When you work from home and have a small child, it feels like 80% of your life is spent inside your house. Especially as autumn descends. Between living in converted Victorian terrace houses, warehouses and timber-frame apartment buildings, a building with a concrete floor – good slippers are critical in my daily life. And now that I live in Germany, it is absolutely standard practice to wear Hausschuhe (literally house shoes) inside at all times. When you visit someone, they will have a basket of loaner Hausschuhe as well!
The hunt for the best slippers
You laugh, but I probably wear my slippers for more time out of the day than any pair of shoes. A good pair of inside house shoes is critical to my happiness. Sick of drugstore fuzzy landlord lady ones, cheap ones from Muji that never stay on, more expensive but equally crap ones from a department store, I decided to do some research. There had to be a solution.
Scandi felted wool lovelies
Behold, my perfect slippers: Glerups.
These Danish felted wool beauties come in several variations – a slip-on clog shape, a slip-on shoe with heel coverage and an ankle boot, all with suede soles. The shoe version has an optional rubber sole, which is the kind I ordered. I love the thick felt, and how warm they are. The rubber sole means I can pop out my front door without worrying about ruining my slippers or finding a proper pair of shoes. And they look quite sleek – no fuzzy pompoms or bunny ears here. Not only that, these are made by workers who are paid a decent wage, and the wool is carefully sourced too.
Investment in a sustainable, responsibly made indoor shoe
They are not cheap, I know the concept of spending over $80 on slippers feels crazy, but these will last forever. I wear mine more hours out of the day than any of my shoes, so it seemed logical. I bought my pair last winter, and with daily wear they are nearly unchanged. Perfect. An update: they lasted for nearly four years, and eventually wore out the heel entirely. But most importantly, animal welfare is an important part of Glerups’ business model, as is responsible employment of their workers. Glerups slippers are made in the EU (in Romania, in fact) and you can watch a few videos on how the slippers come together. Some of the wool comes from farms in New Zealand now, but these farmers also take special care of their sheep.
Glerups are available through their Canadian website, in the US on Amazon, and in Europe on Amazon.
This post was originally written in October 2013, updated in February 2021.
Can you put them on without having to bend over?
The slip-on clogs you can, these I sometimes I need to bend down and flip the back part over my heel.
omg yes, I’ve never been a fan of traditional house slippers (they just get so sad and dingy after a few wearings), but I’m all about slipper/shoe hybrids like these. I have the Patagonia ones from MEC (based on the same slipper/shoe concept as the Glerups, but more sneakerish) http://www.mec.ca/product/5028-830/patagonia-advocate-lace-plaid-slip-ons-womens/ and I love them. They’re perfect for wearing down to the laundry room and I love that I can pop outside or down to the garage in them if I need to. I think when they finally wear out, I’ll give the Glerups a try. Thanks for the recommendation.
Those are super cute!
I totally recommend the glerups, they are super comfy and I cannot wait to put them on as soon as I get home. I’ve walked halfway to the store in them a few times, forgetting that they are not actual shoes…
Ohhhh. I am all about the house shoes.
Do you find them really warm? My feet are always freezing and I’ve relied on wool slippers for a long time. However, I think these may be better because of the sole on them.
Yes definitely, they are very warm – but not stifling, if that makes sense? The wool felt is great for temperature regulation. I wore them around our place with concrete floors all the time and it made such a difference.