Writer/Mitsui
Editor / Li Kexin
Title picture/IC Photo
“When a young man starts to wear slippers, it means that he has grown up.”
“I’m not wearing slippers, but new skins for social animals.”
“Ugly to the extreme, is the trend.”
Slippers have reached the peak of the “foot liberation cause” of human beings and become an “outstanding” member of many shoes. In today’s era of footwear tending to be professional, it has its own unique meaning.
Refinement is the new fashion now.
01. “At the station, the slippers let me take off the disguise”
In the era of diversified personalities, slippers have become “all-round warriors”: walking, home, office, sports… Various scenes can be switched at will, and even “conquered” the four seasons.
“Usually, I wear fancy clothes when I go out, and I wear T-shirts, shorts and slippers when I go to work.” “Last week I was still laughing at my colleagues’ slippers. This week, I look like the picture. This is the real soul of a migrant worker”…
On the social platform, netizens have “posted” a small world for their slippers. Slippers have become standard equipment for social animals.
Hole shoes, Birkenstock slippers, crocodile slippers, slippers with a feeling of stepping on shit, old man slippers, clogs slippers, fur slippers to keep warm in winter, waterproof cotton slippers, in short, no pair of slippers can escape the “claws” of young people.
Of course, not all migrant workers have the freedom to wear slippers to work. Comments often attract the envy of netizens, “What kind of fairy company is this? You can still wear slippers at work.”
Although many companies have expressly stipulated that they are not allowed to wear slippers at work, they can’t restrain the soul’s yearning for freedom at all. Are they slippers?”
The slipper culture in the office currently exists widely in foreign companies and private companies in China, but it has penetrated into state-owned companies and public institutions. In meetings or formal occasions, people wear dress shoes as usual, and when they return to their work stations, they can “remove the disguise” and put on slippers to relieve the pressure on their feet.
Outside the office, social media such as Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and Instagram have also become the main positions for the spread of slipper culture.
Kendall Jenner, a well-known American Internet celebrity, has made the daily wear of slippers popular all over the world almost by himself. Lululemon yoga pants and Yeezy Slide slippers have become the daily styles of countless fitness girls. Xiaohongshu also launched a special tutorial on how to wear slippers, and the keyword “wearing slippers” has 240,000+ notes.
In the past, slippers were mainly used for home life. The loose and simple design allows people to enjoy the freedom, casualness and comfort of home. Nowadays, the value orientation of slippers in people’s minds is also constantly changing.
In the past, wearing slippers in public places in China was often regarded by the mainstream view as disheveled and loose. Slippers are no longer synonymous with “idle people”.
It can be seen that people are more yearning for a free life, and comfort has become the standard of life for more people. People’s prejudice against slippers is gradually disappearing, and the slippers culture in our country is also developing rapidly.
02. Sports slippers, outfit party vanity?
The words “slippers” and “sports” do not seem to be related, but when combined together they become the most beautiful scenery on the street.
Fitness girls in yoga pants and sports boys with basketball shoes in their hands, with elegant postures and strong physiques, step on casual and comfortable sports slippers, which can be seen everywhere on the road.
Gyms, basketball courts, football fields, and sports slippers have almost become standard equipment. Why can slippers, which are mainly leisure attributes, be inextricably linked with various sports?
In the past, the concept of sports shoes in our country was very vague. Sneakers are people’s synonym for sports shoes. With the development of the sports industry, people began to have their own favorite sports, but due to the different sports scenes and activities of various events, it is difficult for sneakers to cope. As the saying goes, a good horse with a good saddle, basketball shoes, soccer shoes, and running shoes have gradually entered the public’s field of vision.
Slippers originally appeared more in various sports competitions, where athletes loosen their feet after the competition. Because sports shoes are designed to ensure the safety of athletes, the last design is tight and the sense of restraint is strong, but wearing them for a long time will cause Insufficient blood supply to the feet causes numbness in the feet, so many football and basketball players will change into slippers after the game.
This phenomenon has also triggered sports enthusiasts to imitate, coupled with the current concept of exquisite life, sports slippers have become the standard equipment of sports venues.
Of course, sneakers aren’t just about catering to outfit party vanity.
Take basketball as an example. At the beginning of the design of basketball shoes, in order to ensure the strength of the upper, the air permeability of the shoes can mostly be ignored. After one or two hours of competition, the feet are very stuffy. Putting on slippers during the rest will greatly relieve the pressure on the arch and surface of the foot.
todayThe prosperity of American sports culture in ChinaIt is also a key factor for sports slippers to be sought after by people.
The well-known American fashionista Kanye west (the manager of the Adidas yeezy series) once wore a suit with yeezy slippers to attend a friend’s wedding. This move caused controversy. Many people believed that Kanye’s move was to promote his new products. Deliberately making nondescript shapes, but now it seems that Kanye is still at the forefront of the trend.
