What is a Slanket®?

The old adage that necessity is the mother of invention proved to be true in the case of the Slanket®. A blanket with built-in arms, the Slanket® is the brainchild of Gary Clegg. When Gary Clegg was a freshman at the University of Maine, he found that his room was too chilly to bear without a blanket. The problem was that his remote control would not operate from underneath the blanket. On his next trip home, Gary Clegg charged his mother with the task of adding sleeves to a blanket, and so the Slanket® was born.

The Slanket® is made from polyester microfiber fleece, a man-made material, and is machine washable. The material is lightweight and insulating, resulting in a non-bulky and warm product. The company states that the fabric is non-pilling, and consumer testimony supports this claim. This blanket with arms is available in two sizes, adults and children. The adult-sized Slanket® measures 60 by 95 inches (152.4 by 241.3 centimeters) and the child-sized Slanket® measures 44 by 66 inches (111.76 by 167.64 cm).

The Slanket® is available from the product's official website for $44.95 US Dollars plus shipping, as well as other vendors. The Website states that a percentage of all sales from the site will go to charitable organizations. The donations are divvied up depending on the color of the blanket ordered. Proceeds from green, brown and gray Slankets® will help the Natural Resources Defense Council, a worldwide organization set up to protect wildlife and their habitats. The sale of lavender, ruby wine and apricot Slankets® benefits the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, while a portion of all blue Slanket® sales benefits H20 Africa, an organization dedicated to solving the African water crisis.

The Slanket® has drawn a small, dedicated band of followers, dubbed "Slanketeers" by the company. Since its conception in 1998, the Slanket® has garnered notable media praise, including a spot on Forbes Video Network and several articles in magazines such as Atlanta Life, Accessories and Maximum PC. The main source of contentment with the Slanket® seems to be that it is lightweight, warm and the arms leave one's arms free to move about while relaxing under the blanket portion. In the years since the invention of the Slanket®, several imitation products have popped up, including the Snuggie™ and the Nuddle Blanket™, but the Slanket® seems to have the most die-hard followers.