It’s no secret that microtrends have been plentiful in recent years. While many come and many go, you never know when one’s about to stick. Finding a place in wardrobes all over the world and even carving out its own category in stores, Balletcore has progressed from online fad, to mainstream aesthetic. Coupled with the return of indie sleaze, we’ve regressed to wearing ballet flats and wired earphones in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, the women’s footwear market has been experiencing a growing appetite for footwear that doesn’t just answer to trends, but comfortability too. Part sneaker, part ballet flat, JD Sports’ latest exclusive adidas Samba Jane sits right at the intersection where Balletcore, Y2K nostalgia and comfort are colliding. Here’s why it resonates in rotations so well today.
The Balletcore boom
Balletcore first entered the chat in Q3 of 2022 and has remained a constant in the women’s fashion conversation ever since. Pirouetting its way from luxury collections to Instagram moodboards, it's brought ribbons and lace to just about everything: apparel, accessories and of course, sneakers too. What started out as an online-first microtrend has grown into a mainstream aesthetic, with #balletcore having amassed one billion views on TikTok alone. And it’s all only projected to grow more.
But this style code has done more than put satin and pastel pink shoes on our feet. This continued interest in Balletcore has facilitated a growing demand for women’s sneakers as a whole. In recent years, women’s-specific releases have experienced consistently unprecedented levels of hype to the point where it’s no longer unusual for one to be a SOTY contender. Women’s sneakers remain some of the most anticipated drops of the year, including JD Sports-stocked collaborations like the Molly-Mae x adidas collection which saw the British influencer curate the adidas Samba and Superstar II.
Fashion history repeats itself
Keeping in mind that fashion history repeats itself, it checks out that sneakerinas are back on the market today. A long observed rule of thumb, recently backed by research from Northwestern University asserts that fashion trends repeat roughly every 20 years. It’s not just nostalgia that has the fashion girls in slimmer jeans, pea coats and ballet flats, it’s mathematical.
Right on cue, it was also two decades ago that sneakerinas were first being introduced into product offerings. A few years after the turn of the millennium, brands like adidas had the inspired idea to transform their most popular unisex silhouettes into ballet iterations for the women’s market. And they were some of the best to do it, too. Their Sleek Series, which saw the inception of the Superstar Ballerina – and many others – remains some of adidas’ most elusive vintage product in existence.
adidas has been revisiting its tried and true formula to create silhouettes like the Samba Jane. Balancing the daintiness of a ballet flat with the wearability of the Samba, adidas once again expertly crafted a feminine take on a Three Stripes terrace staple. The result is a design that carries the sportiness of the Samba, with the femininity of a laceless, Mary Jane get-up.
Not just a pretty shoe
Lately, the women’s consumer is no longer purely concerned with looks when hunting down their next pair of shoes. Just check any sneaker review comment section and you’ll find the highest volume of queries asks one key question: “But are they comfy?”. In this era, footwear needs to be versatile enough to be styled across dress codes and also be able to take you on a casual hot girl walk, to a spontaneous 10k-step walk with friends. That’s a non-negotiable.
This might be where the true broader shift has occurred in the market. Not only do sneakerinas cater to a more feminine style of dressing, they also tick boxes in the comfortability department too. By not asking consumers to compromise, the style inadvertently solves the combination of needs from those shopping in the women’s sneaker section.
adidas and JD Sports has more to come on the sneakerina front too. The next silhouette to take centre stage is known as the adidas Anfu – a retro-inspired, ballet-infused, low profile design which is out now via JD Sports Australia
