The Snuggie (pictured on the right) has been a big hit with over four million sold thanks to help from numerous mentions in blogs, lots of silly videos - like this one - and many Flickr photos. They even wore Snuggies on the Today Show. But the Snuggie was not the first blanket with sleeves idea. The Slanket, another blanket with sleeves, came out before the Snuggie reports the New York Times.
The Slanket, another blanket with sleeves, predates the Snuggie by more than two years.
Gary Clegg said it began in 1998, when he was a freshman at the University of Maine in Orono and living in a chilly dormitory. He cut a hole in his sleeping bag because his TV remote wouldn’t work through the fabric, and subsequently asked his mother to sew a sleeve onto it, he said. Mr. Clegg added a second sleeve and otherwise refined the design in the ensuing years. He gave the appendaged blankets as gifts to friends, and finally, with an investment from his brother, Jeff, mass-produced them and started selling them on Slanket.com in early 2006.
In 2007, the Slanket was picked up both by the QVC network, where Mr. Clegg appears regularly to pitch it, and by Skymall, the catalog tucked into airplane seat pockets. In 2008, Slanket revenue topped $4 million.
Gary Clegg's Slanket is a higher quality blanket that sells for $37.99. It costs more than a Snuggie but it is benefiting from the Snuggie's popularity. Clegg told the Times, "Their infomercial is raising general awareness about the product."
Newser says the Snuggie was beat by another blanket with sleeves called the Freedom Blanket that debuted in 2005. Here's a video from Forbes about the Slanket from March, 2007.
The Snuggie (pictured on the right) has been a big hit with over 
