THE HISTORY OF SLIPPERS

It was very hard to find details on the history of slippers as an indoor shoe as we now know and wear. And this has arrived pretty late.

The slipper has gone through different stages and was worn outside for several centuries.

THE ORIGIN OF THE SLIPPERS

The first slipper in history has a oriental origin – and was called the babouche slipper.

It was in a Coptic tomb of the 2nd century that we have found the oldest babouche slippers, decorated with gold foil.

Much later in France, the felt slippers were worn by peasants to improve the comfort of their sabots when it was cold. It is only in the 15th century that for men of the high society, the slipper became a fashionable shoe. They were made out of silk or expensive fine leather, with a sole of wood or cork to protect them from the mud.

In the 16th century, the slipper is worn exclusively by women and had the form of a mule.

In the era of Louis XV, the slipper was mainly used by the valets to avoid disturbing their masters with the noise their comings and goings would have caused but also to maintain the wooden floors thanks to their soles in felt.

TO BECOME THE SLIPPERS WE KNOW…

It was the women that started wearing only slippers, without any shoes, as an indoor shoe as the end of the 18th century – making it the slipper we know today.

Bit by bit, the slippers becomes the symbol of a certain bourgeoisie that stayed mainly at home.