San Francisco startups embrace shoes-off office trend, inspired by home habits

A viral photo from San Francisco shows neatly lined-up shoes outside the office of Cursor, an AI startup founded in 2022 by MIT alumni Aman Sanger, Michael Truell, Sualeh Asif, and Arvid Lunnemark. Employees are asked to leave their footwear outside before entering—a practice spreading across other startups, including Replo, Spur, Speak, Flowhub, and Composite.

The trend, reminiscent of the Indian custom of removing shoes at home or in temples, is said to keep offices clean and create a relaxed, home-like atmosphere. At Spur in Manhattan, employees and visitors wear provided slippers, which co-founder Sneha Sivakumar says “disarms you in a positive way” and fosters respect for the workspace.

Stanford economist Nick Bloom links the practice to post-pandemic office culture, where habits from working from home—dubbed the “pajama economy”—are influencing in-office norms. While shoes-off is standard in Indian households, it remains unusual in corporate offices, even in India’s startup hubs like Bengaluru.With TOI inputs