How ‘Dirty Dancing’ Catapulted Keds to Success

The FN fashion website has published an article titled How ‘Dirty Dancing’ Catapulted Keds to Success.

The article includes the following passages.

"Dirty Dancing" increased the Keds company's
average revenue growth by ten times

It’s been 30 years since Dirty Dancing hit theaters ... To commemorate the anniversary, Keds is celebrating the moment that had a massive impact on the brand back in 1987 with a special throwback dance class at Tracy Anderson Studio in New York so fans of the film can have their own Jennifer Grey experience. ...

“We all know the iconic scene with her dancing in her white Champions,” said Keds’ chief marketing officer, Emily Culp. “It drove over 10 times the average revenue growth for us [at the time].” She added, “The brand is 101 years old. It’s always been about female empowering and embracing your moxie in fashion.”

And it looks like the [ABC] remake is staying true to its roots. Culp added that the brand has been actively participating in the [ABC] TV movie remake by sending shoes to be featured. “[Those shoes] were a key part of what made Dirty Dancing, and you can see the impact.”

Below are the images that "drove over ten times the average revenue growth" for the Keds company.

Baby being female-empowered by her Keds.

Baby embracing her moxie in fashion.

You can see the impact of the Keds shoes.

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The FN fashion website reports also that Dirty Dancing is one of six times when Keds shoes had a starring role. The other five times are illustrated as follows (click on an image to enlarge it):

Marilyn Monroe wearing Keds Champion sneakers
in the 1952 movie "Clash By Night"

Audrey Hepburn wearing Keds Champion sneakers
in the 1967 move "Two for the Road"

Christina Ricci and Thora Birth wearing Keds Champion sneakers
in the 1955 move "Now and Then"

Leonardo DiCaprio wearing Keds sneakers
in the 2004 movie "The Aviator"

Tiffany Thiesen (on the left) wearing Kids Champion sneakers
in the 1990s television series "Saved by the Bell"

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The movie Dirty Dancing is listed also in another FN article titled Five Iconic Movies Where Shoes Steal the Show.

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An unidentified woman, named Tammy, who has had cerebral palsy (CP) during her whole life, writes a Tumblr blog titled CP Shoes. There she has posted an article about her love for "dirty dancing shoes".

Under the photograph, she writes:

When I was younger, 50s-style white tennis shoes were in -- dirty dancing shoes.

I call them dirty dancing shoes.

And, you could buy them at Wal-Mart for $3.99 a pair. And we’d go and my dad would buy 8 pairs at a time. My brother said, “man, buying shoes for Tammy is like stopping for gas!”

There was one year where I went through 80 pairs of dirty dancing shoes.

I am guessing that the year was 1988 -- the year after Dirty Dancing was released.

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Below is a pair of Converse tennis shoes with Dirty Dancing decorations, on sale at Etsy.