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A sleeved blanket is a body-length blanket with
sleeve A sleeve ( ang, slīef, a word allied to ''slip'', cf. Dutch ) is the part of a garment that covers the arm, or through which the arm passes or slips. The sleeve is a characteristic of fashion seen in almost every country and time period, acro ...
s usually made of fleece or nylon material. It is similar in design to a
bathrobe A bathrobe, also known as a housecoat or a dressing gown, is a loose-fitting outer garment (a robe) worn by people, often after washing the body or around a pool. A bathrobe is considered to be very informal clothing, and is not worn with every ...
but is meant to be worn backwards (i.e., with the opening in the back). The product has been marketed by various brands but the Original company was 'Slanket' created by Gary Clegg then other companies like Snuggie'', ''Snuggler'', ''Doojo'', ''Toasty Wrap'', copying the brand later. It comes with varying sizes, colors and qualities of materials but similar basic design.


Popularity

In late 2008 and early 2009 the Snuggie brand of sleeved blankets became a
pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * Pop (Gas al ...
phenomenon, sometimes described humorously as a "
cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
". The product became famous after a
direct response Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a pre-selected customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as ''direct response marketing''. B ...
commercial promoting the product was aired. It was featured on television programs like ''
Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...
'' where cast and crew donned Snuggie blankets for a segment which was described as looking like a Black Protestant choir. Others have described mass-snuggie wearing as looking like a
Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
convention. The
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
likened it to a "
monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
's ensemble in fleece" and proclaimed it the "ultimate
kitsch Kitsch ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste. The avant-garde opposed kitsch as melodramatic and superficial affiliation with ...
gift". The Snuggie initially sold singly for $14.95, and later in sets of two for $19.95. The Slanket was mentioned in an episode of NBC's '' 30 Rock'' entitled "The Ones". The product has also been ridiculed as a "backwards
robe A robe is a loose-fitting outer garment. Unlike garments described as capes or cloaks, robes usually have sleeves. The English word ''robe'' derives from Middle English ''robe'' ("garment"), borrowed from Old French ''robe'' ("booty, spoils" ...
" or simple reinvention of the coat on radio and television talk shows in the United States. Comparisons have also been made with the Thneed, a highly promoted, amorphous garment in the Dr. Seuss story, ''
The Lorax ''The Lorax'' is a children's book written by Dr. Seuss and published in 1971. It chronicles the plight of the environment and the Lorax, the titular character, who "speaks for the trees" and confronts the Once-ler, a business magnate who cause ...
''. On January 30, 2009, a group organized a
pub crawl A pub crawl (sometimes called a bar tour, bar crawl or bar-hopping) is the act of visiting multiple pubs or bars in a single session. Background Many European cities have public pub crawls that serve as social gatherings for local expatriates an ...
wearing Snuggies in
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, Ohio. In the following months they went on to complete over 40 more across the nation. Later, a group organized a Snuggie
pub crawl A pub crawl (sometimes called a bar tour, bar crawl or bar-hopping) is the act of visiting multiple pubs or bars in a single session. Background Many European cities have public pub crawls that serve as social gatherings for local expatriates an ...
in Chicago to raise money for an African orphanage, which led to similar events throughout the United States. An employee at
Americans for Tax Reform Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) is a politically conservative U.S. advocacy group whose stated goal is "a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today." According to ATR, "The government's power to control ...
, a conservative
think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
, started a Facebook page called "The Snuggie Cult" and convinced fellow conservatives including
Joe the Plumber Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher (; born December 3, 1973), commonly known as "Joe the Plumber", is an American conservative activist and commentator. He gained national attention during the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign season when, during a vide ...
,
Tucker Carlson Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson (born May 16, 1969) is an American television host, conservative political commentator and writer who has hosted the nightly political talk show ''Tucker Carlson Tonight'' on Fox News since 2016. Carlson began h ...
, and
Andrew Breitbart Andrew James Breitbart (; February 1, 1969 – March 1, 2012) was an American conservative journalist, and political commentator who was the founder of ''Breitbart News'' and a co-founder of ''HuffPost''. After helping in the early stages of '' ...
to pose wearing the robes. The phenomenon resulted in sales of the Snuggie and its rivals that far exceeded their distributors' expectations: more than 4 million Snuggies as of December 2009 and 1 million Slankets as of February 2009. The phenomenon has even resulted in variations such as "Snuggie for Dogs" and Snuggie with printed patterns. Australian radio program ''Labby, Camilla & Stav'' on
B105 B105 or B-105 may refer to: * B105 FM (call sign: 4BBB), a Mainstream CHR radio station broadcasting out of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia * B105, one of the B roads in Zone 1 of the Great Britain numbering scheme * WUBE, a country music radio sta ...
tested the claim that one can wear a Snuggie at sporting events, such as a soccer game, a football game or a basketball game. To test this, Labby and Stav wore Snuggies to a
State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval ...
game. The test was successful. They also dressed a statue of
Wally Lewis Walter James Lewis AM (born 1 December 1959) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s. He became a commentator for television coverage of the spo ...
, which stands in front of
Suncorp Stadium Lang Park, also known as Brisbane Football Stadium, by the sponsored name Suncorp Stadium, and nicknamed: 'The Cauldron', is a multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Milton. The current facility co ...
, in a Snuggie live on the air. Security guards found it amusing at first but it was removed shortly after. In the summer of 2009, the Designer Snuggie was released to the public, as well as the Snuggie for Kids and the Snuggie for Dogs. On March 5, 2010, at a
Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...
game, Snuggie wearers broke a world record for sleeved blanket wearing. Over 22,500 fans wore custom-made, limited edition Cavaliers Snuggie blankets for 5 minutes. A
Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
representative was on hand to present the official World Record certificate to
KeyBank KeyBank, the primary subsidiary of KeyCorp, is a regional bank headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and is the only major bank based in Cleveland. KeyBank is one of the largest banks in the United States. Key's customer base spans retail, small b ...
, the Cavaliers, and Snuggie. However, in just a little over a month the feat was broken during a
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...
home game when over 40,000 spectators wore a promotional
Hideki Matsui , nicknamed "Godzilla", is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter who played baseball in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Major League Baseball (MLB). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Matsui pl ...
sleeved blanket for five minutes. In March 2018, Allstar Marketing Group, owner of the "Snuggie" brand, was fined $7.5 million by the
US Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...
for deceptive marketing and to provide refunds to deceived customers.


