CAPEZIO history

In 1920, a teenager named Ben Sommers also joined the firm.

He was a Capezio salesman in 1923 who filled one of his first orders when he provided shoes for the dancers in “The Ziegfeld Follies” of that year.

In 1933, the company debuted a new ballet slipper it called the Teknik.

American fashion designer Claire McCardell showed her 1941 clothing collection accompanied by Capezio shoes.

The Russian-born Balanchine established New York City Ballet in 1948, and he was the leading teacher of ballet toe work.

1949: Capezio fashions are featured on the cover of Vogue.

Capezio started a charitable arm, the Capezio Foundation, in 1953.

1957 Capezio president Ben Sommers established the Capezio Award, a "lifetime achievements in Dance" award presented at an annual ceremony,

The company began to contract with factories abroad to make its less labor-intensive lines. Its toe shoes sold for about $60 a pair, up from $7.50 in 1960.

She married Ben Sommers in 1961 and eventually ran the retail side of the business.

Capezio sold its fashion footwear subsidiary in 1966, the same year in which the company found itself in financial trouble.

1972: The company's sales volume begins to rise sharply.

He also founded the Assn. of American Dance Companies and led the 1978 drive that established a National Dance Week.

Estelle Sommers died in 1994.

1999: The company forms a European joint venture with Norwich Dancewear Ltd.