Acorn Slipper Sock – NASA approved, but are they good enough for the real world?
Written: Mar 05 '08 (Updated Mar 06 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Comfortable, warm and not cute or fuzzy
Cons: Possibility of brutal static buildup
The Bottom Line: These are a great way to keep your feet warm without resorting to stuffed animals.
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| puckmugger's Full Review: |
Maybe it’s just me . . .
I’ve never been much for slippers. Slippers, pajamas and bathrobes, I’ve always been of the impression that such things should be reserved for women and Hugh Heffner. Real men don’t need dainty footwear to walk to the can in the middle of the night. Don’t get me wrong, a pair of fuzzy bunny slippers can be an important fashion statement. One former co-worker made a point of showing up to early meetings in a pair. It was his not so subtle way of protesting having to get out of bed for a pointless, yet mandatory, meeting.
Cool slippers?
When I got my pair of Acorn slipper socks, they came from one of those catalogs full of uber-cool stuff that no one really needs. It was one of those they cram your mailbox full of a month or two before Christmas. I don’t remember which one, probably because of my jaded belief that they all come from one huge company anyway.
Anyway, according to the catalog, the Acorn slipper sock’s big claim to fame was that they were used by NASA. It sounded good at the time. Hey, if they keep astronaut’s feet warm in outer space, they should work just fine in my chilly family room, right? I mean, I never pictured the Space Shuttle as being particularly warm. Maybe they just need a little more art, some upholstered furniture and a couple plants, but it looks cold in there.
Now NASA approved footwear definitely would have been all that in the 1960’s. It even seemed like a pretty decent recommendation in the late nineties when I picked up a pair of these. Thanks to Lisa Marie Nowak’s much publicized, murder-minded, road trip abetted by a pair of huggies, the main piece of apparel that we associate astronauts with seems to be diapers. Somehow apparel endorsements by diaper users just doesn’t carry much weight. So if you aren’t impressed by the NASA endorsement, who am I to blame you?
Nonetheless I own a pair
As mentioned somewhere in my previous and very poignant ramblings, I purchased a pair of these in the late nineties. I’m thinking it was 1999, but due to all the fun that I had in my early twenties, I’m not certain I remember.
Let’s get into the meat and potatoes of just what these are. There’s a lot of technicalities to work through here. The Acorn slipper sock is a miracle of modern science. It’s a sock with a leather foot on it. Hmm, simpler to describe than I had anticipated . . . perhaps some details would fill out this paragraph and expand the reader’s understanding . . . sorry, that was my internal dialogue spilling out through the keyboard . . . I actually think slower than I type, sad.
The sock itself is about twice as thick as any sock that a lumberjack’s mother ever knitted. They are both extremely warm and extremely durable. After many years of use, there are a couple of small holes in the toes of the socks. However, they have retained most of their elasticity and don’t fall down.
The leather on the bottom actually is a two-piece assembly that covers not only the sole of the wearer’s feet, but also comes partially up the sides of the feet. These have no visible wear on them.
Use
Unlike slippers, these do take a little work to put on. They aren’t something that you would wear when you got up to use the can even if you weren’t a man. It simply isn’t worth the effort. I use mine in the winter when I’m too cheap to turn up the thermostat. (That’s pretty much all winter). They are nice to wear around the house or lounge in while watching a football or hockey game on the tube. (I don’t know if they work for basketball because frankly I wouldn’t watch a basketball game).
I used to spend a great deal of time on the computer in a cold room and will say that I didn’t find these to work to well for that. While they do keep your feet warm, for some reason they build up a ridiculous amount of static electricity. I fried a couple of peripherals on my computer before I realized that these weren’t the best idea in that environment. I also once had about a four-inch arc shoot from a light switch directly under my fingernail while wearing them once. It hurt for an hour.
I suspect these socks may have been to blame in the loss of both space shuttles. Of course maybe it’s part of the NASA training—Don’t shuffle your feet with your slippers on, you might short out the computers! In all earnest, the problem seemed to be catalyzed by the plastic floor mat that I had under the computer chair. In normal use, the static isn’t a major issue.
Bottom Line
These are a great, comfortable pair of slippers that any polar explorer, lumberjack or ultimate fighting champion wouldn’t be ashamed to wear. (At least that’s what I tell anyone who laughs at them). They are comfortable, warm and very durable regardless of what you think of them as a fashion statement.
© 2008 Scott Noble – All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited.
Recommended:
Yes
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