Insights From Luis Guimaraes and Filipa Cunha
Ballet Rosa’s Eye Towards Sustainability and Inclusivity
By Madison Huizinga, DWC Blog Editor
Photo courtesy of balletrosa.com
In a market where consumers can be overwhelmed with options: details matter. Paying attention to who is making the products, who the products are designed for, and who is presenting them are key elements to center on for a dancewear brand to carry out an impactful vision. Ballet Rosa Co-Founder Luis Guimaraes and Marketing Communications Specialist Filipa Cunha go through their efforts with a fine-tooth comb, striving to provide customers with quality, artistic dancewear made with care.
The true backbone of Ballet Rosa is a team with an infatuation with dance. For example, Filipa danced from ages 6 to 18 before attending college to study Communication. “I always knew I wanted to do something later with dance,” she shares about her career aspirations. After earning her master’s degree in fashion and communication, Filipa got the chance to work with Ballet Rosa. Thrilled to combine her interests of dance, communication, and fashion, Filipa jumped on the opportunity.
Luis was born and raised in Portugal, where the company is based. His wife is a dancer, which is part of how he got exposed to dance, to begin with. “I started dancing socially,” he shares. Given his exposure to dance and background as a material technician, Luis saw an opportunity to tap into the dancewear market, beginning with producing private labels for some dancewear companies. While working for private labels, Luis started designing products in addition to utilizing his understanding of the materials.
After some time, in 2010, Luis and his partner chose to venture into making their own collection. “For that purpose, we decided to bring aboard certain personalities,” Luis shares, including Isabelle Ciaravola of the Paris Opera Ballet. “We take a lot of pride in having her with us,” Luis says.
Ballet Rosa’s first fashion collection was largely inspired by the artistry of the fashion world and the rigor of the dance world combined. The creators sought to produce products that satisfied dancers’ needs, thus they took care to take dancers’ views into consideration. Luis explains how the team created a close dialogue with dancers. “I found that I could translate that [dance] language into materials,” Luis proudly shares.
After the 2010 launch, Luis describes feeling slightly fearful, as the brand wasn’t gaining many customers at first. What later helped Ballet Rosa take off was attending trade shows and allowing customers to get to know the team. However, Luis explains that when Ballet Rosa had its first interviews for a TV channel around 2013, the team really thought “oh, we’re doing something here.” Up until then, Luis and the rest of the Ballet Rosa team were driven by a desire to create new things, it wasn’t as clear what kind of impact the company could have.
Filipa believes that part of what sets Ballet Rosa apart as a dancewear company is the feedback that it considers from dancers, as well as the authentic artistry the brand possesses. “Everything is very carefully made by our seamstresses and the production team at our factory,” she shares of Ballet Rosa’s handmade dancewear.
Filipa says that it comes across that the products are made with love, as the seamstresses on the team have a clear and communicated passion for what they do. From his prior experience in the textile industry, Luis has grown to dislike the model of an assembly line. He shares that at Ballet Rosa, the team “cuts each garment by hand.”
In addition, under the leadership of Luis, Filipa says that Ballet Rosa is always looking for ways to innovate and break barriers as a company with its products. “I think that’s what makes our brand and our products unique,” she shares.
“The team that we have is incredible,” Luis stresses. “The people are at the core of how unique the product[s] [are].” One of the first team-bonding activities the Ballet Rosa staff did as a group was to dance together to cultivate a deeper understanding of and connection to the products they were creating. “We worked with a group of choreographers,” Luis says, stressing how large-scale the event was. “I think this was a huge moment for the company,” Luis says proudly. “The people who were a part of that are still working with us.”
Luis explains that extensive research often goes into creating Ballet Rosa’s lines. He draws much of his inspiration from classic art pieces in museums, holding an appreciation for art made during the Renaissance period in particular. When collaborating with designers, Luis incorporates these, and other inspirations, into the leotard designs.
“I try to incorporate the modern features of fashion [with] those classic values [of art],” Luis shares, particularly because “romanticism is something which you find throughout dance.”
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Nature has also played a big role in the conception of Ballet Rosa, as the word “rosa” means “rose” in Portuguese. Luis appreciates incorporating that “national touch” into the brand, a recognizable reminder of where home is for him and the company.
Ballet Rosa’s latest 2022 collection was released in January. Luis says that the hallmarks of the collection are fluidity in design and durability in wear. The company is excited to share that it’s introducing a sustainable material to its line, made from recycled fibers. Luis shares that Ballet Rosa plans to add even more sustainable practices to its repertoire moving forward.
A change that Luis hopes to see and help make in the dance industry is more diversity and inclusivity showcased across dancewear brands. He shares that Ballet Rosa is proud to have dancers of many different backgrounds, nationalities, races, and ethnicities showcased across its dancewear catalogs. Luis also shares that it’s important that dancewear brands make an effort to cater to men, sharing that Ballet Rosa is proud to have a whole catalog dedicated exclusively to male dancers. “I put a lot of trust in this new generation that speaks out and communicates about things that are happening. Before we were more silent,” Filipa says of how forward young dancers are about pushing for change in the industry.
“Everybody belongs,” Luis stresses.
