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Pointe in the Right Direction

If you’re a dancer, chances are that you’ve had a difficult time trying to find vegan (or at the least non-leather) dance shoes, especially when it comes to ballet slippers and pointe shoes. Though both often contain little leather, any amount is troublesome to most vegans.

 

I remember searching a few years ago and finding only one company based in Australia, called Vegan Wares, but it seems that they no longer carry the ballet slippers. If you’re interested in other shoes, however, they do carry a variety of women’s and men’s shoes and accessories. I attempted to visit their contact page, but that mysteriously wouldn’t load (nor would the direct link to the ballet slippers I found on a vegetarian/vegan forum).

 

However, there are actually a few companies with options now. I’ll first mention Grishko, a world-renown dancewear brand that is trusted by many. They don’t seem to have the vegan options on their actual site (though you may be able to contact them directly to inquire about custom-made slippers), but there is a UK-based site called Alternative Stores which sells the slippers for 20 pounds each, available in pink, white, and black canvas and satin.

 

Next is a shoe that was designed by the Cynthia King dance studio in Brooklyn, New York. It has been featured in various publications and seems to be favored by many and if you happen to be a student at the studio, you get a 15% discount, though I imagine you are already aware of the shoes and probably have a pair if you are such a student. Currently, the slippers are only available in pink canvas (that has a look similar to satin), but there is a note on the site which mentions they can easily be dyed.

 

Finally, American Dance sells a slipper at their online store that is made of ultrasuede. The shoe claims to be durable and is only available in pink. I’m guessing this particular shoe is probably not very-easily dyed, due to the material, but I could be wrong.

 

There are probably more options out there (possibly locally from companies that do not have online stores), but this will at least give dancers a place to start. Unfortunately, I also didn’t have much luck locating pointe shoes. It seems that Grishko only offers pointe shoes with leather soles and the other two sources I mentioned above only have vegan slippers as well. Perhaps it is time to contact these companies and get some feedback on the subject. I think I’ll do that and report in a future blog, potentially with personal reviews of some of the slippers as well.

 

Keep dancing like someone IS watching,

 

A Satiny, Soulful Vegan

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