlapping DWS's specialty dance footwear assortment.
• Capezio: Historic dancewear brand operating its own direct-to-consumer retail alongside wholesale. Sells shoes, leotards, tights and accessories in the same categories DWS carries, but with stronger brand authority and premium positioning.
• Nike: Global athletic footwear and apparel giant with dance-specific sneaker lines (e.g., the "Dance" category) and hip-hop footwear. Competes with DWS in the athletic/dance crossover segment and benefits from enormous scale and marketing.

Others

• Etsy: Marketplace for handmade and boutique dance apparel, costumes, and accessories. Overlaps with DWS in custom and small-batch costume demand, especially for dance teams and competitions, though DWS competes more on standardized inventory and price.
• Weissman: DWS's parent company and operator of the B2B wholesale platform Weissmans.com, serving studio owners and coaches with exclusive styles. Sister/parent entity providing inventory, brand partnerships, and shared back-office scale.

Emerging players

• Mirella: Specialty dancewear brand carried by DWS as a third-party label. Operates its own direct channels for dance shoes and apparel in the same categories as DWS, representing a manufacturer-side peer with overlapping customer base.

Direct peers

• Curtain Call Costumes: Online specialty retailer of dancewear and performance costumes serving dancers, studios, and competition teams. Comparable to DWS in niche positioning, team-uniform offerings, and discount pricing on multi-brand inventory.
• Discount Dance Supply: Direct online dancewear retailer offering discounted apparel, shoes, and accessories to dancers and studios nationwide. Closely competes with DWS on price and assortment across ballet, tap, jazz, and lyrical categories.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/dancewearsolut
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/DancewearSolutions
• Facebookfacebook.com/dancewearsolutions
• Instagraminstagram.com/dancewearsolutions
• TikToktiktok.com/@dancewearsolutions
• Pinterestpinterest.com/dancewearsolutions
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dancewear-shop

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Dancewear Solutions