About Vinyl Boots

Unless we choose to walk around barefoot, there will always be some form of environmental impact in making footwear. Animal hide means sacrificing a soul and the land needed to cultivate them.

On the other hand, plastic takes a long time to decompose - estimated to take a few hundred to thousands of years.

More and more customers have been asking for footwear that does not involve leather. When we first launched Smart Doll back in 2014, some of our shoes had PVC components. However, fake leather tends to start flaking over time which is why I avoid it.

We have been experimenting with vinyl-ification of our leather footwear - a process where we create a vinyl replica using silicone and wax to create a slush cast mold.

We need to make some modifications so that the foot can actually fit inside vinyl boots. For example, boots must have a slit at the back with a hole at the end to prevent the slit from tearing.

But even with the slit at the back of the boots, the vinyl must be cast so that it's on the thin side - or the vinyl won't flex enough to get the foot out of the boot.

The advantage of vinyl boots over leather is that the vinyl can be painted to match your wardrobe if you are a dab hand at craftwork.

Vinyl boots have high upfront development costs, but the long-term costs are less than leather, meaning they cost less (and thus priced less) than their leather counterpart - but most importantly - vinyl boots do not involve the cost of a life.

Reasons not to buy

1. Vinyl is slush casted by human hands so you should expect the possibility of blemishes on the surface such as air bubbles or scuff marks. 
2. Vinyl flash (the unwanted part that is discarded after the casting process) is cut by human hands - if you want clean machine cut edges then this product is not for you.
3. Slits at the back of the boots will tend to leave a gap when worn - check photos to see what I mean - this may bother some people.
4. The boots may feel thin and squishy for some folks, but the vinyl is hard enough to hold the weight of a Smart Doll.
5. While vinyl boots are squishy, removing the boots may require some finger ninja.
6. Folks against plastic should not own a Smart Doll anyway as they are also made of...plastic.
7. Plastic vinyl will last thousands of years vs leather that may last a couple of hundred (?) meaning that you should not allow the pumps to end up in landfill. If you need to discard the pumps then make sure they get recycled. Make sure your Smart Doll is not wearing the pumps when you send them off for recycling or your Smart Doll will come back and haunt you forever.
8. The soles still do not have nonstick abilities like Teflon fry pans - if your Smart Doll steps in dog poo, then poo will do as stepped-in-poo does. If this happens, gently tell your Smart Doll to avoid purposely stepping in poo and look for a patch of grass to wipe the shoe on.
   
   Just make sure that a dog didn't previously visit the patch of grass, or you will end up adding another layer of poo that protects the first layer. If this happens, then you will need to wait until the first layer dries before using a chisel and hammer to remove both layers. Do not inhale while you proceed to de-poo the shoes.
   
   Also, if you didn't gently tell your Smart Doll to avoid the poo, they may get angry and trample on your pillow before you can catch them (because the boots are so comfy they can run faster even when covered in poo.) If this happens, just turn the pillow over before you sleep.