Ballet shoes that now come in shades of tan and brown for Black and Asian dancers have been released in the UK for the first time

Originally made in white and dominantly produced in pink, ballet pointe shoes are now being made to cater for Asian and Black skin tones. According to an article in Independent.co.uk, women of colour would have to paint pointe shoes to match their skin tones through a process called 'pancaking' involves applying foundation or powder to the shoes. 

"But now dancers won’t have to spend time on the matching process - as dance shoe design and manufacturing company Freed of London has begun selling pointe shoes in bronze and brown in partnership with dance company Ballet Black," writes Chelsea Ritschell in the article. 

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It's been roughly 200 years since the ballet shoe was invented, and up until this point, ballet dancers of colour have had to dye their shoes to match their skin tones. In a NyTimes.com article written by Alex Marshall, dancer Cira Robinson explains that she would go through five tubes of dye a week, sponging it onto 12 to 15 pairs of shoes and spending 45 minutes making sure the foundation covered every bit of ribbon on each shoe. 

Now she and other dancers of colour don't need to go through the expensive and tedious task.

Watch below: the process of dying pointes