Welcome to 'AI in Retail Narratives: A Socksmith Guide to Tech-Savvy Content,' where we unravel the complex skein of artificial intelligence in the retail world. AI's role in shaping the narratives of our products and brands has never been more significant. But like any tale of innovation, this one has twists and turns. In this piece, we'll explore the dual sides of AI in content creation—the bright, promising benefits and the shadowy, nuanced challenges. We'll offer practical tips for retailers ready to navigate this new frontier with confidence and creativity. Whether you're a seasoned tech adopter or just dipping your toes into digital waters, join us as we discover how AI can transform your storytelling, from product descriptions to customer engagement, without losing the human touch that customers cherish.
Integrating AI into content creation offers many benefits that can revolutionize how retailers engage with their audience.
From crafting personalized product descriptions to streamlining marketing efforts, the potential of AI to elevate brand narratives and engage customers is immense; this technology can significantly enhance how retailers communicate their brand's story and values.
Here are several key benefits for retailers employing AI:
The advent of AI in content creation marks a pivotal shift towards efficiency and scalability in retail marketing. For Socksmith retailers, this translates into the ability to effortlessly generate a wide variety of content at speed, from captivating product descriptions that highlight the unique appeal of each sock design to engaging blog posts that weave the rich tapestry of the brand's story. Social media content, a crucial component of modern retail marketing, can be produced and scheduled in batches, ensuring a consistent and vibrant online presence that captivates and grows the customer base.
AI's capacity to generate high-quality content quickly means that retailers can respond in real-time to trends, seasonal changes, and customer feedback, adapting their marketing strategies with agility and precision. Furthermore, the scalability of AI-driven content creation allows retailers to expand their marketing efforts across multiple platforms and regions without significant increases in budget or human resources. AI can quickly generate product descriptions, blog posts, and social media content, allowing retailers to maintain a fresh and engaging online presence. Campaigns can be scaled without a proportional increase in effort or cost.
The magic of AI in retail extends into its ability to dissect and understand vast amounts of customer data, transforming it into customized content that speaks directly to an individual's needs, preferences, and interests. For Socksmith retailers, this means being able to offer a curated shopping experience to each customer, whether it's suggesting the perfect pair of novelty socks based on their browsing history or sending a personalized email that feels handcrafted just for them.
By analyzing past purchase behavior, search queries, and even social media interactions, AI can identify patterns and preferences unique to each customer. This information then informs content creation, from targeted promotions to personalized product recommendations, making every communication feel thoughtfully tailored. The result? Customers are more likely to engage with the content and visit your website or store, knowing they're not just another face in the crowd but a valued individual whose tastes and preferences are recognized and celebrated.
Maintaining a consistent brand voice across all customer touchpoints is crucial for building trust and a strong, recognizable brand identity. AI tools offer an unparalleled advantage in achieving this consistency when effectively harnessed. By training AI models on a comprehensive dataset of your brand’s existing content—from website copy and blog posts to social media updates and email newsletters—these intelligent systems learn to replicate the tone, style, and nuances that make your brand uniquely *you*.
AI-driven content creation tools are not just prolific writers; they're also savvy SEO strategists. These tools naturally integrate keywords, meta descriptions, and optimized headers into content, aligning with SEO best practices without compromising readability or engagement. This capability ensures that Socksmith retailers' online content is compelling to readers and highly visible to search engines. Retailers can significantly improve their search engine ranking by enhancing the SEO friendliness of product descriptions, blog posts, and other digital content. These improvements increase organic traffic, drawing more potential customers to explore and engage with their offerings, ultimately driving sales and brand visibility in the crowded online marketplace.
Beyond content creation, AI offers advanced analytics to measure the performance of different types of content. Retailers can use these insights to refine their content strategy, focusing on what works best for their audience.
By tapping into the power of AI for content creation, Socksmith's retailers can streamline their marketing efforts and create more meaningful and personalized interactions with their customers. This blend of efficiency, personalization, and insight offers a clear competitive advantage in the bustling retail landscape.
While AI presents many opportunities for revolutionizing retail content creation, it's not without challenges. Embracing AI technology requires understanding and navigating these hurdles to harness its potential fully. For Socksmith's retailers, the journey towards AI integration includes innovation and introspection.
Here are several challenges retailers may face as they begin to employ AI in their content creation:
A considerable challenge in integrating AI into retail content creation is developing a comprehensive understanding of AI's capabilities and limitations. At the heart of this challenge is recognizing that while AI can remarkably speed up content production and handle a vast array of data-driven tasks, its proficiency in capturing the essence of human emotion and brand identity nuances is still evolving.
AI systems, for instance, can generate product descriptions or marketing content in seconds, pulling from an extensive database of language patterns and industry-specific information. AI may produce technically accurate and stylistically consistent content, but it might lack the warmth, humor, or empathy that comes naturally to human creators.
For Socksmith's retailers, navigating this challenge means leveraging AI for what it does best—generating content efficiently, analyzing customer data, and optimizing for search engines—while relying on human insight for final touches that add depth, warmth, and personality to the content.
Ensuring content remains authentic to the brand's voice is crucial. AI may not fully grasp the subtleties that define a brand's unique voice or the emotional undertones that resonate with its audience. AI-generated content can sometimes lack the personal touch or the nuanced understanding of customer needs that human writers provide, making it essential to strike the right balance.
Implementing AI requires an upfront investment in technology, time, and training. Retailers must allocate resources to train AI systems to align with their brand voice and content standards, a process that can be time-consuming and costly.
Even with AI, human oversight remains necessary to ensure content quality and relevance. Retailers must review AI-generated content for accuracy, brand alignment, and customer engagement, adding another layer to the content creation process.
The pace of AI development means retailers must continuously update their knowledge and tools. Staying abreast of technological advancements is essential to leveraging AI effectively without falling behind.
