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. You can find out more about him in this DRN article.