Lakes Region Getaway Inspires Brand of Slipper Socks

Kara Brunetta, originally from Central Massachusetts, sought refuge from the daily hustle and bustle at her summer home in Wolfeboro for years. Her only complaint was she always had to throw on sneakers or boots to leave her house, even for a quick trip for the mail.   

Now a full-time Wolfeboro resident, Brunetta was determined to make lake life even better by developing her own line of cozy slipper socks that can be worn outside. 

Dubbed Winnies (after her beloved Lake Winnipesaukee), Brunetta’s line of slipper socks come with magnets that attach to a waterproof outdoor over-sock— made with a flexible sole—that allows wearers to quickly go from the couch to the yard and back without much fuss or a permanent sole, she says.

“I’m not a slipper person. I do not like the hard soles of a slipper. I wear slipper socks year-round,” says Brunetta. She first got the idea for Winnies in 2015 but it took two years before she fully developed the product. By 2018, she started selling them at a craft show in the Lakes Region. “I found people shared my same frustration,” she says. She has since patented her product. 

As she grows her business, Brunetta is also giving back to the community. This past winter, Winnies partnered with Allie Caps, a NH business that makes hand-knit winter beanies, to offer special “Winter Cozy Bundles,” with $20 of each sale donated to End 68 Hours of Hunger, a NH-based nonprofit that provides children with food over the weekend so they do not go hungry between lunch on Friday afternoon and the free breakfast they receive at school on Monday morning. Winnies also donates a portion of all sales, year-round, to a summer camp scholarship at Camp Sentinel in Tuftonboro that benefits local kids.

Brunetta, whose day job is in sales for a consumer product company, sells Winnies online and says sales are going well. “It’s been a great journey. Through COVID there were supply chain issues and it was a challenge. But I had great 2022 fall and holiday seasons,” she says, adding sales grew 57% over last season. She has also found success marketing on YouTube to people interested in RVs, camping and cabin living.

“I truly believe Winnies will be a household name someday,” Brunetta says. “When you demo it, which is why YouTube works well for me, people’s jaws drop, and they get it.” For more information, visit winnies
socks.com.