Written by: --Angel, the PS4Y Staff Note to the Reader: This article is intended to entertain, teach, and provide some food-for-thought for those individuals curious about the people who make pointes. And although I have only visited the Angelo Luzio factory and not the other 30 or so makers out there in the world(some day..some day..!), there are only small differences in the machines used or methods by the cobblers. Angelo Luzio currently adopted a second method of making their pointes as well, so I was able to understand two of the most common methods. Keep in mind this article is about Angelo Luzio Ltd. specifically; and it's order of operations can also be used as a model for nearly any pointe maker, minus a few extraneous details about their history. Every dancewear maker has unique beginnings. On August 22nd, 2001, I was giving the priviledge of an in-depth tour of the Angelo Luzio factory in Montréal, Canada. As the Founder of a research organization such as PointeShoes4You, I knew that I couldn't pass the opportunity up to learn more about the pointe making trade. The more I know and see, the more valuable information I can pass on to you, the Reader. I must admit that before this trip, I had never visited a cobbler and had no idea of what to expect. Casually using pointes and then giving or throwing them away makes for a pretty cavalier attitude in a dancer about their shoes. I'm especially bad about that, personally. I just took it for granted that these pretty pink pointe shoes magically dropped off an assembly line somewhere in the world and they helped me do what I love. I didn't care HOW they worked or WHO designed them-just that when they were dead I thought, "oh dear...what do I do with them? Have a nice little bonfire in my furnace downstairs-or give them to a friend?" I think it is worth mentioning to the Reader what a wonderful correspondant Antonella Pagano has been. Antonella is in charge of Promotion and Advertising. She is Cecile Mele's assistant, the Marketing Manager for Angelo Luzio and has been there since day one with me, always answering my questions-or harrassing Luigi for me directly when she doesn't know herself. If you write to Angelo Luzio using the email address off their company site, chances are Antonella will be the one to reply. I interviewed Luigi Luzio about his business and the philosophy behind the designs. He stated that, We don't make anything 'original.' We copy what we see about a dancer's body and reflect this in our shoes." This philosophy explains the differences between the many models of pointe shoes available through the company. In the past however, Angelo Luzio, Ltd.'s ambition wasn't into designing so much as production. The evolution of a dancewear company can be confounding to a novice researcher looking for answers. And it is worth mentioning here briefly because 1. we literally stumbled across information and 2. I believe it is not apparent to the everyday dancer or retailer just how intricate the production and shipping process can be over country boundaries. Two months before the tour in July of 2001, we found a pair of pointes sold on EBay and pictures of the inner and outer sole stamps read, "Capezio by Angelo Luzio." As you can imagine, this initiated a scramble to learn about both company's histories. Curiosity sparks initiative, sometimes. It was an accidental find worth investigating. I took the bull by the horns and just asked both companies. An interview on 7/18/01 with Paul Terlizzi of Capezio confirmed this shoe's origins. Luigi Luzio also confirmed this antique pointe's history. Click Here to learn more. Until this discovery I had never heard of one dancewear company making a product for another. Then again, I didn't know very much at all when I first started this site! So, I suppose I'm in my own evolution of sorts. It was a remarkable thing to learn about and with my tour of Angelo Luzio approaching, I grew more appreciative of all that goes into making dancewear. Appreciation is not quite the word I would chose now, though. More like....awe. The hard work and tireless concentration that goes into making one pair of pointe shoes is unbelievable. Someone can show you pictures of a place and yet you still cannot understand how complex a process is. Or fine tuned to perfection. I could show you pictures of the inside of the factory floor, but you wouldn't be able to trace the progression of a shoe as it's made in a straight visible line from table to table. The Angelo Luzio factory is a maze divided into 4 sections encompassed by a two story building. 1. the office area as you walk in, and upstairs 2. the pointe making area 3. the fabric cutting, assembly, and where all the other Angelo Luzio shoes are made 4. the shipping ramp and stock area The whole process starts at the fabric cutting station. A machine operator uses metal cookie-cutter-like shapes to get the exact shape desired out of a material. This requires a machine that can stamp the cookie-cutter through whatever material is being used. 
 This cutting machine had the potential to cause serious accidents in the past but pointe makers are becoming much more safety conscious. There are attachments that are placed on the machines when possible, to make sure operator's hands aren't damaged in any way. The fabric is stamped out and marked according to their sizes and various uses. The people that put these fabric pieces together collect these piles every so often and then pass them along to the next step in processing. Seams will be added, lace holes stamped out, tougher material will be "skived" or shaved off where appropriate for more comfort to the dancer's foot. For pointe shoes, the lining material must be attached and the back and side seams be put together for a perfect fit. A typical pointe shoe has six pieces of material sewn together to form what is called the "shell" or "upper." 
After these six (or nine) pieces are joined, the upper is then taken to someone to attach the drawstring seam around the upper edge. I was amazed at how fast the machine used for this certain step is. About five seconds is all it takes to attach a working and totally adjustable drawstring to a pointe shoe! For me to take a picture of it was useless. You blink and it's done.
Shells are stacked in trays (as seen in the picture to the right) according to size and special order status and then taken to the finishing cobblers. These pointe cobblers that will turn those flaps of fabric into a pointe shoe you'd recognize. Luckily for me, Angelo Luzio doesn't use some top secret formula for their box paste. Below is Luigi Luzio showing off his "Peanut Butter" in a bowl. 
