Freed

Created in 1929 Freed of London perhaps best known for their iconic pointe shoes. Freed shoes are handmade in UK factories and currently Freed supplies 150,000 pairs of pointe shoe to dancers worldwide. Freed pointe shoe are a favorite of professional dancers.

Freed shoes are also biodegradable because they’re made from all natural fibres, and because of that they are very quiet on stage. Pointe shoes from other brands often have plastic in the block are quite noisy on stage in comparison.

Freed employs over 200 people, and about 27 makers  – that’s what we call the employees who make the pointe shoes.The construction of the shoe and the final fit varies from maker to maker. A slight maker will make a shoe that’s slightly more lightweight and more tapered. A maker who’s bigger-set will make a bigger, slightly heavier shoe. That allows us to bespoke make and fit ballerinas perfectly, and the ballet dancers know which maker has made her shoes by way of a stamp on the bottom.  Each maker has their own symbol, which they’re given when they start with us and they’re assigned their ballerinas.