Grishko Pointe Shoe Fitting Guide
How to measure your forefoot for choosing the right pair of GRISHKO ballet pointe shoes. Due to the nature of Pointe Work you will need to be fitted in store by one of our professional fitters.
To know your size put a sheet of paper on the floor, place your foot on it in a strictly perpendicular way leaning yourself steadily on both feet, and mark the foot outline with a pencil. Take a rule and measure the distance between the most protruding point of the heel and that of the first or second toe. Find the corresponding figure in mm in our table and thus determine your size.
| Foot lenght in mm | GRISHKO size | Casual footwear size |
|---|---|---|
| 195-200 | 0.5 | 31 |
| 200-205 | 1 | 31.5 |
| 205-210 | 1.5 | 32 |
| 210-215 | 2 | 33 |
| 215-220 | 2.5 | 34 |
| 220-225 | 3 | 34.5 |
| 225-230 | 3.5 | 35 |
| 230-235 | 4 | 36 |
| 235-240 | 4.5 | 37 |
| 240-245 | 5 | 37.5 |
| 245-250 | 5.5 | 38 |
| 250-255 | 6 | 39 |
| 255-260 | 6.5 | 40 |
| 260-265 | 7 | 40.5 |
| 265-270 | 7.5 | 41 |
| 270-275 | 8 | 42 |
| 275-280 | 8.5 | 43 |
| 280-285 | 9 | 43.5 |
Width: In order that the pointe shoe could fit your foot perfectly, the Grishko Ltd. manufactures ballet pointe shoes in a variety of 5 widths in each size. If you try on a pair of pointe shoes for the first time and do not know the right width, ask your teacher for advice or choose a medium width. Please have in mind that the foot sweat stretches the shoe fabric while dancing. Thus, in a couple of hours the pointe shoe will take the form of your forefoot.
There are five width options of the Grishko pointe shoe models:
x - very narrow
xx - narrow
xxx - medium
xxxx - wide
xxxxx - very wide
Shank: The dancer chooses the needed shank for comfort while dancing, so that the insole would support securely the foot arch. The shank upholds the “working heel” of the insole when the dancer is standing on pointe, gives more flexibility, assures easy transition from pointe to demi pointe and vice versa, ets. The hardness of the shank has no influence on the longevity of the pointe shoe. The choice of the right shank is always a very individual matter. In order to choose the needed shank, you should rather ask your ballet teacher.
There are five shank options of the Grishko pointe shoe models:
SS - super soft shank
S - soft shank
M - medium shank
H - hard shank
SH - super hard shank
The main shanks (degree of the insole curve between the widest part of the foot and its heel) are S (soft), M (medium) and H (hard). The additional shanks used in Grishko pointe shoe models are SS (super soft) and SH (super hard).