Despite these challenges, the journey towards AI integration in content creation is not impossible. With careful planning, ongoing education, and strategic implementation, retailers can cleanly navigate these hurdles. By doing so, they can unlock AI's full potential, ensuring their content remains engaging, authentic, and ahead of the curve in the retail landscape.
When Socksmith retailers work to integrate AI into their content creation processes, their path will likely include learning curves and opportunities. Understanding AI's capabilities is just the beginning; mastering its application can transform how you connect with customers. Here are practical tips and examples to guide retailers in harnessing AI's power effectively and creatively.
A Socksmith retailer could use AI to analyze customer purchase history and preferences and then automatically generate personalized email campaigns recommending products similar to past purchases. Customers receive personal and authentic content by combining AI's analytical power with customized messages that reflect the retailer's unique voice.
By following these tips, Socksmith retailers can effectively leverage AI to streamline content creation and enhance the depth and relevance of their communication with customers. When used wisely, AI becomes an invaluable ally in crafting compelling narratives that captivate and engage.
As we pull our socks up at the end of this exploration into AI's role in retail content creation, it's clear that we're just at the beginning of a fascinating journey. The landscape of retail narratives is rapidly changing, with AI playing a pivotal role in shaping how stories are told, products are showcased, and customers are engaged. For Socksmith retailers, integrating AI offers a unique opportunity to blend traditional storytelling with cutting-edge technology, ensuring that every product description, blog post, and social media update is seen and felt by customers worldwide.
Embracing AI doesn't mean losing the human touch that makes Socksmith's content unique. Instead, it enhances human creativity with AI's efficiency, precision, and scale. It's about using AI to uncover insights that might otherwise remain hidden, personalizing experiences in authentic ways, and freeing up valuable time to focus on what humans do best—connecting, empathizing, and inspiring.
The road ahead is dotted with challenges and opportunities, but with a thoughtful approach and a willingness to experiment, Socksmith retailers can navigate this new landscape successfully. By staying informed, remaining adaptable, and always prioritizing the authenticity and warmth that defines the Socksmith brand, retailers can ensure that their use of AI in content creation is as seamless and comfortable as the socks they sell.
So, as we sign off on this guide, remember: in the world of retail, AI may be the loom, but human creativity is the artisan that turns the ordinary into the extraordinary. Here's to a future where AI helps us tell our stories in more engaging, efficient, and expressive ways—a future where every sock fits perfectly and speaks to customers' hearts everywhere.
Welcome to the 'Commanding Sales' guide, where Socksmith meets President's Day in a symphony of style and historical flair. As a retailer, you're not just selling socks; you're opening a drawer to the past, showcasing a lineup of foot fashion that would make even the Founding Fathers pause in their tracks.
Socksmith has you covered, from presidential faces gracing your shelves to socks inspired by their lesser-known hobbies and interests. This President's Day, let's march into sales history, turning your store into a whimsical walk through America's presidential past—where every pair is a conversation starter. Stock up, style up, and prepare to lead your sales to excellence!
This President's Day, transform your retail space into a historical haven with Socksmith's exclusive line of Historical Figures Socks. Create a “Hall of Presidents” display to entice your customers to celebrate America's leaders in style. Line your displays with these familiar Presidential faces:
President Washington: Step into the shoes of America's first president (and face of the cha-ching! dollar bill) with these classic socks. They are perfect for history buffs and patriotic patrons, featuring Washington's stoic image. They're a cornerstone for any presidential display.
President Lincoln: Abe Lincoln lost five separate elections before being elected—a reminder that we don't fail until we give up. Pay homage to Honest Abe and stock these in men's and women's styles to appeal to a wide range of customers.
President FDR: FDR's presidency still widely affects us today. Social Security? FDR. Minimum wage? FDR again. The UN? Yup, you guessed it. He had a big part in that, too. Commemorate the bold leadership of Franklin D. Roosevelt with these unique socks.
President JFK: Embrace the charismatic aura of JFK with these elegantly designed socks. Capturing Kennedy's youthful vigor and iconic style, they are a perfect homage to the president known for his inspirational speeches and visionary leadership. Ideal for customers who admire JFK's profound impact on American culture and politics, these socks offer a blend of sophistication and historical reverence.
President Lyndon B. Johnson: Step into the bold legacy of LBJ with these distinctive socks. Known for his larger-than-life personality and pivotal role in shaping modern America, Johnson's socks are a tribute to his impactful presidency. Perfect for those who admire his commitment to civil rights and social reform, these socks are a powerful statement in any historical collection.
President Obama: Step forward with the inspirational Barack Obama socks. Celebrating a more modern chapter in presidential history, these socks capture the essence of change and progress.
And for those who admire the influential figures behind the presidents, Socksmith offers First Lady Eleanor, Lady Bird, and First Lady Michelle Socks. Pair them with an FDR, LBJ, or a Barack pair to showcase some of America's most influential couples!
Beyond the grandeur of the Oval Office and the gravitas of political decisions, Presidents of the United States have harbored unique hobbies and interests that humanize these historical figures. You can use Socksmith's creatively designed socks to connect customers with these intriguing presidential quirks. From Lincoln's love for cats to JFK's sailing passion, each pair of socks becomes a narrative thread weaving history and style together.
Lincoln's fondness for felines is a lesser-told tale. He loved his kitties and even welcomed cats into the White House. Celebrate this endearing trait with Socksmith's purr-fectly adorable cat-themed socks, including the comfy and colorful Cat in a Box, Cat’s Meow, and Boop, delightful for cat lovers and history enthusiasts alike.
Post-presidency, Eisenhower discovered a passion for outdoor activities, including golf, camping, and fishing. Celebrate this president’s love of the green with Tee it Up and Par for the Course. Complete your camp display with Happy Camper, Light My Fire, and Just Fishin’.
Commemorate how Theodore Roosevelt's hunting trip led to the creation of the iconic teddy bear. Socksmith’s Fishing Upstream, Bear it All hiking sock, and the Warm and Cozy Beary Woodsy socks feature beautiful bears that pay homage to Roosevelt’s refusal to hunt an injured creature.
