Weathered n Worn
Much of our Smart Doll apparel employs the Wabi-Sabi weathered n worn look and feel which embraces the design principle SHIZEN (自然) meaning “natural and absence of artificiality.”
To replicate worn material, holes, worn edges and frayed threads, our line of weathered n worn apparel items go through multiple stages of aging which include laser distressing, bio-stone washing and manual sand papering.
Our bio stone wash process uses pumice volcanic stones which weather and soften the material surface. Items are then put through a secondary wash and when dried, pockets are vacuumed to rid most of the sand - although a small amount may be left in the nooks and crannies.
After weathering, items go through QC to check for things like wonky labels or questionable stitching. The final stage is iron pressing before they get packed.
Leather boots are made from cow hide which grows with natural imperfections. Even though we sell our leather boots as pairs - no two will be the same. The left boot may be slightly darker or have more weathering and scuffing than the right boot due to where the shoe Upper was cut. Handling of the boots will introduce more aging to it - even taking them out of the bag will introduce scratches.
I personally scrunch up my boots and belts before wearing them on my Smart Dolls because I prefer them to look more scrumpled - this is something you can easily do too if you want to adjust the amount of weathering.
Have a look at the photo of the Cargo Pants. The one on the left has been put through the aging process and the one on the right is the original before going through bio wash/laser distressing/sand papering/color fixing/vacuuming/iron pressing.
In my opinion, the spanking new one looks meh and looks like stuff I made 5 years ago when I didn’t have the experience or knowledge to make weathered apparel items. But after many years of experimenting, I think we nailed it and now our entire line of apparel will move in the same direction.
Expect worn edges, holes, loose threads - the whole shebang when buying Smart Doll apparel.
Smart Doll was designed from the beginning to be taken outdoors meaning that they needed a matching line of apparel - a worn pair of jeans and a jacket that you wouldn’t mind getting a bit of dirt on when out n about in Death Valley (its gorgeous out there) is going to work much better than a spic n span frilly dress.
“Dress to impress” is a concept hard wired into our genes and you can see the same behaviors across the animal kingdom too. For example the peacock evolved colorful tails to attract peahens - the more colorful and extravagant - the more likely they would be able to attract a mate and pass on their genes. Curiously they also stand out from the crowd and make themselves glaring targets for predators though. None the less, they managed to survive until today meaning that the amount of peacocks that got to have hanky panky outnumbered the ones which became lunch.
But “dressing to impress” also means another thing - “dressing for others.”
If you was the last human on the planet, it is very unlikely that you would go around the post apocalyptic landscape worrying about what you looked like - surviving and fighting of the zombies (like how Will Smith did in I Am Legend) would be more of a priority. Love that movie - I preferred the alternate ending though.
Weathered apparel means a more comfortable fit and extended range of mobility due to reduced tension in the material - this means a higher probability of out running zombies.
Decisions you make in life are most likely to be dictated by what others and society thinks of you - you are hardwired to think this way and society has molded us to be like this - but humans were born with a conscious that can re-wire the way we think and live a life that we truly wanted.
Wear what you want - not what others want you to wear.