Luigi explained that the flour and water mixture they use on the boxes has the consistancy of peaunut butter, therefore the nickname. I got the honour of sniffing the peanut butter. Smelled like raw dough to me. A Word About Materials: While Angelo Luzio only uses natural starches and products in their shoes, other companies spend millions of dollars on research for the perfect box hardener and/or shank materials. Some like Gamba have invented pastes that are water resistant, while others use plastic heat molded plastic boxes and disregard the old methods completely. See High Tech Vs. Tradional for a more indepth discussion. 
A cobbler wraps the fabric around the last, inserts the inner sole and shank under the foot area, then pleats and nails the inner lining down into shape. The satin is kept pulled up and away for the hardening layers to be added. The shoe is then passed onto another cobbler whose job is to mold the box.  Special cut out pieces of fabric (WHAT kind it is, I don't have a clue!) are dipped in glue and then placed in graduated layers around the box. To the left, you can see a cobbler holding up a piece of this fabric and then dipping it in the glue mixture.
Angelo Luzio uses a particular method of marking with a pencil on the lining material, four horizontal lines across the width of the box. I enquired about this and Luigi explained the lines were necessary to make sure each box was exactly alike. Four pieces of this box material are used in one pointe shoe. The first one goes all the way up to the top part of the box near the drawstring and then folds over and around the platform. The next layer is about quarter inch below that and so on for the next two layers. The end result is a pointe shoe with a harder tip and a box with graduated strength. Each maker is different in their boxing method and how many layers they use. This is just how Angelo Luzio does their pointes. It bears repeating here about the choice of materials that pointe makers dabble with trying to make the "perfect pointe" in their minds. Burlap, canvas, newspaper, tissue paper, and other things are all used by pointe makers in the box. The shoe is allowed to dry for an hour after which, the cobbler pulls the satin over the box, securing it to the shank with nails in tight uniform pleats. The shoe is then smoothed out with a polished hammer to get rid of wrinkles. The picture below, in which Luigi is showing the bottom of a pointe shoe in his hand, you can see what the shoe looks like at this stage in production. The cobbler next glues, nails, or stitches the bottom sole onto the shoe. Each maker has their own method and reason for how they choose to do this. No matter if glue or stitches or both are used, nearly every maker uses finishing nails to completely secure the sole onto the shoe. These nails help keep everything together while the layers of glue harden.
After the shoes are completely dry, the lasts are gently removed. The before the shoes are packaged to be shipped out, the cloth insoles are glued in 
And finally, those beautiful pointe shoes are put in their boxes and sent out all over the world to retailers.
New Pointe Model for Angelo Luzio in Fall 2002! Luigi Luzio developed the concept for the TS model as well as their new anatomical model due out in the Fall of 2002. It's production number is 30Z, or as it's stamp on the outer sole states: N30. The name is still under debate. This new model is anatomical and meant to fit closer to the Right and Left foot of a dancer, therefore eliminating a great deal of pain in the breaking in process and saves time I was told about this new model even before my tour. Developing an idea can take months or possibly years for a pointe shoe. Especially when you're constructing an anatomical shoe whose initial concept is still so new and untried in a wide open market. This brings problems to both the pointe makers, retailers, and the dancers. Terminology for starters. When Antonella told me the new shoe was "anatomical," I automatically substituted "asymetrical" in my mind for what she told me. These words can mean different things for different people. Besides that, I thought to myself, "Didn't Repetto make a so-called asymetrical pointe shoe with a Left and Right??" Yes, Repettto DOES (correction: DID. Repetto discontinued the #205 model in 2000) have a pointe model that is asymetrical and has a Right and Left. But Repetto's shoes are exactly the same, just with the box and platform a little knocked over to one side. Anatomical is not the same as asymetrical. Luigi went in the opposite direction from Repetto. He designed a shoe that is not "asymetrical" and does not have Right or Left stamped into them--yet it is made to be anatomically correct. Meaning? Both your feet are not exactly the same. Either your Right or Left foot is slightly longer than the other, the toes are slightly different widths, and so are those calluses and bunions on your metatarsals. Luigi's new pointes have a Right or Left, but which one is up to the dancer and what feels most comfortable. You order a pair of these new shoes and take them out of the box. You slip both of them on your feet. Then you take both off and switch them onto the opposite foot. Releve a few times and reverse shoes again. Whichever feels best on that particular foot is the foot that shoe belongs. They are made off the same last and look exactly the same. But one of them has been tweaked a little in the box and length to suit that "Trouble Foot" that always aggrivates you when you break in a new pair of shoes. Therefore, the new shoes don't have to be broken in at all. Point your toes a few times and they're ready for a grueling class.
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This upper consists of two pieces used to make the heels or
"quarters," with the back seam joining them; and the moon shaped piece that covers the box and wing area. The side seam joins the quarters to the box section of the upper. All you see on the outside of a pointe shoe is three pieces of satin. But the inside is a duplicate in a soft linen. Three pieces of satin + three pieces of lining = a six piece upper. Angelo Luzio uses this formula for making their pointes. Some pointe makers don't use six pieces. Some use nine! It completely depends on what the pointe maker's design philosophy is. Those three extra pieces that some makers use are a lining material between the satin and the lining that touches your foot. This inner lining makes the satin easier to work, handle, and sew. To use six pieces is harder than nine because the material slides around so much. Shoes that are made with nine pieces feel different. If you pinch the quarter material in your fingers to separate it from the lining and it feels thick and slightly stiff in your fingers, it has nine. If all you feel is a soft, slippery satin in you fingers, then it has six. They don't look any different on the foot, but the shoe with six pieces let the foot breathe a little more naturally.