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

The shoes are sacrificial. They are destroyed so the ballerinas destroy their body less. A more robust shoe would either support less/support incorrectly/ weigh more/ destabilize the dancer, harm the dancer more, or would look different and not be acceptable for that difference. Think about the baseball caps for pitchers that were huge and weighed too much, so it messed up their pitching… even if it can save their life, they can’t wear it and perform correctly. Same thing, different athlete.