One aspect not well defined in the article is that pointe shoes for professional dancers are tailored items, needing to meet a very specific, individual profile. The shoes that many professional dancers use are hand crafted and heavily customized/made to order for each dancer, who then proceeds to make their own set of adjustments to the delivered shoe: https://www.freedoflondon.com/pointe-shoes/ Ballet is a high precision art form (think playing the violin with your whole body), with different roles/ parts having different requirements for shoes. The shoes are modified to fit each role, some needing a more pliable shoe, and some needing a firmer one. In this case the fact that the shoes can degrade and are able to be tuned/ molded to the need of the current production is a desired trait. However the takeaway is that it's a high precision, variable environment and shoes that can't meet the required operating window aren't useful (either from degradation or design, think tires on a racecar). In regards to newer types of shoes, them being more dependable and longer lasting also makes them less customizable by the dancer - improving their longevity fixes their useful window to a specific operating range. Many of the other arguments are indeed correct - however no product offers the individual tailoring a master craftsman can offer on a platform flexible enough for heavy modding that's better than the current favorites. Some generalizing on my part however IMO this is the crux of the issue in terms of resistance to adoption of new production techniques/ materials

Avery Trufelman does an incredibly well-researched podcast on clothing of all kinds by the name of Articles of Interest. They did a whole show on the pointe shoe. You can check it out here: https://articlesofinterest.substack.com/p/on-pointe

I've seen the pictures of ballerinas' toes -- in this era of 3D printing is there no way to distribute the load up to where the foot widens into the heel?

This is an interesting dynamic with a number of elements in play which might have carry-over to other realms of new technology adoption (or resistance):

- A small and specialised market.

- Numerous gatekeepers, each of whom might exert a veto (dancers, teachers, company directors, etc.).

- Highly subjective judging criteria, with benefits or limitations of alternatives not being evident possibly for a long time.

- A high level of highly-interdependent skills. A dancer's performance literally turns on her shoes, and a whole set of muscle-memory, training, technique, and expectations are based on a familiar product. Changing this is probably anxiety-producing.

- Careers are relatively short, lasting perhaps 10--20 years, rarely longer. Taking big risks on equipment may have low appeal.

Balancing all of this, if there does turn out to be some spectacular advantage to new kit, it's possible that change could happen rapidly. This has been the case elsewhere in the sports world. Shoes for runners, footballers (world or American, take your pick), swimmer's costumes, skiing equipment, etc., have all changed radically over the past 50 years (and were changing well before that). Ballet has strong traditions, but those might well bend.

If you're looking at this from a tech-adoption / tech-rejection / product-management hat, you might consider what the landscapes you're facing or contemplating look like relative to the ballet world, which conditions are similar or different. Small markets might be more resistant to change, though if there's fierce and unambiguous performance differentiation you might have an edge. Vetocracy is a concept gaining awareness in numerous disciplines. Highly-gate-kept or regulated fields tend to advance more slowly. Tightly-coupled systems evolve less quickly than loosely-coupled ones. Long run-times, careers, or organisational viability might allow for greater risk taking, or at least the opportunity for new entrants to launch trying different tools.

While we’re on the topic, on the last year, NPR interviewed an expert who warned of lifelong debilitating injury (pain walking) that dancers developed by going en pointe too young. The woman recommended waiting until 15. But searching for this to share with dancers, I cannot find the interview now. Did NPR retract this?