JFK's love for sailing, a testament to his adventurous spirit, can be mirrored in Socksmith's nautical-themed socks like Sailor Stripe, Lobster Fair Isle, or Don’t Rock the Boat, which are perfect for Kennedy admirers and fellow enthusiasts of the sea.
In showcasing these unique presidential pastimes through Socksmith's vibrant collection, you offer customers a whimsical and personal connection to America's history. These socks aren’t just a fashion statement; they celebrate the diverse personalities that have shaped the nation. Let novel displays tell these intriguing stories and add a touch of presidential character to every sale.
You can round out your retail shelves with the Presidential spirit of Washington, D.C., with Socksmith's Americana collection. Perfect for President's Day, these socks offer a stylish nod to our nation, embodying the essence of American history and pride.
Cheerful Cherry Blossom Socks: Celebrate Washington, D.C.'s famous cherry blossom season with these beautifully designed socks. They're a subtle nod to the capital's renowned Cherry Blossom Festival and a perfect spring item.
American Flag Socks: With the classic American Flag socks, every President's Day display is complete. These cheerfully mismatched cotton socks embody the nation's spirit and are a perennial customer favorite.
Old Glory Active Crew: Offering a twist on the traditional American flag design, these athletic socks are a fun and fashionable way for customers to express their patriotism on or off the field.
As we stitch up our exploration of presidential quirks and their connections to Socksmith's eclectic range, it's clear that each sock tells a story—a blend of history, personality, and style. By showcasing these unique designs, you offer customers more than just comfort for their feet; you provide a conversation piece, a history lesson, and a personal expression rolled into one. As you prepare for President's Day, remember that these socks are a way to celebrate the lighter side of history and connect with customers in an unexpectedly delightful way. Continue your journey here if you’d like to explore more fascinating presidential facts and their sock counterparts.
Echoing the sentiments of our nation's leaders: With unity and purpose, let's march towards a successful President's Day, one sock at a time.
Here’s to a successful sales season where history, humor, and style walk side by side!
Kicking off the New Year, Socksmith remains dedicated to keeping feet warm and stylish and ensuring hearts are met with the same warmth through exceptional customer service. We sat down with our resident experts, Maria, our Customer Service Manager (featured below right); Henry, Director of Operations (below middle); and Courtney, our Customer Service Lead (below left)—to gather wisdom on creating successful customer interactions. Their insights offer a blend of empathy, honesty, and dedication, forming the backbone of Socksmith’s customer service ethos. From handling difficult situations gracefully to building a genuinely caring team, let’s step into their world and discover how to make each customer experience as comfortable and delightful as our socks.
In the bustling world of retail, providing standout service is much like knitting a perfect sock— it requires skill, attention, and, above all, empathy. In this section, we delve into the heartwarming stories and invaluable lessons from our own Socksmith team. They share strategies and real-life examples of how empathy forms the core of our customer interactions. Each anecdote and piece of advice is a testament to the power of understanding and compassion in building strong, positive customer relationships. So, let’s pull up our comfiest chair and unravel the threads of empathetic customer service that make shopping with us a uniquely heartening experience.
In retail, respect is the fabric that binds customer satisfaction with brand loyalty. At Socksmith, our team members have woven this essential value into every interaction. Let's hear how Maria, Henry, and Courtney ensure every customer feels genuinely respected.
Maria, Customer Service Manager:
Maria emphasizes the art of listening. "It's crucial not to speak until the customer has finished talking." By asking questions and showing genuine interest, Maria fully understands their concerns. "I treat their issues with the same concern and understanding I would expect," she adds, highlighting the golden rule of customer service.
Henry, Director of Operations:
Henry takes a slightly different approach, focusing on non-verbal cues. "Maintaining good eye contact and not interrupting are key. It shows you're fully engaged and value what they say," he points out. This simple act of attentive listening forms the cornerstone of respectful service.
Courtney, Customer Service Lead:
Courtney's method involves a sticky note reminder to let customers finish before responding. "I repeat their concerns in my own words to confirm my understanding," she shares. This practice shows respect and ensures clarity in addressing customer needs.
Each of these perspectives, while unique, centers around the core principle of respect. Customer service is not just about solving problems but doing so in a manner that makes others feel heard, valued, and understood.
In an era where genuine honesty is often as hard to find as that one missing sock, Socksmith distinguishes itself by prioritizing truthfulness in every customer interaction. Our team members shared their insights on how honesty is not just a best practice but a cornerstone of a brand’s integrity.
Maria believes in being as truthful as possible. She skillfully balances honesty with tact, ensuring she's "clear and concise without being condescending." Maria’s approach reflects a deep respect for the customer's intelligence and emotions.
Henry views honesty as non-negotiable. His straightforward approach—"Honesty is the best policy, even if it's not what customers want to hear"—reflects his commitment to integrity. For Henry, truthful communication builds trust, even in challenging situations.
Courtney navigates honesty with a blend of transparency and tact. She advocates for being "as honest as you can be" but recognizes the need for careful communication in sensitive situations. Her approach underscores the importance of skillful word choices in maintaining a positive and honest dialogue.
At Socksmith, honesty is more than just a policy; it's a thread woven into our interactions, building trust and lasting customer relationships. Our team’s commitment to sincerity ensures that every customer feels valued and respected.
In the retail dance, stepping on toes is inevitable, but how we continue the dance makes all the difference. At Socksmith, we sometimes encounter challenging customers and staying positive is critical to transforming these encounters. Let's explore how our team members keep their spirits high even when the going gets tough.
Maria has a unique approach to maintaining positivity: she mentally recites the Our Father prayer. This personal method helps her find patience and composure. "Handling the situation as if I am dealing with an upset toddler," she says, allows her to empathize and stay respectful. Even in the most challenging interactions, she knows that it’s crucial to remember that everyone deserves caring consideration.
Henry turns to deep breathing and self-reminders that he cannot control others' actions. Recognizing that a demanding customer might be having a bad day helps him offer empathy and space, which is essential in de-escalating tense situations.
