I purchased these to be comfortable/semi durable house slippers. When I removed them from the packaging the chemical smell coming from them almost knocked me out. I thought it would dissipate with use or washing but it just got more intense. It was so bad that even when I put them in the trash can they continued affecting the entire house. I understand that these are inexpensive and that you get what you pay for but I thought we were getting smarter about things like this. We owe it to our children to eliminate phtalates and other harmful chemicals from production. I would have been very satisfied with this purchase and would have written a positive review if it had not been for this factor. As it is, they are now heading to the landfill I guess. Live and learn.