My Cool Reino Slippers

When I left my job recently, I was touched to discover that my Finnish co-workers had clubbed together to get me a present: a pair of Reino slippers filled with Finnish Fazer milk chocolates.

Now, I understood clearly the significance of Fazerin Sininen, as I could never resist those chocolates when they were in the vicinity. But the Reino slippers? I wasn't leaving to retire, so why?

Well, my colleagues assured me, Reino slippers (and their close relation the Aino slippers) are super cool in Finland right now. And clearly, I am a super cool dude also (my interpretation).

But hold on, slippers, super cool? Tartan slippers, super cool? Since when?

So I googled "cool slippers for men" and the outcome was fairly inconclusive. It seems the terms "cool" and "slippers" do not appear naturally with each other in cyberspace, except for some novelty footwear (novelty being, by any measure, an antonym of cool). Certainly, Reino slippers did not make it to the top of the search result list.

It must be a Finnish thing, I thought. Maybe some post-modern fashion statement of some kind, or an ironic wink at times gone by or whatever but in a cool way.

Or maybe it's one big joke, a Finnish take on the emperor's new clothes (give a foreigner some old fashioned slippers, tell them they are super cool and have lots of laughs recounting the story to mates in the pubi afterwards). After all, a quick perusal of the Reino & Aino website does not give one the impression of a brand actively looking to capture trendy new markets.

In the past couple of days, while staying in the Finnish countryside, I saw two things which helped me form my own opinion of how cool Reino slippers really are.

First, I came across the local, partly-retired chicken farmer wearing a pair of Reino slippers.

Second, I saw the following in the local supermarket:

This is not super cool Reino-branded Finlandia vodka, this is Olvi Reino beer and Olvi Aino cider. In a cheap supermarket. In the Finnish countryside.

So it wasn't my sense of cool that my co-workers were appealing to after all, it was actually my sense of humour. Oh well...

At any rate, I will definitely be wearing my Reino slippers next winter.

In an ironic, post-modern sort of way, of course.