Anyone who has done ballet long enough to go on pointe knows how much pain goes into such a graceful art. The blood, sweat, and tears are things that I accepted as a part of ballet, not even thinking that there could be a less painful and damaging way to dance. For decades, modern ballerinas have been experiencing the crippling effect of pointe shoes. Not only are their feet covered in blisters and calluses, but the basic anatomy of their feet can change as well. In my personal experience with pointe shoes, my foot shrunk two whole shoe sizes in less than one year. This just goes to show the immense pressure that is put on dancers’ feet, and with a sport where the feet are so important, it is vital to protect them as much as possible.
However, people have not tried to re-imagine the pointe shoe for decades because the only way to make it “more comfortable” is to compromise the structural safety of the shoe. But serial entrepreneur, Kelly Schmutte, decided to instead re-imagine the toe pads that go into the pointe shoes. She recognized that dancers are approaching the problem the wrong way. Instead of adding more padding on certain pressure points in the shoes and that we should add supportive padding where there is no pressure to better distribute weight throughout the shoe.
She says, “The less of your foot in contact with the shoe interior (and the more voids there are within the shoe box), the greater the pressure that accumulates at these high stress points.” The current toe pads, as well as separate accessories designed to pad pressure points, not only reduce the critical ability to feel the shoe and the floor, but also often increase the pressure in those areas.
With her new product, Perfect Fit Shoe Inserts, Schmutte says it is far more effective to take a proactive approach by filling the voids around the pressure points (so as to offload pressure), rather than taking a reactive approach of padding the pressure points. 
These pointe shoe inserts work by using a type of moldable putty that you form around your foot, putting cloth around the putty, and wearing them in your shoes to get the mold of your feet. The goal is that there will be more putty to take up the “empty spaces” in the shoes so that your body’s weight can be more evenly distributed.
What a great idea! Schmutte was able to solve a common (and very painful!) problem by looking at it from a new perspective. My younger sister does pointe, so I often hear about the damage and pain that pointe causes. This is a great idea because it doesn’t compromise the design of the shoe. Thanks for sharing!
Wow! I love this idea! As a dancer who has suffered in pointe shoes for years, I believe there is a huge market for something like this. I remember being told to stuff wool into my shoes to help with the blisters or try gel pads, but nothing ever worked. This idea could revolutionize an industry that has been stagnant for so long. Great post!
Sometimes it’s hard for big picture people to look at details. I love how she focused in on what the problem was, and fixed it by looking at the specifics. Entrepreneurs are known for being involved in everything, but not very many people realize how deeply knowledgeable an entrepreneur has to be in order to be successful and have an idea that will take off. I feel like Kelly Schmutte is a good example of this because she had to know about ballet and even find new solutions to the problem which many tried or thought of fixing but hadn’t.