Our Environmental Initative

We all love items that are newly packaged. Receiving your shopping cart in a nice bag is also really, really nice.

We, at The Ballet Shop, value this immensely. We are also very sensitive to the amount of waste this generates. That has environmental implications.

The environment has always been close to our heart and since opening shop 24 years ago, we have always striven to be really careful with waste packaging.

Ballet shoes, sneakers, leotards, jazz pants – these all come in individual packaging. This protects them from the environmental elements, particularly temperature changes and humidity. You’d be surprised at the tonnes of waste that is generated by one single purchase. If you have three items, that’s three bags. There’s also the shopping bag that goes with it (or the packaging for the items to be posted).

We could order more, new packaging but that would harm the environment. We don’t want that.

If we ask you for your product packaging when leaving the shop, it’s because we repurpose it – we use it for some other item whose packaging has become dirty or damaged. If you don’t need your packaging, please leave it behind so that we can use it for another item that might need it.

For posted items: we use the packaging to insulate from the rain, but we might use a different bag if your product’s own bag has become damaged for any reason. You can also ask us to pack all your items in one single back. That way, we reduce the amount of plastic being sent to you and will dispose of it properly. Or, we might just find another product that badly needs a new bag.

If you find our products in a bag which looks a little strange or unusual, this is why. We will try to mark them as ‘Repackaged’, so that you will know. Polythene bags can become damaged with handling and with the humidity of storage, or dust over time. Therefore, we’ve often changed packaging or reused the shopping bag we give you when you shop. Simple: less waste and a happier mother earth.

We could buy more bags and replace them; but that would harm the environment more. We don’t want that.

We’ve recently decided to reduce prices of some things with damaged packaging, even if the products are – of course – brand new.

If you see products with a different kind of packaging, please know that we have reused someone else’s bag, in order to keep your product safe in storage.