20,000 Reborners Worldwide

There have always been a demand for lifelike dolls, but the Reborn concept didn't fully develop until the late 1980s. That's when a Spanish company called Berusa began making vinyl dolls that had an exceptionally realistic quality to them. Hobbyists began to sand off the doll's paint and add new hair and more lifelike skin tones, including tiny blue veins. The dolls were nicknamed “reborn” baby dolls. Now there are an estimated 20,000 so-called Reborners worldwide and dozens of artists who create and sell a wide variety of original, custom-made rubber babies.