In a bustling trade show in 2007, Sock It to Me first crossed paths with Sock City, a family-owned business with a passion for socks. We sat down with them, to uncover the tale behind this enduring partnership and the magic of novelty socks.
How did you find Sock City? How did our relationship begin?
"We actually met Carrie fairly early on when we opened in 2007 at a trade show. It was a little tiny booth, and she didn't have nearly as many styles as she does now. But she was so passionate about what she was making, and the quality of the socks was really unmatched from anything we had seen. It was a no-brainer for us to bring Sock It To Me into our store. So we worked directly with Carrie for a little while, but she was already gaining notoriety in the press, and fairly quickly the company expanded, and we began working with the in-house sales rep. It's been a wonderful partnership ever since!"
What makes Sock It to Me a unique offering and compliment to your business?
"Sock It To Me was one of the first brands that we carried that really dove into the novelty aspect of socks. We had others that had the usual style with the item kinda all over and repeating patterns. Which of course Sock It To Me had as well but then you began introducing whole pictures and things wrapping around and just stuff that no one else was had, and it was all so much fun! The mustache socks and the bacon ones were the first that really took off, and we sold soooooo many of them, it was crazy! At Sock City all we do is socks so SITM really was a great addition to our offerings and has just gotten better and better with each season."
Do you have any seasonal strategy in how you stock and order from SITM?
"I always, always, always pre-book! I know that it helps you out when you're placing your manufacturing orders to already know ahead of time what you can sell, but it helps us as the retailer to know big restocks are coming at set times during the year. After that, it's really just keeping up with trends in the consumer market and keeping up on replenishment on those popular styles. The one thing that I've always appreciated about SITM also is that you keep a good stock on hand, so I don't really worry too much about being able to get things back in stock that are selling like hotcakes!"
At Sock It to Me, we're not just about socks; we're about fostering partnerships, igniting creativity, and spreading joy—one sock at a time.