Courtney focuses on staying objective and solution-oriented. She admits that face-to-face or voice-to-voice interactions may be challenging, especially when emotions run high. Her strategy involves focusing on solutions rather than emotions, leaning towards empathy, and remembering that it's not personal.
Each team member has their way of staying positive, but the common thread is the understanding that each complex interaction is an opportunity to demonstrate Socksmith’s commitment to excellent service. It's about finding that inner calm and remembering the human element in every conversation.
Assembling a team that meets and exceeds customer service expectations is like finding the perfect pair of socks: it requires attention to detail, understanding the fit, and ensuring comfort. At Socksmith, we take pride in our team, and here's how we ensure we're bringing on the right people to create positive customer experiences.
Maria looks for candidates who naturally exude empathy, patience, and consistency. She believes these qualities are non-negotiable in customer service. "A good listener who shows genuine concern is vital," Maria says, highlighting the importance of hiring those who connect on a human level.
Henry emphasizes the need for a sense of urgency and respect. He seeks individuals who can communicate clearly and positively. He often role-plays scenarios during interviews to assess how potential hires might handle real-world customer interactions.
Although not directly involved in hiring, Courtney points out that the best customer service professionals she has worked with are genuinely invested in helping others. She values self-reflection and empathy in her colleagues, qualities that make someone excellent at customer service.
At Socksmith, building a solid team is about finding those who naturally align with our values of empathy, respect, and effective communication. It's about ensuring that each team member is not just a fit for the role but is also a comfortable fit within our company culture, much like the perfect pair of socks in a favorite shoe.
As we snugly tie up the final loops of our conversation, it's evident that the journey of providing exceptional customer service is a dynamic dance of empathy, honesty, and understanding. At Socksmith, we're committed to keeping feet warm and stylish and ensuring that the hearts behind every transaction receive equal warmth and care.
To our fellow retailers stepping into 2024, we extend our warmest wishes for success and joy in every interaction. Remember, whether tackling challenging customers or knitting together the perfect team, the principles of respect, sincerity, and positivity are your steadfast companions.
The Socksmith team stands with you, ready to provide support, inspiration, and, of course, socks that speak volumes of comfort and style. Here's to a year of happy customers, thriving businesses, and experiences as comfortable and delightful as our socks. May your aisles be busy, your smiles genuine, and your feet—and hearts—always warm.
What's up, trendsetters? Let’s get real for a moment. Socks aren't just a fashion statement; they're a lifestyle. And who better to guide you through this journey than the Socksmith Sales Team? This unstoppable team works tirelessly to make sure your style is never compromised. Think of them as the curators of your foot wardrobe, the wizards behind the curtain, connecting our kick-ass designs with your fashionable feet.
Stick around; you're about to meet the connoisseurs of comfort and style.
Picture this: It’s autumn in New England. The leaves are a breathtaking mosaic of colors, and there’s a crisp breeze in the air. Like the renowned New England charm, our New England sales team—consisting of Janet Spurr and Ann Stewart—adds a unique and vibrant flair to your sock drawers and store shelves.
In New England, trust and connections are as valuable as a cup of clam chowder on a cold day. Janet and Ann understand this and make it their mission to build rapport with every store owner and buyer. Ann brings her charm to Maine and parts of New Hampshire, while Janet casts her bewitching spell across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Connecticut, and, you guessed it, even more of New Hampshire.
But it's not just about selling socks; it's about forming relationships. Ann recently opened a new account with several Sherman's stores, bringing Socksmith's flair to even more of the North East. Not to be outdone, Janet has been the maestro of personalized emails, tailoring her approach to each owner and buyer with nothing short of magical results.
Janet and Ann are no strangers to the hustle. They do six or more yearly trade shows, flying the Socksmith flag high and far across New England's patchwork-quilt terrain. Ever met a wickedly fun salesperson? If not, attend one of their tradeshows and prepare to be charmed.
If you're a store owner in New England, rest assured that with Janet and Ann, you're not just getting a sales team; you're getting a couple of ambassadors who bring a dash of New England enchantment to the world of sock fashion. Whether updating you on new catalog releases or informing you about hot-selling styles, they aim to leave you with a smile and a newfound appreciation for just how toe-tally awesome socks can be.
Ah, New York City—a mecca of diversity, grit, and endless possibilities. And just like this city that never sleeps, we’ve got Harriet, a one-woman powerhouse who personifies the Socksmith spirit in every nook and cranny of the Big Apple’s five boroughs.
For Harriet, sales is not just a transaction; it’s a heartfelt connection. She’s not just setting up shop; she’s building relationships. From the Upper East Side to the urban corners of The Bronx, Harriet finds those hidden gems—stores and locations where Socksmith products won’t just sell but flourish. It's not just about getting the brand into the stores; it's about getting it into the right stores.
But what sets Harriet apart? The word you’re looking for is "passion." She doesn’t just sell socks; she believes in the process, the people, and the product. Harriet's philosophy of care and attention to detail makes her a customer favorite. She's always on call, ready to assist with issues, inquiries, or even existential sock crises. This level of personal commitment has allowed her to revive dormant accounts and bring them back into the vibrant Socksmith fold.
And let’s talk about accomplishments. Harriet has rekindled relationships with out-of-touch accounts, effectively spreading the Socksmith gospel anew. The way Harriet sees it, Socksmith isn’t just a brand; it’s a lifeline that keeps her energized and passionate. She's not just a salesperson; she's a brand ambassador, advocating for Socksmith not just because it's her job but because she believes in the intrinsic quality and vision of the company.
So, if you find yourself strolling down Fifth Avenue or exploring a boutique in Brooklyn, and you come across a Socksmith display that just feels right, you've probably just experienced a touch of Harriet’s magic. Because in a city of millions, Harriet makes Socksmith feel like home.