Parodies

Several hundred parodies of the commercial have appeared on YouTube, as well as numerous fan pages on Facebook. Mockings of the product and its commercial have also been made by comedians such as
Daniel Tosh Daniel Dwight Tosh (born May 29, 1975) is an American comedian, writer, and producer. After graduating from the University of Central Florida with a degree in Marketing, Tosh moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in comedy. His career acceler ...
,
Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009 ...
,
Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer. She starred in the sitcom ''Ellen'' from 1994 to 1998, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for " The Puppy Episode". Sh ...
,
Bill Maher William Maher (; born January 20, 1956) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is known for the HBO political talk show ''Real Time with Bill Maher'' (2003–present) and the similar la ...
,
Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts ''Th ...
,
Whoopi Goldberg Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...
,
Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...
, Loulogio (in Spain),
Tim Hawkins Timothy Aaron Hawkins (born March 30, 1968) is an American Christian comedian, songwriter, and singer, best known for parodying popular songs such as Carrie Underwood's "Jesus, Take the Wheel", Kansas's "Dust in the Wind", and "The Candy Man", a ...
, and on ''
iCarly ''iCarly'' is an American teen sitcom created by Dan Schneider, which originally aired on Nickelodeon from September 8, 2007, to November 23, 2012. The series tells the story of Carly Shay (Miranda Cosgrove), a teenager who creates and hosts ...
'', as well as website parodies and Lacie and Olivia.
Jack Douglass John Patrick "Jack" Douglass (born June 30, 1988), better known as jacksfilms, is an American YouTuber. Douglass began his online career in 2006. His YouTube channel initially consisted of infomercial parodies, sketches, and comedic music vide ...
's YouTube parody, entitled "The WTF Blanket", has reached over 24 million views.


