Welcome to Fit Tip Friday, our new monthly column where pointe shoe fitters share their go-to advice. After sharing his first Fit Tip Friday piece in January, on removing padding and accessories for a better fit, Misfitters’ Casey Noble returns to reveal how a fresh pair of a dancer’s current shoes can provide essential information on the direction a fitting should go. —Emily May, Editor, Dance Retailer News.
I do this thing in fittings where I’ll pull a fresh pair of whatever shoe a dancer is already wearing. One of my old bosses told me it was unnecessary, but it helps me see why a previous fitter did what they did. Maybe it was a good shoe when it was fresh, the dancer’s feet changed, the dead pairs are just old and worn in a strange way, or even customized versions of shoes that look completely different from stock. Or maybe it was a bad fit to start with. You never really know until you look at everything together. Pulling a fresh pair provides an extra layer of information that you can use when evaluating which direction to take a fitting.
Former dancer Casey Noble is a pointe shoe fitter based in New York City. After cutting his teeth working for Bloch and Capezio, he founded Misfitters pointe shoe consultancy in 2023.