Life in the Northeast: the hustle and bustle of New York City, the political heartbeat of Washington D.C., and the iconic skylines of Pennsylvania. What binds these diverse landscapes together, other than the I-95 corridor? Enter your East Coast sock titans, Bill Bracken, and the Green Monster Sales team.
In this fiercely competitive territory, Bill sees his role as not just selling socks but representing the Socksmith brand with a level of professionalism that rivals a Broadway performance. His territory is a sock lover's dream, stretching from Delaware to New York and West Virginia. Bill spearheads the operation as Head Agent, with Lisa Mansback as his Associate and Jennie Lyon holding down the fort in Email Marketing.
So, what makes the Green Monster Sales Team a force to be reckoned with? Two words: Radical Responsiveness. Issues are tackled faster than a New York minute, and customer needs are met with the precision of a Swiss watch. They've even been trailblazers in penetrating the outdoor channel of distribution. Now that's something to write home about.
Bill and his team are no strangers to the grind. They're committed to not just attending but “owning” regional trade shows to fly the Socksmith flag. And if you think they're only a digital presence, think again. They invest a good chunk of their time visiting brick-and-mortar accounts, bringing the magic of Socksmith right to their doorstep.
If you're in the East Coast or Mid-Atlantic region, keep an eye out for Bill and his Green Monster Sales crew. They're not just selling hosiery but building an empire, one pair of fantastically funky socks at a time.
Ah, the Southeast—a vibrant tapestry of traditions, landscapes, and warm-hearted folks who know something about Southern comfort. But the comfort we're talking about isn't just your grandma's peach pie; it’s the coziness only a quality pair of Socksmith socks can bring. Zach Grubb and his dynamic team are orchestrating this symphony of comfort and style.
Take a leaf from Zach's playbook if you ever wondered how a sales team should function. They work in two gears: 1) As a cohesive team, and 2) with quick and diligent precision to service their accounts. It’s not a one-person show; Zach is joined by Patricia Grubb, his wife and co-agency owner, and Mack Kennedy. These three dynamos are based in North Carolina but cover multiple Southeast states. But wait, there’s more: The father-son-daughter trio of Jim, Thomas, and Anna Screven add their Alabama-based prowess to the mix.
What makes them stand out? They're one of the largest independent rep agencies in the Southeast, and they've got the territory to prove it. They've got socks on the ground from the Carolinas to the Floridian coasts and all the way west to Mississippi. Each team member lives in a different state within their territory, providing localized expertise that’s just a short hop away.
Now, onto their feats (or should we say 'feets'?). Maintaining sales and customer service relationships is always a huge win, but Zach and the team have gone a step further. They’ve also continuously expanded into new accounts and markets, showcasing their aptitude for growth while keeping the Socksmith banner flying high.
The Grubb team isn’t just about business; it’s also about fun and passion. They represent what Socksmith is about—family values, independent spirit, and a love for their work. So, if you're in the Southeast, there's a good chance your favorite Socksmith socks came courtesy of Zach and his versatile, spirited team.
In the vast and vibrant tapestry that is the American South, where the spirit of hospitality reigns supreme, there’s a team of Socksmith ambassadors who don’t just deliver; they dazzle. Meet Brandi and the J Brandes Rep Group, the ace up the retailer's sleeve in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana, and Arkansas.
Brandi's team struts to a simple yet profound tune: make the retailer's life easier. Their mission is to take the stress off the retailers' shoulders, letting them breathe easier knowing their sock displays are as full and fresh as a bluebonnet bloom.
What truly sets this team apart in the retail rodeo is their unparalleled personal service. They’re not just representatives; they’re the secret ingredient to their retailers' success.
Meet the Socksmith Southwestern Squadron:
The J Brandes team boasts a feat for the books: personal servicing all of their accounts at least twice this year. It's a testament to their commitment and passion for in-person interaction, proving that the Southern way of doing business is still very much alive and thriving.
So when you see a pair of Socksmith socks in these Southern states, know that behind that comfy, stylish fabric lies a network of hard-working, passionate individuals from the J Brandes Rep Group dedicated to elevating the retail experience, one sock at a time.
When you think of the Midwest, perhaps you envision expansive prairies, hearty casseroles, and kind-hearted people who never let you leave their homes without a full stomach. Now add a splash of color and whimsy with the foot-tastic offerings from Socksmith, brought to your local stores by the effervescent Patti Nichols.
Patti's role in the Socksmith ecosystem is about sales activities and relationship-building. She's the epitome of a one-woman powerhouse, steering the ship across multiple states from Minnesota all the way to Ohio. Patti’s here to make the sock-shopping experience not just easy but genuinely fun. No drudgery allowed when you’re navigating the Socksmith universe with her!
What sets Patti apart? She’s the embodiment of Midwest generosity. Always there when her customers need her, Patti goes above and beyond to ensure they're happy. Unsurprisingly, she can celebrate small wins and significant milestones, such as landing an order from Double Windsor — a feat she had been striving for since last August.
Currently a solo operation, Patti plans to grow her territory and bring on a sales associate. Her ambitions align perfectly with her dedication; she’s a beacon of focused, vibrant energy who wants to expose everyone to the joy of Socksmith socks.
So, if you're in the Midwest and wondering how such delightful socks found their way into your local stores, you have Patti to thank. She's not just selling socks; she's selling the happiness and individuality that comes with every Socksmith pair, turning every purchase into an experience worth remembering.
Keep heading south through the Midwest, and you'll find yourself at the Missouri River, where one-man show, Lance, will be waiting for you. While his territory is smaller than most, south of the river, the work that Lance does is niche, and boy is it mighty. Just this year, Lance has opened 65 new accounts and counting.
The thing that's special about Lance, is that he connects great brands with even better accounts. How's that for a matchmaker? With years of experience, Lance has learned that effectiveness is about quality, not quantity. Amen to that!
If you've been lucky enough to explore the Rockies, you'll likely have fond memories of hiking the wild, rugged, and unforgiving landscapes. Now, remember the rustic little store you stumbled upon with those cozy Cabin socks and sweet outdoor gear? That'll be thanks to the hard work of Mark Napior and his sub-reps Althea and Amy.
