Professional ballerinas spend $100 for each pair of pointe shoes, and they only last 3 days — why can’t they be made to last longer?

Question

Professional ballerinas spend $100 for each pair of pointe shoes, and they only last 3 days — why can’t they be made to last longer?

In: Engineering

Answer 1

If you have ever held a pointe shoe you would understand why. They are extremely light weight, have flex in certain directions, rigidity in others, and are covered in satin.

Lets say you made the shoe out of something like light weight carbon fiber and managed to acheive the support and performance of a standard pointe shoe. It’s still going to be covered in satin and look like complete and utter shit after a couple of performances.

” Edit: my daughter’s pointe shoe after 1 performance – [https://imgur.com/a/Fpr986o](https://imgur.com/a/Fpr986o)

After 3 performances they are still ok for practice, but not for being on stage”