Since then, yeezy slippers have exploded at home and abroad, and have almost become a must-have item for hipsters. Major sports brands have also taken this opportunity to start a “slipper revolution”.
Major sports brands at home and abroad have launched their own sports slippers one after another, and began to seize this brand new sports consumption market, which also opened up exaggerated involution and competition.
03. Slippers, the “arms race” of brand owners
What tricks can a pair of slippers make? The answer is: really can.
In order to make slippers more popular, brands have started an arms race of slippers. Mainly divided into two directions:
- The ultimate trend 2. Comfortable foot feeling
In terms of trendy styling, the designers of the brand really do everything they can. The exaggerated styling makes many consumers seem to be unable to believe that they bought a pair of slippers.but“Extreme trend” doesn’t have to be beautiful, it just needs to be unique and novel.
This has to mention the crocs hole shoes and Balenciaga’s joint slippers that have exploded in the girls’ circle.
The appearance of hole shoes must be familiar to everyone. It was once rated as the ugliest design when it came out, but now it has been accepted by the public after more than 10 years of adaptation.
Only the rear heel is exposed to make it look like slippers but not like slippers, but this design also solves the problem that traditional slippers do not follow the feet when walking while ensuring breathability. As for the problem of styling, “the trend is a cycle. ” and “The extreme soil is the tide” seems to make people understand better.
The joint name with Balenciaga this time has the meaning of adding a yellow robe. The same style is paired with Balenciaga’s 11cm thick outsole, which makes the hole shoes that were once sprayed by people become the ultimate trendy item that has ignited the fashion circle. .
You used to ignore the hole shoes, but you can’t afford the hole shoes today.
Balenciaga’s weird shape and crocs have the same purpose, and the joint name of the two makes the product’s “ugliness” seem extraordinarily reasonable.
In fact, in the early days, all kinds of luxury brands launched slippers, but most of them were based on the concept of “sandals” casual shoes. This time, the joint name of Balenciaga and crocs made slippers successfully enter the trend circle and become a fashionista. Perfect for styling.
As for the comfortable foot feeling, this is the part that sports brands focus on.
I don’t know when there appeared a concept in the sports shoe circle to describe the comfort of sneakers, “feeling on shit”, which is used to describe those shoes with soft midsoles. There is no doubt that the concept of “stepping on shit” has also been implanted in the promotion of slippers by sports brands.
For the comfort of slippers, “soft” is indeed very important. The soles of leather shoes and high heels are very hard, which makes friends who wear them for a long time very eager for soft elastic soles. In the slippers arms race of major brands, midsole cushioning has become the most important point of competition.
In order to compete for this piece of cake, the brands showed their talents. Peak Tai Chi, Li-Ning lightfoam, various ultra-thick eva outsoles and various foam materials all appeared on the stage, and the overwhelming publicity made consumers dizzy.
What’s more, 3D printing technology has been brought into the field of slippers. With the support of various technologies and designs, slippers are no longer what they used to be. The price has also risen accordingly. Adidas yeezy series, Lululemon, Hoka and other international brands of sports slippers are all around 1,000 yuan, while the price of domestic brands of sports slippers is basically stable at 100-400.
actuallyThe slipper arms race has always existed, Luxury brands such as Gucci and LV launch exclusive slippers every year, but the high price makes these slippers a niche commodity. It wasn’t until sports brands began to lay out the slippers market that the price of slippers was able to cover more consumer groups. Coupled with celebrity endorsements and social media promotion, it created the phenomenon of sports slippers becoming popular today.
Going deep into the core of this phenomenon, in fact, is still “star effect” and “following the trend”.
Slippers are the necessities of life, and they are also the least important. The price of a few hundred yuan is basically in line with the trend of mass consumption.
Merchants just grasped consumers’ awareness and consumption of slippers, and added trendy labels to slippers.Transform necessary consumption into trendy consumptionin order to carry out the so-called “slipper arms race”.
04. Epilogue
Originally, ordinary slippers were neglected by young people because of their simplicity and lack of style. Behind the popularity of trendy slippers today, in addition to the operation of capital, it is not just the vanity of young people.
It is undeniable that there must be an element of buying following the trend of the surrounding public opinion, but combined with the exquisite life that people yearn for today, glasses have gradually evolved from medical equipment to accessories, and basketball shoes have become people’s daily choice for going out on the street. Why can’t the next one be slippers? ?
The popularity of slippers is not accidental. Once daily necessities are endowed with trendy attributes, people will definitely be sought after. Perhaps people are not trying to be different. The popularity of slippers may just be that it hits the young people’s desire for freedom, unrestrained and casual lifestyle.