As Socksmith's newest rep group, Mark and his team are self-proclaimed problem solvers and see their job as an opportunity to " identify a need" and "...fill that void or provide solutions."
With 17 years of experience working as an independent sales rep, Mark knows all too well how important it is to have face time with his accounts. He emphasizes the importance of building relationships not only with store owners, and buyers, but the sales associates who are the people interacting with the end consumer.
Something you can expect to receive from Mark and his team's frequent visits to your store goes far beyond your typical sock sales spiel...let's just say, their Holiday tradition has become somewhat legendary with their accounts and we can't wait for you to be a part of it!
We're thrilled to welcome Mark, Althea, and Amy to the Socksmith Sales Team and get ready to see a lot of them in the coming years.
Picture the Pacific Northwest—a paradise punctuated by towering pines, misty mornings, and the distant silhouette of a mountain range. Add the kaleidoscopic splash of Socksmith socks to this scenic backdrop, distributed with gusto by Paul Dukich and his stellar team.
Paul and his team approach sales as consultative partners to their retailers. It’s more than just showing lines or taking orders; it’s about building trust and offering long-term business solutions. They want retailers to understand that they're not just another vendor; they're in it for the long haul. This philosophy elevates them from mere sales reps to trusted advisors.
Their squad is so on point that you can even take a virtual meet-and-greet on their Tokul Creek website. But here's the kicker: This year, they've managed to sustain relationships with significant clients and broke new ground with retailers like Fireworks and Space Needle. And it’s not just about numbers; they’re eyeing their record year with Socksmith, and it’s evident that their commitment to effective communication with dealers is paying off in spades.
The in-house team at Socksmith sees Paul and his team as an extension of the wonderful culture owners Eric and Ellen Gill have nurtured at Socksmith. They carry the same enthusiasm, professionalism, and creative spirit into every business interaction. They're not just pitching socks; they're offering an ethos, a lifestyle, and a community centered around the joy of self-expression through groovy, fun socks.
So, the next time you admire a pair of Socksmith socks in a Pacific Northwest store, know that Paul Dukich and his team have worked tirelessly behind the scenes, serving as the connective thread between a fantastic product and its discerning audience.
In Northern California's vast, diverse, and ever-changing landscape, a singular voice sings the praises of Socksmith socks. Meet Harmony, a one-woman army with a flexible, individualized customer service philosophy.
Contrary to a mass-produced, one-size-fits-all approach, Harmony celebrates the uniqueness of each customer. She adjusts her strategies and methods to fit their needs, aiming for a harmonious (no pun intended) business relationship. Harmony doesn't just sell socks; she partners with her customers, crafting tailored plans and providing a constant stream of new products that resonate with their individuality.
One of her standout qualities is her ability to plan. She doesn't just react; she forecasts. With an eye on the horizon, she's always prepped to offer the latest and greatest from Socksmith's evolving product line. This proactive approach enables her clients to stay ahead of trends, always keeping their sock game fresh and appealing.
Her dedication has had tangible results. Over the past year, each of her accounts has shown significant growth. She attributes this to her client’s abilities to leverage Socksmith's strong design elements and readily available stock to pivot according to market needs. As each client has adapted and recovered, especially given recent global events, they have increasingly appreciated what Socksmith delivers.
Essentially, Harmony in Northern California is more than just a sales rep. She's a business advisor, a trend forecaster, and, most importantly, a dedicated partner. Each customer under her purview isn't just another account; they're a unique business entity deserving specialized attention.
So, the next time you find a dazzling pair of Socksmith socks in a Northern California outlet, remember that behind those colorful threads is a sales rep who truly believes in the power of individuality and the spirit of partnership.
Meet Caraway and Co, the Swiss army knife of Socksmith sales. With a team that covers Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona, they bring diversity in geographical terms and their brand portfolio. This team takes pride in servicing a broad array of retailers, from big box stores and multi-chain companies to resort, spa, and mom-and-pop shops. In a market where adaptability is king, this team's robust product offering lets them pivot gracefully, always staying ahead of the curve.
So, who's powering this engine? The team consists of principal reps Dana Caraway and Terry Imus. The sales reps include Rett English, Tyler Junker, Megan Alonso, Ann Bartosz, Ryan O'Connell, and Tia King, who covers an even broader territory. Stephanie Simms takes care of operations and backend management, while Cindy Reaves, or "Momma Cindy," looks after admin and payroll as a rad lady.
A noteworthy characteristic of Caraway and Co. is their approach towards relationships. This team believes in investing in long-term relationships with their clients, a strategy that has paid dividends, particularly in challenging times. Economic and weather-related complications have proven to be hurdles, but nothing this team couldn’t navigate. Their strong relationships with clients have minimized cancellations and ensured a steady business flow.
But what truly makes them stand out? In their own words, it's their vivacious personalities. This team isn't just about closing a deal; they are about creating a memorable experience for their clients. Their mission statement proudly proclaims, "We are a service-driven, solution-minded sales agency." They put their accounts first and hustle to meet their specific retail goals and needs.
Caraway and Co symbolizes what Socksmith aims for in a sales team: resourceful, relationship-focused, and always ready to adapt. In a market that’s as dynamic as it is diverse, this team is a perfect fit.
As we've journeyed through the landscapes of various regions and met the teams that bring Socksmith to life there, it’s evident that our sales teams are as unique and varied as our sock designs. Each carries a unique toolbox of skills, from tactical merchandising to building everlasting relationships. Yet, they all share a common thread—dedication to delivering exceptional service and an unparalleled product range.
Thank you for taking this journey with us. We hope it has given you valuable insights into who we are and what we stand for. As our sales teams continue to evolve, they remain steadfast in their mission to bring you the best of what Socksmith offers.
And so, whether it's the intricate designs on our socks or the meticulous strategies of our sales teams, we remain committed to one thing: offering you quality–every step of the way.
