Fitting Information
 | For a pointe shoe to be perfect for you it must feel like it is made for you. The form, function, feel and of course the visual appeal must be just right. Our inventive fitting system lets every dancer customise their experience. No special orders are required for a dancer to feel that her pointe shoe has been professionally fitted and customised for her. You get to determine SEVEN aspects of your shoe: model, length, width, box, shank, vamp and heel.
Remember the important facts about our shoe: 1. Our shanks and boxes don't soften. With this in mind, be sure you love the pliability of your shoes when they are new because it will not change over time or with use. 2. Our satin hardly stretches at all - allow a little extra length (6mm pinch at the drawstring casing when en pointe). 3. Remember that Gaynor Minden is a unique quality product. So if you are new to our shoes, or if your current fit could be better, try Gaynor Mindens without toe pads. Starting a fitting without pads allows for a much more supportive fit, and once this is achieved most dancers find they don't need them at all because the linings are already cushioned. If you have found the best fit but still want a little extra cushion, try the box liner from our fitting kit.
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From The Designer
 | 'The Gaynor Minden pointe shoe grew from my love and personal experience of ballet. As an ardent amateur I realized that sore toes did not make me a better dancer, and as the daughter of a ballet school founder I knew that pointe shoe frustration was widespread. I saw many dancers discouraged and distracted by their pointe shoe problems, and many sidelined by injury.' 'Later, as an administrator, I struggled to pay for pointe shoes only to see them worn out after just one show. Non-profit dance companies, always in need of money, are further impoverished by the pointe shoe’s lack of durability, as are dancers themselves. And then, there was the noise. As a balletomane, I deplore clomping pointe shoes; they undermine the music and the ballerina’s lovely illusion of effortless grace.' 'Borrowing my brother’s bandsaw I cut open traditional pointe shoes and found cardboard, paste, burlap, little nails, and even newspaper inside. From sports I knew that modernized equipment makes all the difference in the comfort, safety, and enjoyment of physical activity. As a longtime skier, sailor, and windsurfer I had personally benefitted from such improvements. Why then were dancers — the most elite athletes of all — still using such antiquated shoes? Can you imagine a tennis champion using a small nineteenth century wooden racquet in the name of tradition? And it’s not just athletes who benefit from technology. Other artists enjoy the advantages of progress in countless ways : from painters’ vivid pigments to photographers’ lenses to pianos that can stay in tune for a whole concert— why not dancers, too?' 'Putting my outrage into action, I quit my job to focus on developing a better pointe shoe. I was fortunate that my family’s business, which manufactures energy efficient lighting components, had made me familiar with injection molding and unafraid of big machines. I researched the materials that had revolutionized modern athletic equipment, but found few that lent themselves to pointe shoes. Creating the Gaynor Minden proved to be far more complex than merely substituting any old plastic shank for the cardboard one—nor was it just a matter of covering an athletic shoe in pink satin.' |
 | 'Ultimately, I recruited scores of professional dancers, ballet teachers, and dance medicine experts in New York, and made countless prototypes. I tested the shoes on a variety of floor surfaces, in different climates, on dancers of different sizes, weights, foot types, and levels of ability. A flex test machine simulated 100,000 releves to guarantee the durability of the shank. Finally, in 1993, after eight years of testing and research, Gaynor Minden made its debut.'
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