Commercial variations

The product was first commercialized as the ''Freedom Blanket''. The ''Slanket'' was created by Gary Clegg using a
sleeping bag A sleeping bag is an insulated covering for a person, essentially a lightweight quilt that can be closed with a zipper or similar means to form a tube, which functions as lightweight, portable bedding in situations where a person is sleeping o ...
in
Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
in 1998 (before the ''Snuggie''). Clegg's mother made him a blanket with a single sleeve for use in his cold dorm room. Clegg later developed that into the Slanket with two sleeves. The ''Snuggie'' sleeved blanket product has been sold in the United States, Canada, and Australia. It was marketed primarily through a memorable television commercial. As of January 2009, over 20 million of the product had been sold. Germany markets an electric version of the Snuggie that has a control with four temperature settings. The company markets the Snuggie via its website and television commercials along with many other as-seen-on-TV products. The ''Doojo'' sleeved blanket is a German product and its first prototype was created in 2005 by Darko Sulentic. Doojo is patented for all European countries and patent-pending in North America conditioned by its particular design of a sleeved blanket with integrated gloves. The product obtained already nine different awards for design and innovation and became extremely popular in Europe. Two additional colorful collections of blankets for babies and kids complete the range. Another well-known variant, the "Toasty Wrap", has been sold via infomercials hosted by
Montel Williams Montel Brian Anthony Williams (born July 3, 1956) is an American television host, actor and motivational speaker. He is known for hosting the long-running daytime tabloid talk show ''The Montel Williams Show'', which ran in syndication from 1991 ...
as a method for saving on heating costs. However, based on the similarities of the Toasty Wrap's advertising to that of Snuggie, brandfreak.com suggests that it is probable that both brands originate with the same manufacturer. The rock band
Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Scott Shriner (bass guitar, keyboards, backing v ...
released its own Snuggie blanket in November 2009; which is available in solid blue with the name "Weezer" on it in white font. It has been dubbed the "Wuggie". It is sometimes marketed as a "comfy blanket". A blanket called ''GO-GO Blanket'' holds the US patent for child-sized sleeved blankets. GO-GO Blanket was created as a travel blanket for children (up to size 5) which complies with federal safety regulations for car seats and strollers. GO-GO Blankets were created in 2007, by a grandmother in New Jersey who wanted to find a solution to keeping children safe and warm in a car seat without bulky winter wear. There is also an Italian version sold in Europe, Canada, and Japan called the "Kanguru" with a pocket in the middle. In 2017, a U.S. trade court ruled that the product should be classified as a blanket, rather than clothing, as government lawyers had been trying to claim. In the United States, the tariff on imported blankets is 8.5 percent, whereas the tariff on imported "pullover apparel" is significantly higher at 14.9 percent.Why a weird legal dispute about whether the Snuggie is a blanket actually matters a lot
''Washington Post''. Retrieved on March 6, 2017.


See also

*
Bathrobe A bathrobe, also known as a housecoat or a dressing gown, is a loose-fitting outer garment (a robe) worn by people, often after washing the body or around a pool. A bathrobe is considered to be very informal clothing, and is not worn with every ...
*
Blanket A blanket is a swath of soft cloth large enough either to cover or to enfold most of the user's body and thick enough to keep the body warm by trapping radiant body heat that otherwise would be lost through convection. Etymology The term ...
*
Cloak A cloak is a type of loose garment worn over clothing, mostly but not always as outerwear for outdoor wear, serving the same purpose as an overcoat, protecting the wearer from the weather. It may form part of a uniform. Cloaks have been and a ...
*
Hospital gown A hospital gown, sometimes called a johnny gown or johnny, especially in Canada and New England, is "a long loose piece of clothing worn in a hospital by someone doing or having an operation". It can be used as clothing for bedridden patients. Ut ...
*
Kitsch Kitsch ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste. The avant-garde opposed kitsch as melodramatic and superficial affiliation with ...
*
Robe A robe is a loose-fitting outer garment. Unlike garments described as capes or cloaks, robes usually have sleeves. The English word ''robe'' derives from Middle English ''robe'' ("garment"), borrowed from Old French ''robe'' ("booty, spoils" ...
*
Shawl A shawl (from fa, شال ''shāl'',) is a simple item of clothing from Kashmir, loosely worn over the shoulders, upper body and arms, and sometimes also over the head. It is usually a rectangular or square piece of cloth, which is often folded ...


References


External links


The Slanket of Con
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sleeved Blanket Gowns History of clothing (Western fashion) 2000s fashion 2010s fashion 2000s fads and trends