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Our Story
2021 – 2024
My start in Lindy Hop
I've been dancing Lindy Hop for six years. When I started, I danced in a pair of Clarks with a 2-inch block heel and wrecked my knee. That sent me to my instructor at the time, Cat Carriere, who would later become instrumental in developing the Cat Boot with me, and my hunt for a good pair began.
Every pair I ordered online came a full size too big, so I DIY'd my own: I watched Laura Glaess' video on sueding dance shoes and stuck suede onto a pair of flats my mom got me. They weren't supportive, but I was hooked. I moved faster and put less pressure on my joints, but the impact started hurting the bottoms of my feet, enough that I had to sit out after a few songs. Still, once I'd danced on slick soles, I couldn't go back.
In 2024, at a dance festival in France, I tried to make myself buy a pair from a vendor and still couldn't do it. That's when it dawned on me: there's no modern dance brand, nothing like what Gymshark or Lululemon did for their categories, built on function, design, and a buying experience that isn't a chore. I wanted to build that brand.
2024
The MBA and the startup competition
I'd wanted to enter the IMD startup competition from the start. I was intimidated, but I like a challenge and figured I had an edge, having worked in startups my whole career, and I'm competitive. So I went deep: I found the Swing Dance Shoe Hunt Facebook group and asked dancers what they actually wanted in a shoe, sized the dance industry, and reached out to footwear sourcing agents, all while working through my MBA.
I didn't expect to win so completely. There had only ever been two other winners in the competition's history, and I beat out 19 other contestants after rounds of rigorous presentations to win CHF 100,000 (roughly USD $126K / CAD $175K) to start the company.
2025
Building marleys
I incorporated marleys in 2025 and learned the footwear industry from scratch. I didn't have a single contact in the shoe world, so I worked my whole network to find people, learning a little more from every conversation.
I wanted to produce somewhere known for craftsmanship, so I landed in Portugal, where I found a development partner with real experience building functional shoes, someone who'd give me straight, experienced advice.
I worked with a designer on the Ava and designed the Cat Boot myself, solving for real dancer pain points, not fashion. You wouldn't ask a marathon runner to race in canvas shoes, so why ask dancers who spend hours on the floor to wear fashion shoes? Every sample went through rounds of iteration, with Cat sharing her pain points so we could fit her foot, and wider toe lines, while staying comfortable and elegant.
Once we had samples, we ran a fit trial in Toronto with 14 to 15 dancers. We gave everyone three insole options, and about 65% chose the third, so that's the insole in every pair today. We've taken in dancer feedback from day one.
2025
The marleys road show
We took the show on the road, hitting 10 to 11 events across Eastern Canada to show samples and take pre-orders. It was our real proof of concept, and the only proof that counts is whether people were willing to pay. Several did. That's what's kept me going from the start: people believed in marleys when we were this early and this young, and I won't let them down. What they loved most was the comfort from the insole and materials, how soft the leather felt, how slick the soles were, and the fact that the shoes fit a real range of feet, wide feet included.
2026
Where things stand now
In 2026 I raised CAD $222K from the same investor, Thierry Maupile of Eleo Partners, to bring our first inventory to market and expand into the United States. Taking the shoes to events has been the best way to meet pre-order customers in person and learn what's working and who these shoes click for. Now we're scaling those insights to other channels, online and beyond.
Meet the founder
Hi, I'm Ananya
I'm the founder of marleys. I earned my MBA at IMD in Switzerland on a partial merit-based scholarship, graduating top of my class and on the dean's honor list. Before that, I spent six years in e-commerce and digital, improving online experiences for US and Canadian companies, and I completed my undergrad at McGill University in Montreal, double majoring in Economics and German.
I've been dancing for six years now, mostly Lindy Hop with some West Coast Swing and Salsa, and right now I'm learning Rockabilly Jive. I'm so glad you're here.
The community
This part is personal. For a long time I felt like an outsider, surrounded by conventional careers I never resonated with, always pulled toward something more creative.
I found dance while I was reclaiming myself. I'm emotional, artistic, classically trained in music, a former theater kid, and when I started working I'd buried most of that. Dance, alongside the MBA, landed right when I was growing back into myself. The community carried me through it. It saw and celebrated that side of me, and that's why I've always looked for ways to give back. It shapes how we build marleys, and it's a privilege to use my creativity, and the funding behind it, to make something of value for a community I love.