Grishko NYC Brown Ballet Shoes
For those of you who have read our Blog ‘Dancing While Dark‘, you would know that these shoes have been a LONG time coming. In our blog we go into detail about how we were able to find these ballet slippers after searching absolutely everywhere. To cut a long story short, we spent a lot of time customizing an order with Grishko NYC, and were able to procure brown ballet shoes made in Russia by Grishko. We then scoured the internet for brown elastic, and found some from Welch’s Workshop which we use with the Grishko shoes with the underside facing upwards.
So here is the lowdown on the shoes.
These brown ballet shoes are canvas and the quality is high (given the Grishko brand). They are durable and will last for ages. For a top brand ballet slipper, the quality is, thankfully, very much as expected. The sizing DOES seem to run small, so if possible, try on a beige pair to get the sizing, before placing an order with Judy at the NYC flagship store (the ONLY way to order – see our blog). We’ve been using these slippers for a while now, and no real issues.
Now for the drawbacks. Many dancers do prefer top line elastic in place of binding and a drawstring (as per the staple Bloch Pro Elastic S0621L shoes). The Grishko shoes have binding and a drawstring, but that is only a drawback if elastic is your personal preference. Having to source your own brown elastic for the cross over straps is also a pain, as the Welchs elastic is not the nice ribbed ballet elastic you may be accustomed too. The Grishko shoes came with black elastic which we immediately removed of course.
The drawstring on these shoes is also black, so you will need to tuck these into the top of the shoe to avoid it showing and messing up your line.
So overall, the Grishko (Model no 6) canvas ballet shoes are a good slipper. At $33USD however, it is way too over priced – but you are paying for a customized color match here, rather than the quality itself.
As part of our custom order, Grishko also provided us with what they described as a ‘Dark Tan’ slipper (which is not subject to a minimum quantity order). This color is a lot lighter and peachier in real life than has come through on our photos, so you would be better off ordering the Capezio Freeform if you have a caramel or medium hue.
So, our fellow dancers, the journey to perfect ballet slippers (and pointes) continues, and Grishko NYC so far, is definitely leading the way.
