How slippers went from inside to outside, and even worn with a suit and tie | Canada Voices

Actor Ryan Reynolds is no stranger to rocking stylish – and sometimes edgy – looks.

Earlier this year, the Deadpool star posted a photo of himself on Instagram on his way to record an on-camera acceptance speech. He was dressed to the nines in a three-piece black velvet suit, with a pair of chubby felt slippers, called Glerups, on his feet. The caption read: They won’t see below the waist.”

Some may have thought the pairing of slippers with black tie a bit unorthodox, even strange. But the truth is Reynolds is late to the game.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, scores of people have taken to wearing bedroom slippers outside the home, to walk the dog, take the kids to school or (like Reynolds) go to work.

A wide range of footwear brands – traditional slipper makers such as Denmark-based Glerups, casual-wear giants such as Ugg, Birkenstock and Crocs, and luxury labels such as Gucci and Prada – have a new market to cater to: people willing to pay a premium for comfortable slippers, or comfy slipper-like shoes, that easily transition from indoors to outdoors.

“The great push came from people working from home during the pandemic,” says Allan Timm, sales and marketing director with 30-year-old Glerups, a family-owned company whose felted-wool products are still made largely by hand. “Suddenly it became common to see everyone from celebrities to work colleagues in sweatpants and slippers on Zoom and TikTok.

“The younger generation, especially, embraced the casual, comfy attire,” says Timm, whose company had always enjoyed a cult following, mainly with outdoorsy types who love to slip into these cozy booties after a day of hiking or skiing.

“Gen Zs – like my own kids – are more chill in terms of fashion. They’re not dressing up in crazy high heels. They want to look stylish, of course. But stylish to them has a high comfort factor built in.”

Slippers like Glerups checked the right boxes – comfortable, sustainable and nerdy-looking enough to be considered cool. Sales took off and, at the height of the pandemic in 2020, Timm’s company sold a record 400,000 pairs. (Those numbers have since levelled off to about 250,000 pairs a year, which is still substantially higher than pre-COVID sales).

Timm adds that the slipper renaissance has also been helped by the steady stream of images on social media of celebrities – from Justin Bieber, Gigi Hadid, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lawrence and Colin Farrell – going about their day-to-day in fuzzy footwear.

Go online or visit any major multibrand retailer and you will see the slipper revolution unfolding in real time. There are high-end options (the Row’s coveted Frances slippers, which look like they wouldn’t stand a chance outdoors, sell for US$1,400), budget-friendlier hotel-slipper knockoffs from Bieber’s Drew House (at $33) and mid-range choices such as Toronto-based Mave & Chez’s elegant loafer-slippers, with orthopedic support ($200).

To understand how we got here, shoe expert Elizabeth Semmelhack, director and senior curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, says we need to look back at slippers’ origins. “Having footwear specific for the home has a very long history and it started because society did not have central heating until relatively recently. So thick-soled house ‘shoes’ were worn just to keep the foot warm.”

Over the years, slippers evolved to include a wide range of forms: slip-ons, open-toed, open-backed, closed slippers, slipper boots, sandal slippers and the evening slipper, also known as the “Prince Albert,” made of velvet and lined with silk, which the Victorians wore to pad about their stately homes.

“Now people are stepping outdoors in them, so the question is, are these still slippers?” asks Semmelhack. “Maybe they’re not any more.”

“Regardless, slippers are now in the public realm – and that, for me, is an interesting question of intent,” she adds. “The pandemic accelerated the trend for people to wear comfortable clothing outside the home. The division between how we dress in public and private became increasingly blurred.”

Add that we have a younger generation who loves to dress “en deshabille” – which, by definition, means dressed in a loose or careless manner – and slippers as outerwear became the next big thing, says Semmelhack. “It’s a form of self-expression – some might say a power move – that basically says, ‘We don’t have to get dressed up to impress anyone.’

“It’s all part of the 21st-century continuum of going deshabille in public, hair up in a messy ponytail, ripped jeans or sweats and fur-lined Crocs on the feet to go to the mall.”

Dani Kagan and Victoria Marshman, co-founders of Mave & Chez, which launched two years ago, says the slipper craze is also rooted in society’s obsession with health and wellness – ie. doing things for yourself that make your mind and your body (in this instance, your feet) feel good.

Both women are former competitive dancers and, during the pandemic when they were bored at home, they realized there was very little out there in terms of slippers that were elegant and sleek, but also offered support for the feet and the back.

“I was pregnant and wearing flat slippers that were killing me,” says Kagan. “We realized there was a huge gap in the market for slippers that were genuinely supportive. Everything that was fashion forward didn’t support my feet and everything orthopedic looked like something my grandmother would wear.

“So we created something that caressed our feet, and aided our posture, that you could wear at home all day and keep on when you had to take the kids to ballet or zip to the grocery store,” adds Marshman. The company now has 5,000 customers and its founders are thinking about designing an indoor/outdoor slipper line for men.

Glerups’s Timm says it’s become cool in fashion circles to be hyper-casual and comfortable. And slippers – by design – tick those boxes. Recently, the rapper Post Malone ordered 60 pairs from the brand.

Maybe it’s only a matter of time before city commuters start wearing slippers with suits. Oh wait, Vancouver-born Reynolds already has.