Honest review of Baabuk urban wooler in Lily (Swiss and family-owned brand) water-repellant and machine-washable sneakers

Dear friends, it’s been a while since I’ve updated philandmama.com and the reason is I’ve started a new venture in 2020 called Subtle Asian Baking (@subtleasian.baking and I’ve authored one cookbook called Modern Asian Baking at Home and I’m working on a second one!). I’m writing this review as I feel I owe it to my friends at Baabuk, who sent me a sample of their urban woolers (in summer limited-edition color Lily).

Baabuk is a Swiss and family-owned B-Corp-Certified small business that specializes in comfoy wool slippers, slip-ons, and runners . There’s a plethora of colors and styles to choose from, some seasonal and limited-editioned, all pretty aesthetically pleasing and cleanly designed.

What I like about Baabuk, as a company, is its commitment to their workers (fair pay) and the sustainable practices in sourcing their wool. As for the product, I love that these shoes are:

1) Machine-washable: I don’t like to wear socks. I own two pairs of socks, and only wear them when I go to homes of people who don’t offer slippers.

2) Water-repellant, naturally: I live in rainy Seattle, so water-repellant shoes are wonderful. These are not water-proof, please note that.

3) Gorgeous design and colors: I love the Lily with the pistachio green and cute orange tongue. There’s honestly a design and style for everyone.

4) Repair kit! You can purchase a repair kit for $7.50, if your shoes ever need mending. How cool is that?

5) Pricing is fair, at $135 for my urban woolers, so comparable with all your other wool sneaker brands like Allbirds, Giesswein, etc…

6) A form to suggest products for Baabuk! Who doesn’t love a brand or company that actually listens and gathers feedback from the clientele??

7) Cute elastic laces! I hate shoelaces, so these elastic laces are must-haves, making these shoes more like slip-ons than sneakers with laces.

Now…

What leaves me desiring?

1) Must air dry after machine-washing. To be fair, almost all shoes should be air-dried.

2) No kid sizes. Just being picky here

3) No half sizes. My shoes do feel a little tight at my standard UK size of 38. I recommend sizing up. You’ll have to return shoes that are unused/unworn, so be aware of that, within 30 days. Baabuk does have this program where you can gift your shoe that’s sized wrong to a friend and then you can get 50% off your next pair, but it’s not exactly as optimal as a free exchange, unless you have a friend who needs new shoes!

4) Return policy is not as generous as Allbirds’ tho I understand where small businesses are coming from, you can’t just keep donating worn shoes and offer a new pair in exchange.

5) If I can think of anything else, I’ll leave it here, but overall, I’m pretty happy with these shoes!! They’re pretty cute! What do you think, fam? See how happy my sockless feet are? They did get just slightly moist after a few hours in these shoes, sans walking, just sitting as I type this out and working on other content before my computer. There has been no funk or stink yet, so I’m hopeful, and I’ll be wearing these to go-karting in just a bit!!

Happy walking always, and see you over at modernasianbaking.com and @subtleasian.baking! <3