Foot Fudge: How to Soften Loud Wood Floors With Kids Around

Kids are loud. Despite their tiny frames and low weight, toddlers make as much noise on hardwood floors as Clydesdales. A father and entrepreneur based in a Brooklyn, N.Y., apartment wants to dampen the noise (and let his downstairs neighbor live in peace in the process).

Introducing Foot Fudge, a noise-muffling slipper for children. Foot Fudge is a rubber-soled sock. The rubber outsole, combined with a memory foam insole, softens the noise from tiny feet running and stomping across hardwood floors.

The design came out of necessity. Creator Joe Cullen ripped up the carpet in his Brooklyn apartment when he first moved in. The hardwood underneath had no downsides until after Cullen was married and had a son, after which the downstairs neighbor complained that she could hear Cullen's son running around on the hardwood.

"We love our floors, and we don't want to change anything," Cullen told HF. "But there's a war between noise and the way you want to live."

Foot Fudge has been proven by a team of Hartford University undergrads to reduce footfall noise better than four other children's slippers on the market.

Cullen's design is patent pending. He plans to sell the product online at the Foot Fudge website and in stores. Foot Fudge will retail at $24.99. Cullen said he expects to launch a Kickstarter for the slippers early in 2015.