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This is Stuff We Swear By, a new series in which our editors expound on an item they use (and love) on a daily (or near-daily) basis.
Item: Glerups The Shoe Camp Sole
Description: A pair of anti-microbial “camp slippers” from 27-year-old, family-owned Danish brand Glerups. The body of the shoe is made from a combination of Merino wool (sourced from sheep in New Zealand) and Gotland wool (sourced from sheep in Sweden), while the sole is constructed from a flexible, slip-resistant rubber sole.
How I use it: I wear them all day, every day as my de-facto around-the-house shoe. I won’t generally go on walks while wearing Glerups, but I have. They don’t belong to the same family as fuzzy indoor slippers. Glerups are tough and won’t overheat your feet. They’re a legitimate outdoor option that could be used for the grocery store, movie theaters, travel days, what have you. A friend of mine once wore them on a light hike in Yosemite. They’re even year-round. True story: I’ve been separated from my flip flops since March 13th, the last day I was at the InsideHook office. (A fantastic pair of Havaianas, which I haven’t felt like replacing.) In their stead, I wore Glerups anytime I was chilling in my backyard this summer. I actually preferred it, to be honest. No bug bites on my toes.
Why I swear by it: Glerups perfectly represent the Danish tenets of comfort and conscious design. Remember, wool is a rockstar material for footwear; Allbirds look nice, but the brand wouldn’t have earned a $1.6 billion valuation this year if its famous sneakers didn’t perform as well as they do. As a fiber, wool regulates body temperature, wicks moisture naturally, and wards off even the most offensive foot odor. Glerups check all those boxes, while earning extra points for personality. Before Nanny and Ove Glerup (oh, it’s a husband and wife team, which rules) looked to New Zealand for part of their wool blend, they perfected hand-crafted slippers using local, Scandinavian wool from their own farm.
Theat expertise has been evident since I first started wearing my Glerups a year and a half ago. I’ll probably buy a new pair next year, but only so I can have them in a different color. I can’t imagine needing to legitimately replace these anytime soon. That’s partly because Glerups mold to your feet as they “age.” The interior of the shoe naturally sheds fabric until it’s found the preferred shape of your arch and heel. Because of this, Glerups are actually at their least impressive during the first week of use. The design will seem odd and oblong to begin with — it’s sort of a propped-up oval of felted wool, with a sole somehow attached to it — but you just need to trust the process.
According to Mr. and Mrs. Glerup, the brand tends to see repeat purchases from families. Once one family member gets one, the rest follows suit. That doesn’t surprise me. They’re an attention-grabber, in a half-handsome, half-goofy way, while absolutely dunking on traditional slipper options in the versatility department. And that’s without sacrificing on coziness, another key to the Danish philosophy. The same shoes I wore around the fire pit in June are serving me well as I finish this piece next to a fireplace in December. 2020 wasn’t big on consistency. But my feet had it pretty good.
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