Since plastic material such as PVC and TPU was developed, the clear transparent material gave unique idea to fashion designers. When the first pair of high heels with clear bands designed, people realized that fashion “crystal shoes” weren’t a fairy tale only.

At the beginning, the clear bands on shoes are made of PVC material. But after TPU material appearing, PVC band is replaced by TPU one step by step. It refers to the different feature and performance of these two material.

PVC is a kind of plastic material without any malleability. So PVC band will be harder and shows worse skin-friendly performance. However, we can find out some soft PVC band in the market. That’s the result of technology developing. Manufacturers will add elasticizer into PVC to make it soft and flexible. Therefore, most of PVC will release toxic gas when burned, which will hurt people’s health and environment.

Although PVC and TPU are both plastic in the wide definition, further subdivision, compared with PVC, TPU is a kind of material that stay between plastic and rubber. So it can be moulding and recycled. Different from PVC, the plastic material, TPU owns original malleability. It helps manufacturers omit the step adding elasticizer. According to feature of TPU material, TPU band is  stink-proof, clear transparent, stretchy and eco-friendly. Within the original malleability, TPU band is more skin-friendly, which makes people more comfortable when wearing sandals.

Generally, clear elastic bands are designed on sandals. Sometimes, it can be the decoration of sport shoes. Besides, if some ladies have some trouble about wearing high heels, they can wear pairs of clear circle bands.