Courtesy of Brunch
Upon checking into a hotel room, one of the first things many look for in the closet, bathroom, or by the bed is the fresh pair of brand-new hotel slippers waiting for us to unwrap and use. Inexplicably, this simple act signals to our brains that it is time to relax, unwind, and officially begin our vacation.
There is a range of behavior surrounding the love of the lowly hotel slipper: from only wearing them in your room; to those who passionately collect them from every hotel they visit and bring them home to enjoy, squirreling them away in the backs of their closets; and those who take their love of hotel slippers to another level, out of their natural habitat, and deign to wear them into bars, airports, and other public places.
Wherever you land on this issue, a new brand that recently popped up in town, Brunch is aiming to give you that just-checked-into-my-favorite-hotel feeling, hoping to provide you with a full range of hotel lifestyle products from slippers and key chains to towels, robes, and beyond.
Courtesy of Brunch
“We launched the brand two years ago as a homage to a leisurely lifestyle, fueled by the hotel slipper,” said co-founder Daniel Sitt. “Every time I travel, I love to collect the slippers of the hotels where I stay. When back home, I like to wear and rotate the slippers from my collection — for the feeling of being transported back to each respective vacation.“
His love of these slippers led him to thinking about how they could become more functional for everyday use. He added a durable sole, arch support, and used a material called EVA that Nike uses in their sneakers — “improving the upper lip with increased cushioning via a terry material that is engineered to be antimicrobial, quick drying, machine-washable, and soft-to-the-skin.”
The one thing he insisted they maintain, however, was the classic silhouette of a hotel slipper.
Courtesy of Brunch
Brunch was launched in Sitt’s hometown of New York City as a temporary pop-up and has been very clever about their marketing and growth. Being a Gen Z-driven enterprise, Sitt and his partners have approached things differently than how their predecessors have. Instead of investing in traditional marketing and paid ads on Instagram, they created a buzz through organic storytelling and outreach to younger consumers, like doing an impromptu guerilla shoot at The Plaza Hotel in NY by checking in, ordering room service, creating fun images of overindulgence with their slipper at the center, and releasing those photos on social.
They now have a partnership with The Plaza.
“What we do differently than older brands is keep a strong focus on meaning/storytelling in addition to creating strong products, “Sitt said. “We learned that you can’t treat every customer like a number on a spreadsheet i.e., Instagram ads, which we don’t do. The focus must be on building the brand organically and slowly through energetic moments that create conversation and word of mouth amongst our community.”
Courtesy of Brunch
The opportunity to pop up in Aspen this winter at 517 E. Hopkins presented itself suddenly about three weeks ago. The Brunch team decided they couldn’t pass up the chance to spend the winter here, with Sitt citing that he has been coming here with his family “for as long as he can remember” and considers it the perfect place to showcase his products.
“If you think about the classic Aspen activities — skiing and snowboarding — they require a long recovery period at the end of each day,” he said. “Whether it be at an après or a spa, this is exactly what our product is created for. Comfort and recovery. Personally, there is not a vacation that I wear my Brunch shoes more than when I’m in Aspen.”
