Canvas shoes

[Roseben031]

My DS has worn out his first pair of ballet shoes. They still fit, but when we were putting them on for class on Thursday I realized he's got a large worn out hole under the big toe on one and some places where the folds meet to go under the front sole of the other that are worn through.

 

Is this normal for canvas shoes or do is he just too rough on them to wear canvas? He only has one ballet class a week (he's 6), but he was in the Christmas Ballet so he was in rehearsals as well.

 

His studio sells ballet shoes so I see mostly girls getting new ones, but they've always outgrown them, not worn them out like this.

 

Thanks

[Victoria Leigh]

Hopefully he has worn them out from really working his feet well! I think boys, because they are usually a bit stronger than girls, might wear out shoes faster, but be sure that he is not going outside in those shoes. Nothing like pavement to wear them out very quickly!

[slhogan]

My son wears out canvas shoes (as in toes hanging out the front) about every 3 months. He's 12, though, and dances about 12-15 hours a week. He never wore out a pair before outgrowing them until last year.

[Hillary1]

Roseben031,

I don't think it is terribly unusual. Fortunately, canvas shoes are relatively cheap. If the school charges a lot for them, there are many online retailers. You know the style and size of what he already wears to order more.

[Clara 76]

I was going to say about 3 months. That seems to be the average lifespan for canvas ballet shoes.

[Roseben031]

We got them for classes to start in September, so it sounds like that was normal. I think we may still want to switch to leather anyway because I think it would work better with his wide foot.

[momtofour]

My dd wears out her canvas ones also but not the leather. She is only 7 but she is known to be hard on her street shoes too!

[Roseben031]

My dd wears out her canvas ones also but not the leather. She is only 7 but she is known to be hard on her street shoes too!

 

DS is also really rough on street shoes. He almost never outgrows them before they're worn out, so I guess I shouldn't have been as surprised by that sudden hole in the ballet shoe. He got leather tap shoes this year because of his wide feet and they are wonderful fit wise and wear wise, so I'm hopeful leather ballet ones will at least last til the recital.

 

Am I thinking correctly that they'll adjust to his feet better like the tap shoes? The canvas ones fit pretty snuggly, especially in the width. We ended up taking the little string elastic completely out and they finally were comfortable for him. We had similiar tugging and pulling to get on the old tap shoes, but not the leather.

[Clara 76]

When is the recital and how many hours is he dancing in them each week? (The ballet shoes)

[Roseben031]

He has ballet once a week and the recital is at the end of May. It's more time than he had from when I bought the last shoes and the Christmas Ballet, but he had 3 pieces in the Christmas ballet and he'll only have one ballet piece in the recital.

[Clara 76]

Ah. OK. Leather does stretch and conform to the feet, certainly much better than canvas, but I'm not certain how clean they'll look by recital time.

[drivesallday]

A pair of canvas shoes lasts DD about 3 months. She has 5 hours of ballet technique/week and often another 2-3 hours of rehearsal.