Do your feet get cold?
Are you ever sitting at home on a chilly winter night and thinking, “Man, I wish I had a great pair of house slippers to slide over these toes.” If so, follow along and you’ll find a great option at the end—one that solves a problem common to slipper owners.
Imagine reaching for your house slippers. But before you get them on an unsettling memories bubbles up. You and your lady friend were about to watch a DVR episode of The Mindy Project or New Girl. You removed your slippers to get cozy on the couch. That’s when you saw your lady’s nose twitch. After the twitch, she went bloodhound—sniffing the air for an odour she found offensive. The culprit: Your feet.
Persecuted, you barricaded yourself in a glass house and started hurling stones. You’d already showered, you said, so how could you accept blame. You accused her feet of stinking. You were wrong, of course. Your house slippers were guilty so you shoved them under the couch, shut up and pressed play on the DVR. At the first commercial break you lowered your head and shuffled to the washroom, where you scrubbed your feet clean. And then you Febreezed your house slippers and hoped that one day you could wear them again.
But it’s been months, maybe a whole year. The stench is muffled until the moment the slippers return to your feet. Then the smell they concoct is revolting. And that’s why you’re hunting for a good house slipper. Maybe there are other reasons why you need new slippers. Maybe your tattered slippers are begging for early retirement. Maybe you own a pair of Mountain Ridge Men’s Suede Moccasins but the idea of wearing moccasins feels racist. Perhaps you purchased a pair of Sorel’s slippers, which are warm but ugly. I love my Sorel’s but it’s the kind of slipper your wife or girlfriend will stash under the bed when company’s expected.
Now imagine one day you arrive at home and there’s a box waiting for you. Inside this box is a pair of Glerups, “the indoor shoe” that can substitute for a slipper. You yank this slipper-shoe over your foot like Cinderella and wham, it hits you. These are comfortable. More comfortable than any other house slipper you’ve ever owned.
Except the pair you sample is a more of a shoe. No matter. Unlike most house shoes you’ve owned, you can wash this pair. Why? Because they’re made of wool, 100% natural felted wool. That’s a major bonus. Every wash is fresh start. Most house slippers don’t give you that.
Glerups also make a boot that rises to the ankle and a proper house slipper that requires minimal effort to get on. Glerups arrive here via Denmark and in all the promotional photos they look good awaiting freshly showered toes or hugging feet by the fireplace. More than that though, my lady loves ‘em. One day she sent me a racy photo after arriving home before me. I opened the message and saw her feet all up in my Glerups. The caption read, “All mine.”
Another time, I wore them to the post office because I didn’t care and I was daring someone to notice. Between you and I, the true test of a good house shoe or slipper is how far you’re willing to travel in public. My trek was 650 metres, and included shopping, though I’m willing to extend my range in a pair of Glerups.
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Pierre Hamilton is a freelance writer from Toronto, where some of his best friends describe him as an acquired taste. He enjoys bourbon and scotch, but craves craft beer, overproof Jamaican rum and great non-fiction. He has a very limited style knowledge but knows what he likes. He also produces a monthly music podcast called Sound Considerations. Follow him, but not too closely, on Twitter.
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Photo courtesy of the author.