Here's to more journeys, more stories, and, of course, more socks. Cheers!
Ah, the holidays—a time for joy, laughter, gifts, and, of course, cozy feet! While everyone's hanging stockings by the chimney with care, here at Socksmith, we're diving deep into how to elevate your brick-and-mortar store this festive season. Nothing beats the joy of pulling on a fresh pair of festive socks, whether the merry jingle of bells or the soft rustle of gift wrap. Dive into our do's and don'ts to ensure your store is every foot's favorite holiday destination!
As snowflakes flutter and festive songs fill the air, retailers find themselves at the heart of the holiday hustle. There's no time like the present for those in the footwear game to roll up their sleeves and elevate the in-store experience. Let's unwrap some seasoned advice to ensure your holiday sales are as toasty as feet in Merino wool. Try these tricks to bring holiday magic to your store:
Distinguish yourself from competitors by releasing sock and shoe collections exclusive to the holiday season. Think of designs that capture the essence of fall and winter festivities — Halloween, Thanksgiving, snowflakes, reindeer, Christmas, Hanukkah, or playful takes on classic holiday films.
From the traditional to delightfully offbeat (Check out our Santasaurus Rex and Is it Christmas Yeti?), a display of Socksmith socks will set the holiday tone — feature limited-time holiday collections to build excitement and boost sales this season.
Bring customers in with interactive events. Use one of these ideas, or create your own community event:
These events aim to foster community engagement, promote products, and ensure customers have a memorable time at the store.
Enhance the gift-giving experience by offering unique and sustainable wrapping options. Offer plain gift wrap that children or adult shoppers can customize with markers, stickers, or stamps, or provide free gift-wrapping stations where customers can have their purchases wrapped and ready for giving.
Partner with neighboring businesses to curate bundled deals. Imagine a holiday outfit package—shoes from your store, a dress from next door, and perhaps a scarf from another, all at a festive discount. Collaboration is critical to successful cross-promotions with complementary businesses.
The holiday season is synonymous with gifting. However, not all gifts hit the mark. To ensure customers feel confident buying from you, offer a more lenient return/exchange window that stretches into the post-holiday period to encourage higher sales.
And there you have it! From crafting unforgettable experiences to embracing collaboration, it's all about making this holiday season memorable for your store and customers.
Just as there's a sprinkle of magic in ensuring the holiday season shines bright, there are pitfalls we'd do well to sidestep. These missteps can throw a wrench into the Christmas spirit. For every glowing streetlight and jingle in the air, there's a lesson to be learned on what not to do. Let us guide you through the frosty paths of the retail world, ensuring you don't slip up!
The holiday rush can be unpredictable, but running out of popular sizes or styles can cause significant lost sales opportunities. Utilize predictive inventory tools or frequently monitor bestsellers to ensure real-time replenishment.
A store without holiday decorations may appear uninviting. Bring in the festive spirit with window displays, holiday-themed sock racks, and twinkling lights. This decorating isn't just aesthetics; it's about creating a warm, welcoming atmosphere for shoppers.
Don’t overlook the importance of staff training. The holiday season is demanding, and your staff is your frontline. Ensure workers are well-informed about promotions, trained to handle the festive rush, and equipped to provide top-notch customer service.
In the tech age, customers expect diverse payment options. Be it credit cards, mobile wallets, or other contactless payment methods, modernization enhances the shopping experience and boosts sales.
Many customers may research online before heading in-store. Not updating your website with in-store exclusive deals or not offering a "buy online, pick up in-store" option could lead to missed opportunities. Integrating online and offline experiences is paramount to creating a cohesive shopping experience.
As we tie the cheery bow on our holiday guide, it's clear that the journey of holiday retail is as intricate as the patterns on our favorite Socksmith socks. From the delightful designs that deck our shelves to ensuring every customer's experience is as warm as the socks they step into, the holiday season is all about the magic of connection — much like that snug fit of a perfect sock. So, as the chimneys are adorned with stockings and the air tingles with festive anticipation, let your store be the haven where every foot finds its merry match. Step into the season with confidence, joy, and, of course, warm toes. Here's to making memories, one step at a time!
As Small Business Saturday approaches, it's time to pull your socks up (pun intended!) and prepare to make a lasting impression. Whether you're a first-timer or a seasoned veteran, Socksmith has curated your ultimate guide. Unravel the thread, and let’s dive in feet first!
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There’s beauty in being small. In a world of retail giants and superstores, the intimate charm of a small business often shines the brightest. Embracing the compact nature of smaller ventures isn't just about celebrating coziness—it's about tapping into a unique competitive advantage. Smaller businesses have agility and, therefore have the ability to adapt quickly, form genuine relationships with their patrons, and offer a level of personalization that vast corporations can only dream of.
"Don't overlook your main competitive advantage: being small."
Ellen Gil, the Socksmith and iconic retail store Sockhop & Shoe Co. owner, rightly says, “Don’t overlook your main competitive advantage: being small.”
Let’s delve into the numerous assets of being a more minor player in the market and how you can leverage this to fulfill your shopper's whims and wants. Whether it's the allure of handpicked inventory or the magic of a personalized shopping experience, small businesses have an arsenal of strengths that can lead to outsized rewards.
Remember, it's not about how big you are but how big you play. Let's discover how to harness this power effectively.
Every sock tells a story, and so does every shop. Tap into the pulse of your community and celebrate its essence.
Much like every sock in a Socksmith collection has its tale, the tapestry of the U.S. economy is woven together by the vibrancy of small businesses. While big-name brands might steal the limelight, the nimble and spirited small businesses keep our economy's heartbeat. Remember, even the most striking designs started with a single stitch. These modest ventures are the true trendsetters of our economic landscape and ensure that the American dream remains a concept and a vibrant reality.
Every business has its design. Share your compelling brand story; your customers are all ears (and feet!). See how Socksmith shares our narrative here.
