Sticky little fingers

There is a new kind of slipper on the market that is being lauded by the lazy and fashion conscious alike. While they don’t look like anything you’d see on the catwalks of New York and Milan, these bright pink or green creations have received a “get out of fashion jail free” card, for their ingenious ability to help clean the house.

Slipper Genie designed their slippers with removable micro-fibre soles that collect dust, dirt and hair while you walk. The removable soles are made of soft chenille micro-fibre “fingers” that are guaranteed not to scratch any floor surface. They’re advertised as being ideal for dusting and wiping wood, tiled and vinyl floors. Don’t get rid of your mops yet though, as they’re designed for use in dry conditions, and not on wet floors.

Customer reviews have been largely favourable, with one fan claiming that she’s been waiting for them her whole life. Another review said that they are the perfect waist trimmers, as you burn fat while you clean. That reviewer must not realise that giving your house a good clean burns calories anyway. Walking in slippers with dusters attached to them is no more a miracle weight busting technique than swishing a wet mop.

It’s also been said that cleaning with the slippers will be much easier than trying to manoeuvre a mop around furniture and into hard reach places. I say that hard to reach places are hard to reach for a reason, and that your rather inflexible feet won’t be able to get to them any easier than a more flexible mop. Also, angling around furniture doesn’t really get everything clean, does it? Furniture needs to be moved. If you don’t move your furniture for a mop, why would you suddenly move it for a pair of slippers?

One complaint that has been raised against this new idol for the lazy is that they only come in one size for women (US size 6 - 9). Men are clearly barred from the omnipotent wonder of slippers that clean. Even women whose feet fail to come up to spec are discriminated against, and are denied the experience of floor cleaning nirvana.

As far as novelty items go, the Slipper Genie isn’t too bad. They’re not quite in the league of lava lamps but they’re not as bad as pet rocks either. I’m sure they’ll sell well, until people realise that they don’t actually make great gifts (around the time that they get a pair as a gift themselves), which will herald the emergence of the next big thing. Wigs that also serve as reading lamps perhaps?
Recommended sites

http://www.solutions.com/jump.jsp?itemID=11026&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=dust+slippers

http://www.littlesplurge.com/2007/12/16/slipper-genie/

http://www.shopaholicsdaily.com/2008/02/19/your-new-best-friend-evriholder-slipper-genie-microfiber-cleaning-slippers/

http://showmethegadgetblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/slipper-genie.html