The shoe designer Phil LaDuca has established a comfortable niche for himself as Broadway’s Gucci, the creator of dance shoes that are famous for hugging the foot and promoting a long leg line. Over his nine years in the business, his shoes have been worn by performers in some 200 Broadway musicals. Dancer Jill Paice, from “White Christmas,” is fitted for shoes.

Mr. LaDuca, 46, who started out as a dancer, attributes his transition to shoe designer to a slipped disk, a leap of faith and the investment of $40,000, his life’s savings from dancing. While recovering from his injury in Vienna in 2000, Mr. LaDuca contacted a small Italian factory that was willing to create a prototype of the shoe he envisioned, and over the next two years he developed the design for a shoe with a diagonal T-bar linking the toe cap to the ankle strap that has become his signature style. Here, Alicia Rossi, the store manager, handles a large order for the Rockettes.

On Nov. 15, Mr. LaDuca will unveil a line of shoes for ordinary women - shoes that share the comfort and pizzazz that have characterized his work for the stage. The shoes will be sold out of the storefront on Ninth Avenue and 40th Street in Hell’s Kitchen, just opposite the Port Authority Bus Terminal, where Mr. LaDuca used to sell dance shoes.