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Lost in translation: Tom Boddingham says he's the proud owner of a slipper that's "the same length as a grizzly bear or a family car."
Shopping for footwear online is always fraught with a measure of peril. As a rather astonishing case in point, consider the tale of Tom Boddingham, 27, of London, England.
Boddingham special-ordered a size 14.5 slipper for his left foot, which is slightly larger than his right foot – and said he was shocked when he received a size 1,450 slipper in the mail instead.
The Chinese manufacturer who made the slipper said workers missed the decimal point in Boddingham’s order. The slipper he got is 7 feet long.
Monster Slippers — a UK company whose slogan is “for the animal in you” — has apologized to Boddingham for sending him a slipper the size of a very large animal (or a small car).
“We have apologized to Mr. Boddingham and are making him a replacement slipper of the right dimensions,” a spokesman for Monster Slippers said. A spokesperson for the factory in China said workers thought the slipper was for a store window display.
For his part, Boddingham seems to be taking the whole experience in (furry) stride. He said he’s planning to sell his enormous shoe on eBay.
“I reckon I must be the owner of the biggest slipper in the world,” he told the UK newspaper The Telegraph. “I’m going to sell it online and if I can make a few quid out of it, then all the better.”
Of course, the shipment of one GIANT monster slipper (and one much-smaller one) begs the question: Any chance this was a public relations stunt? Speculation has started swirling in that direction, but Monster Slippers is insisting the manufacturer's mistake was an honest one.
“Have you ever been to China?” Danny Jennings, the director of Monster Slippers, told the UK's Guardian newspaper. “Lots gets lost in communications. This was one of those situations.”
However, the revelation that Boddingham bears a striking resemblance to Monster Slippers' website manager Joe Jennings has led to even more assertions that the story must be a stunt.
Stay tuned to The Look for updates on the great Slipper Saga — which, under any circumstances, involves what just might be the coolest slipper ever made.
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Leave a Comment:
Dont sell it. Keep it for movie night, snuggle with your loved one, looks so comfy!
I agree, keep it. It's unique and it does look comfy. Besides if he ever has a kid imagine how much they'd love it as a bed.
Yes, that would make a cute toddler bed!
I can't imagine how much shipping would cost him if he were to sell it on eBay. How do you find a box large enough for a shoe that's almost as big as a car?!?
There is no way their manufacturing process for slippers would handle one that large, the machines used would literally have to be completely different. Besides that I would imagine the ordering system itself would have a range of acceptable sizes. If that fails, I would imagine the machinery would just default to some size.