Although we would always suggest the child gets used to a pair of shoes, dancers have worn them straight from the box to the stage. Due to their flexibility, we expect durability to be slightly less than normal heavy shoes. It’s impossible to put a time span on the life of the shoe, but we would recommend changing after 12 months whether or not the shoes are still fitting.
We recommend you order a half size down from the dancer’s shoe size, possibly a full size if you want them tight. The tighter you fit them, the more chance of them stretching out the back and over the heel. Although, we have strengthened the heel with a pop out material to guard against this as much as possible.