When packaging became bigger than the slippers

Once washing and reusing slippers started becoming a practice among the hotels we worked with, a new question appeared almost immediately.

But what about the packaging?

It seemed rather absurd to wash a pair of slippers with care, only to wrap them in a fresh paper band every time they returned to the room. We had solved one part of the waste problem, but another small piece of it was still sitting right in front of us.

So we started designing reusable packaging.

At first, we stayed close to what we already knew. We explored different kinds of durable, washable bands—different shapes, materials and ways of fastening them around the slippers.

We made sketches. We tried things. We changed our minds.

And then came the thought that shifted the whole process:

What if the packaging didn’t have to be wrapped around the slippers at all?

What if it could be bigger than the product?

That was the moment packaging stopped being packaging in the traditional sense. It no longer needed to be something added to the slippers and discarded—or even washed—after every use. It could become a small, permanent part of the hotel interior.

The Slipper Holder grew from that idea.

It keeps the slippers neatly in place, but it also behaves like a piece of furniture. It can sit on a shelf or a table, or hang on the wall. And because it stays in the room, it can carry something more lasting than a label: a kind thought, a welcome or a small message for the guest.

“I love this about the design. A practical problem led us somewhere unexpected. By questioning the usual size, shape and lifespan of packaging, we found a way for it to become part of the space rather than part of the waste.”

Today, 1 in 10 partner hotels uses a reusable slipper holder instead of single-use paper bands.

It is a small change. But small changes, repeated room after room and stay after stay, have a way of becoming something much bigger.

Less waste. Looks good, too.

— Alenka

Illustrated by Zala Reberc
Photo captured by Žan Gašperič at Hotel April1550