ONE of the most memorable, and parodied, of current infomercials is for the Snuggie, a blanket with sleeves whose users resemble converts to a cozy cult. Jay Leno mocked the Snuggie in a monologue (“Why don’t you just put your robe on backwards?”), as did Ellen DeGeneres on her syndicated show (“They should throw in a pointed hat so you can look like a wizard.”)

On CNN recently, a segment on the Snuggie  four million of which have sold since it began advertising in October  said it “has spawned all sorts of online imitators” and later mentioned the Slanket as one “of the other versions of the Snuggie out there.”

But it turns out that the Snuggie is actually the imitator.

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.