Why Has the Pointe Shoe Been So Resistant to Change? - Dance Magazine

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Why Has the Pointe Shoe Been So Resistant to Change?

Kyra Laubacher

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June 15, 2026

Pointe shoes have looked and functioned about the same since the early 20th century: typically satin-covered, with fortified insoles and boxes made from fabric, paper, and paste. Few designs have strayed too far from this basic look and structure, despite huge advances in technology and sports medicine. Why has the pointe shoe been so resistant to change?

The process of designing a new shoe and thoroughly integrating it into the market is complex and costly. Pointe shoe manufacturing—which requires a delicate balance of science and aesthetics—runs the tortoise’s race. And ballet is an art form bound by tradition, with limited financial resources to support forward-thinking change.

But that hasn’t stopped artists and artisans from trying. And recently, some manufacturers have made waves with nontraditional designs that incorporate very 21st-century technologies.

Thinking Outside the Box

How have pointe shoes evolved over the past few decades? Most changes have involved small adjustments—tweaks to paste recipes, or to box or platform shapes to accommodate different types of feet. But since the 1990s, a few players have ventured into less-traditional territory.

Gaynor Minden was the first shoe on the market to innovate with synthetic ingredients, introducing its polymer shanks and boxes in 1993. Brands including Bloch, F.R. Duval, and Nikolay have since created hybrid shoes combining traditional and alternative materials, and Sansha introduced interchangeable shanks in 2006, a concept Só Dança later adopted. Beloved science educator William “Bill” Nye even patented his own model in 2005 after meeting dancers who’d sustained pointe-related injuries. Manufacturers have often cited injury prevention, as well as increased longevity, as upsides to their synthetic models.

Recently, some manufacturers have begun to use new technologies to even more radically reimagine the pointe shoe. In 2023, the German company act’ble released a 3-D-printed and knit shoe, act’Pointe. The shoe features a scored sole made from a rubber-like elastomer and a compressive “skin” that covers the entire foot. Sophia Lindner, act’ble’s founder, explains that the aim is to meet dancers’ needs by using functional materials that are standard in other athletics. “For a very long time, we didn’t ask how a shoe might look if it were constructed from a blank page, with the knowledge and technology of sports and medicine we have today,” she says. “Dancers are taught to make everything look a certain way. There has been innovation in ballet, but always in a small angle, and in a very rigid system.”

Dancer Anastasiya Didenko modeling the act’Pointe. Courtesy act’ble.

The act’Pointe 3-D-printed and knit shoe. Courtesy act’ble.

Act’ble founder Sophia Lindner. Photo by Carol Lancelloti, Courtesy act’ble.

Look the Part

No matter how comfortable or functional, unconventional shoe designs tend to be a hard sell in the ballet community—often because they look different, featuring nontraditional materials or shapes. Expert fitter Mary Carpenter emphasizes the importance of aesthetics: “In ballet, it has to be beautiful.” That’s why, she says, hybrid models tend to have more success in the market than fully synthetic shoes. Lindner says that traditional aesthetics has been one of act’Pointes’ biggest hurdles.

Expert fitter Riley Thomas Weber adds that many people believe synthetic shanks limit control and “pop” dancers on pointe. He explains that that’s often because of fitting errors; most dancers need softer alternative shanks than expected. “If it wasn’t for those errors, and the taboo-ness, I think a lot more people would be wearing them,” he says.

Tough Crowd

Sometimes resistance to shoe innovation is dancer-driven. Pacific Northwest Ballet production stage manager Sandy Barrack reports that none of the company’s dancers wear shoes with synthetic material, even though PNB has no policy prohibiting them. She says that some past company dancers wore Gaynor Mindens as students, but then switched to traditional shoes when they turned pro. “It was almost like they felt like, ‘If I’m going to be a professional ballerina, I have to wear a Freed or a Freed-like shoe,’ ” she says. Plus, she adds, company­ dancers often become attached to their preferred shoes. If they aren’t exposed to alternative options as young dancers, chances are they won’t pursue them as professionals.

Much of the time, however, hesitance about new pointe shoe styles trickles down from the top. Directors or educators often encourage—or mandate—their own preferences, sometimes mistrusting technology they’ve not tried themselves. “Resistance to change,” Weber says, “usually comes from the person at the front of the room.” Lindner has heard from several...