The required dance shoe is sold out. What do I do?

What to do

1. Check the brand's own website before declaring it sold out everywhere. Retailers (DancewearCorner, Discount Dance, Amazon) sell out before the brand does. If the costume sheet says Capezio 550 Caramel, go to capezio.com first. Bloch shoes: blochworld.com. So Danca: sodanca.com. Brand direct often has sizes and colorways that distributors exhausted weeks earlier.
2. While you are on the brand's site, figure out whether the shoe is truly discontinued or just out of stock, because the two call for completely different moves. If the model is gone from the catalog entirely or flagged discontinued, no restock is coming and every hour spent hunting it is wasted. A shoe still listed, just sold out in your size, will usually come back. When it is genuinely discontinued, stop searching and go to the director first, because for a recital or team number the whole group has to move to a new shoe together, and that is the studio's call to coordinate, not something you solve one family at a time. The studio team uniform reorder playbook covers the same dynamic from the uniform side, including the don't-chase-the-old-colorway-on-marketplace warning, and is the right pattern to apply here.
3. Call the studio director before substituting anything. This is the most important step. Some studios accept a size-up in the same colorway, others require the exact model number. Some studios have a studio-owned backup supply for exactly this situation. Some have already pre-ordered the shoes through a vendor and haven't told parents. One call takes two minutes and is the right first move.
4. If the brand website is also sold out: search by the exact model number (not just the name) at every dance retailer you can find. Capezio and Bloch products are distributed through dozens of regional dance retailers that don't always appear on the first page of Google. Search for the model number (like 'Capezio 550 Caramel size 4.5 M') and expand beyond the top 3 to 4 sites you'd normally check.
5. Phone local dance stores directly, because their floor stock almost never shows online. A regional dancewear shop can have your exact Capezio 550 Caramel sitting on a shelf while every website reads Out of Stock, since small stores rarely sync their physical inventory to a live web catalog. Call the dance shops within driving distance, give them the model number and size, and ask them to check the back room, not just their site. When recital is two weeks out, a pair you can pick up today or have shipped overnight beats any online restock that is four to eight weeks away.
6. Before you settle for a different model, check whether the same shoe in the size just above or below yours is still in stock, because keeping the exact model, color, and heel and bridging a half size of fit usually beats a perfect-fitting substitute that reads different from the stage. For one recital, a character or tap shoe a half size large is danceable with a heel grip and a slightly thicker tight, and a ballet or jazz slipper a touch big can be snugged with its drawstring or elastic. The direction that does not work is too small, since a cramped shoe cannot be stretched in two weeks and hurts her on stage. Clear the adjacent size with the studio the same way you would any change, and size up rather than down when it is the only pair you can get in time.
7. If a substitute is permitted by the studio: match every detail listed on the costume sheet. Heel height first. Color name second: 'tan,' 'caramel,' 'suntan,' and 'nude' are four different products, and the what does flesh or nude mean on a dance shoe requirement decoder names which shade label maps to which on-stage skin-tone match by brand so a substitute does not stand out under the lights. Closure style third: T-strap, Oxford lace, or Mary Jane strap are all different silhouettes. A shoe that's close is not the same as a shoe that matches. When 20 dancers are on stage together, one different-heeled shoe reads from the audience.
8. Ask the teacher about a production or group order. If multiple families are facing the same out-of-stock situation, the studio may be able to place a studio bulk order directly with the brand or a regional distributor. This sometimes unlocks inventory that isn't available to individual retail buyers, especially late in the season.
9. Order early next season. The right time to buy recital shoes is immediately after the costume sheet arrives. Costume sheets usually arrive 10 to 14 weeks before recital. At that lead time, required shoes are almost always in stock. The out-of-stock problem is almost entirely a timing problem.