it urges me for a long time to make this post, and I think now is the time…
Silicone is dying, everyone in this business knows this. Not the material itself, that is sturdy. It's the silicone manufacturers which deliberately commit suicide (IMHO).
The recent developement everybody who observes the ongoing things has noticed is in a nutshell: Silicone dolls are relatively expensive, turnover decreases massively, silicone manufacturers have less profit to create new dolls or to work on enhancements; demand decreases further because there are less head and body style options for silicone dolls, resulting in breaking down of 2nd hand market for silicone dolls, decreasing the perceived value even further. It's a spiral which drives itself into rock bottom.
Though, this development is not only caused by TPE competition. To a large degree it is self-made by the silicone manufacturer's policies and the chosen way to do their business.
Some examples:
- Back in October 2016 - that was almost two years ago -, Sanhui was a promising manufacturer. In an unboxing review I gave them a big thumbs up for "skillfully mastering to work with silicone", and "demonstrating an impressive level of detail Sanhui is paying attention to". And a few years before that, even before George from X/S brought Sanhui onto TDF, I advocated their dolls as an alternative to TPE. Instead of being thankful for years of support, Sanhui decided to discontinue to cooperate with resellers. Sanhui tried to impose completely inacceptable terms of trade, including the refusal to comply with international trade law. So I had to blacklist Sanhui. It was an unavoidable decision, but it was not caused by bad dolls or bad manufacturing quality. Just because of crazy management decisions.
- With JM Doll it's similar. They also had a portfolio with silicone alternatives to TPE. Technically, they had good and bad things, but overall their dolls were quite OK. Most of the common issues with current TPE dolls were simply inexistant with a JM. At some point JM Doll management decided to discontinue business with all resellers. They decided to focus on direct sales. So they lost support from resellers. I don't think it made their business grow, but who knows; they never reverted this decision. So another silicone manufacturer deliberately vanished into nirvana.
- Over here in Europe it's not too different. In France we have a long-standing silicone manufacturer called Dreamdoll Creations or DDC in short. They are even TDF-accredited, but you might not heard about DDC because nobody promotes them. They make decent silicone dolls - and they still make them like a decade ago. These dolls are sturdy, but they still are as dolls were a decade ago. For reasons I can only guess, these dolls are not developed further. If you compare them visually or haptically with a current TPE doll, they loose. Even their skeleton is like a decade ago. Sturdy, but less posable than a cheap TPE doll. Though, the dolls are not bad, they just are not what the market demands anymore. The manufacturer lacks innovation. It's a slow death.
And there are other examples.
- Doll Sweet is different from the other Chinese silicone manufacturers. They still cooperate with vendors. They innovate continuously. They have one of the best skeletons among all doll manufacturers, including the high-end segment. They know how to deal with silicone virtuously. And they provide after-sales service. They have it all. But is all good? No, as Doll Sweet just decided to discontinue crucial entry-level product lines without any need. So maybe Doll Sweet wants to focus on the more expensive high-end segment with life-sized dolls? Not really. I ordered an DS-167 Evo with all the latest bells and whistles for a review. Not a freebie, a fully payed doll. After two months, the doll wasn't even shipped yet. Within almost a month, Doll Sweet did not manage to get the completed doll shipped. That does not exactly help to promote a product if there is neither proper promotion material nor you can get hands on a fully payed sample.
From a customer's point of view I'd think twice before shelling out $5,000 for a supposedly superior silicone doll without having seen one. That's why entry-level silicone dolls are so important. Same material and same manufacturing quality like their taller sisters, just with the fraction of the price tag. Dolls to try out and make first experiences. If there are no affordable entry-level silicone dolls, new customers will simply die out as they won't get the chance to experience the advantages of silicone over TPE. Without affordable entry level silicone dolls, knowledge about silicone advantages will become limited to elitist circles.
All this is not solely caused by price competition with the cheaper TPE dolls as silicone manufacturers complain. Price is one (important) factor, but not the only one. The demand is there. Just there are no products anymore. Thanks to odd management decisions.
It's a strange world.
Sandro