Ballet pump sales surge, mesh hugely popular

The ballet pump trend seems to be heating up with fashion sales website Love The Sales saying this week that search demand for ballet flats has increased by a staggering 808% over the last 12 months.

The category is seeing over 2,000 searches a month and the retailer saw the item’s biggest uplift of this year as recently as August.

And ‘naked’ shoes are also intersecting with the trend. Following on from a strong summer for this shoe type, AW23 looks likely to see a repeat of that with see-through, or mesh ballet flats retaining their appeal. That’s despite expectations that the onset of cooler weather might have dampened interest in them. 

Overall, Love The Sales said searches for ballet pumps have increased 10-fold lately and they’re now the fourth most popular footwear category behind trainers, sandals and boots.

Ballet pumps and mesh shoes have been favourites on international runways and the style has also filtered through to the high street at both a premium and mass-market level.

The versatility of the shoes is likely to be part of their appeal as they blend well with multiple trends. They can be as subtle or high-impact as the consumer chooses, either merging seamlessly with the quiet luxury trend or giving an early signal of what party season 23 might look like when trimmed in diamanté.