It’s weird, but $140 house slippers are now big business

Birdies, the $140 slipper originally designed to be worn at home, just landed $8 million in funding. That’s right. Consumers can’t get enough of these fancy shoes that nobody except your immediate family, and maybe your postman, will see.

The brand was founded by Bianca Gates and Marisa Sharkey, who shrewdly observed that as more millennials work from home–and also enter full-blown nesting mode–they want to look polished. So they decided to create sophisticated house shoes with cozy satin or faux fur linings, so women can feel trendy even when they are sitting at their home desks in their pajamas. And over time, they noticed that customers themselves began wearing them outside the home, and into everyday life. While the inside of the shoes are cosy, the sole is sturdy, so women started wearing them to get a coffee, or even into their offices.

They were clearly onto something. In 2015, Birdies launched its direct-to-consumer brand online, and through its flagship store in San Francisco. Four years later, women are desperate to get their hands on Birdies slippers. The brand currently has a waitlist of 30,000. Its sales were up 400% in 2018, and it is on track to reach five times year-over-year growth in 2019. This upcoming year, it hopes to expand its retail presence with a limited partnership with Nordstrom.

So yes, the luxury household slipper is now a thing, so don’t be shocked when your girlfriend or mom asks for a pair for her birthday. We warned you.