Approximately 250,000 pairs of Freed Pointe Shoes are hand made every year.

Every Pointe Shoe Maker makes between 30 and 40 pairs a day.

It takes many months before a Pointe Shoe Maker is fully competent and can produce shoes for stock. However, it takes nearly three years before a maker can expect to get regular special orders from individual dancers. A Pointe Shoe maker may then work for more than 30 years, and most work for Freed until retirement. The last Pointe Shoe Maker that retired from Freed had been making Freed Pointe Shoes for 44 years - over double the average dancers performing life.

A Pointe Shoe Maker needs just 3 tools to do his job: a pair of Long Nosed Pliers, a Smooth Hammer and a Broom Handle.

Freed Pointe Shoes are baked in an oven which reaches temperatures in excess of 160°F (70°C) for over 10 hours. They then need a few more weeks to dry out completely before being worn.

Two thirds of all pointe shoes Freed makes are tailored to individual dancers' specifications.

Names hand written in biro on the sole identifies an individual dancer's shoes.

Pointe Shoes do not come with ribbons sewn on. Getting shoes ready to be worn is a very individual ritual every dancer goes through. Sewing ribbons into the place which suits them, is just one part of this ritual. Dancers also modify their shoes by many other means which may include hitting them with a hammer, holding them over steam, cutting with razor blade, jamming in door hinges and rubbing with alcohol. One American Ballet Theater dancer once described their shoes as "an enemy with a will of its own that must be tamed."

The first pair of Freed Pointe Shoes were made in the basement of 94 St Martin's Lane, Covent Garden, London. The Freed of London Shop is still at this address, and the basement now holds the shop stock.

Freed has 7 different styles of stock pointe shoes, but with over 30 makers, all making pointe shoes slightly differently, and 4 width fitting, hundreds of variations of shoes are in stock at any one time.

Each maker stamps his shoes with his own symbol on the sole. The maker is identified by his symbol for the ordering process, and when a maker leaves his symbol will not be used by a new maker for a number of years. Symbols used today include Anchor, Triangle, Key, Bullshorn, Maltese Cross, various letters of the alphabet and Crown to name just a few.

Freed Pointe Shoes are made using the 'turn-shoe' method, whereby the shoes are made inside out and then turned for shaping, drying and binding. This method was used for making all shoes until the 1870's, however, today's outdoor shoes are made the right side out.

Although the method of making Freed Pointe Shoes hasn't changed, the requirements and specifications needed have never remained static. They have evolved to meet the choreographic needs and the physique and weight of the dancers.

The block of a Pointe Shoe is not made out of wood, as some people think, but from Satin Burlap and layers of tissue paper, paper and hessian, and a paste made from flour, water and a few secret ingredients.

All components and ingredients in a Freed Pointe Shoe are biodegradable.

As Freed Pointe Shoes are made with flour, and flour can harbour small bugs called weevils, the Freed factories are treated once a month as a precaution against insects.

All shoes are built around a last - moulds around which the shoe is shaped. Freed of London own over 8000 lasts. For outdoor shoes a pair of lasts has a left and a right, Pointe Shoe lasts are one shape for both left and right.

Shoes are dated in code by a letter stamped on the sole of the shoe. This aids with stock rotation, and identifies when a returned shoe was made.