STEP INS

Pat here. So what do step in shoes have to do with Kdramas? Everything!

If you watch as many Kdramas as I do, then you’ve noticed Koreans do not wear shoes at home. Rather, they don’t wear their street shoes at home. They put on house shoes as soon as they get home. I call them slippers. I have no idea what they call them. (You don't think they call them slippers? ~ Judy)

How can they handle lace up shoes so quickly?

I always marvel at how easily they shed their shoes and put on the slippers. Even more remarkable is how they reverse the process. They can get back into their street shoes in no time flat. And even better than that, they don’t have to sit on a bench to struggle into their shoes. They just step in.

These step in shoes have become a new phenomenon in the USA. The New York Times published an article today on “snoafers”, a recent addition to the New Balance shoe line that is a mashup of a loafer and a sneaker. (To tell the truth, they’re rather unbecoming if you can describe a shoe that way.) My husband just purchased a Kitzik brand shoe that has a heel that collapses and then springs back so he never has to untie and tie his shoelaces. It’s a miracle!

Genius, yes? And I contribute the rising popularity of these types of shoes to the world wide interest in Asian culture; and more specifically to Kdramas watchers. Hey, in my house we now leave our street shoes at the front door (and the back door and the side door and the garage door) and put on our house shoes, and I’m attributing it all to Kdrama watching.

Judy ~ In The Trauma Code the young doctor flat out runs in Crocs…. Huh? How can anyone do that in loose shoes??? For me, my Hokas are cinched tight so I can walk around without twisting an ankle... in true Gmama style!