As the fabric of our daily routines transforms, small businesses must step in rhythm with the changing beat. The modern shopper's commute isn't the straight line it used to be; it's a dance of flexibility between home and office. It’s time for businesses to weave innovative threads into their community engagement approach. Consider hosting events that complement the hybrid work mode: 'Midday Mingle' sessions for those working from home or 'Socktail Hours' post-work for the traditional commuter. By blending the lines of work and leisure, businesses cater to modern lifestyles and create a snug fit within their community's evolving patterns. Socksmith says: Embrace the hybrid and let it guide you to deeper community connections.
Just as stellar hosiery can elevate an outfit from mundane to magical, the visual appeal of your storefront can mesmerize customers from the get-go. Think of your displays as the grand introduction to your brand's narrative—a story told from toe to heel. Dive into a world of color, creativity, and unmistakable charm with our exclusive Socksmith-specific signage. If you're a Socksmith retailer, head over to our Marketing Drive, where you can download signage to watch your storefront become an eye-catching tapestry, beckoning shoppers with a vibrant promise of uniqueness. In the world of retail, let your visual allure be the striking sock pattern that no one can resist! We'll be sharing more about this later…
In the age of one-click shopping, what can lure customers through your doors? Simple: an ambiance that digital pixels just can't replicate. Allow your customers to explore texture in your delightful sock designs and the tangible experiences you curate.
Create a space that's not just a store but an invitation to unwind. Provide an experience that shoppers cannot get online: Consider offering drinks, comfy seats, charging stations, music, and relaxing aromas. From a cozy nook resonating with soothing melodies to snacks that satiate the mid-shop munchies, craft every corner with care. And for your younger audience? Sock puppet shenanigans could be afoot!
As shoppers get up close and personal with Socksmith products, feeling the fabrics and exploring the exquisite designs, they'll recognize the heart and sole we pour into every detail. Welcome your customers to a shopping experience that allows them to touch the essence of the brand.
Sock it to the big leagues by making sure your business is easily discoverable. Registering your store on the Shop Small Map is more than just putting a pin on a digital space; It's a dynamic way to broadcast your presence and increase your appeal, especially to American Express® Card Members who are always on the hunt for unique, local experiences. Don’t let this chance slip through the stitches—maximize your visibility and connect with an audience that cherishes community-centric brands like Socksmith.
Take your community engagement to the next level by celebrating the hands and hearts that craft products for your shelves. Organize events that spotlight local artisans and suppliers, allowing shoppers to get a behind-the-scenes peek at the magic that goes into every thread and design. Not only will this deepen the bond between your customers and the craftspeople, but it will also spotlight the authenticity and dedication of your brand. It's about more than just socks; it's about the stories, passion, and people behind them. And what better way to share that than with a gathering that celebrates the community's craftsmanship?
While large brands may be rolling out those deep discounts to clear their overload of suddenly unpopular merchandise, small businesses can tap dance to a different beat. Unexpected shifts in buying patterns mean big retailers are left scrambling, but smaller shops have a nimble advantage. You have a tighter grip on your inventory, allowing for more thoughtful purchasing decisions and creative pricing strategies.
A recent survey that we stumbled across revealed that there's no one-size-fits-all when it comes to deals. Customers are beautifully diverse in their promotional preferences: from enticing buy one/get one offers to tempting percentage reductions or even a delightful dollar discount once a purchase hits that magic number. Here's a sock-knocking stat: 73.2% of respondents voiced that better pricing and promotions would win them over. This gives small businesses a vast playground to experiment with and find the promotional sweet spot.
And as for advertising? The survey suggests there's no single golden ticket. With such a range of marketing methods resonating with consumers, small businesses have a colorful palette of options at their disposal. So, whether you’re flaunting those funky sock designs in a window display or giving sneak peeks through social media promotions, remember: the world is your oyster, or, in this case, your sock drawer!
When it comes to deals and promotions, it's not about being the loudest but rather the smartest. Small businesses have a unique opportunity to craft promotions that attract customers and align seamlessly with their goals and inventory. Here's a blueprint for creating deals that pack a punch without knocking out your bottom line.
By incorporating these strategies, not only do you offer value to your customers, but you also ensure that every promotion aligns with your business's best interests. Remember, it's not about the biggest deals, but the brightest ones!
Merchandising is much more than just stocking products; it's about crafting a selection that captivates, engages, and resonates with your audience. Diverse, dynamic, and tailored to the moment, an engaging assortment can not only drive foot traffic but also strengthen brand loyalty. Curating a fascinating merchandise mix is an art, and understanding the nuances is crucial. For deeper insights, check out our Merchandising 101 blog. Let's dive into the art and strategy of compelling merchandising.
Combat the hitches in global supply chains by turning local. Many hometown vendors don't demand bulk orders. This flexibility lets you test the waters with various products, gauging customer reactions before going big. For instance, if lavender-scented socks are a hit in your community, a local partnership could ensure steady supply and demand alignment.
Thanks to your agility, you can ride the trend waves faster than the behemoth brands. Noticed local youths raving about DIY craft kits from a recent TikTok trend? Act swiftly, tap into your vendor network, and ensure your shelves reflect this newfound fascination.
The "lipstick index" speaks volumes about consumer behavior. During economic downturns, sales of minor indulgences often spike. As belts tighten, people still yearn for little joys. So, while luxury coats might see a dip, colorful socks, chic hats, or even quirky pajamas can see a sales surge.
Blend your inventory to include indulgences and essentials. Offering products that seem less like splurges and more like every day needs can encourage spending. For example, adding daily essentials like socks or comfy loungewear can make shoppers feel justified in their purchases.
The strength of small businesses lies in the personal touch. Foster genuine relationships with your patrons. Learn their likes and quirks. From TikTok trends to community favorites, stay on your toes with local preferences. Maybe the neighboring college has a color? Stock up! Personalization isn’t just a buzzword here; it’s the fabric of your business. Engage with in-store comment cards, social media polls, or even personalized thank-you notes.
Freshness is enticing. Regularly revamp your product lineup and keep the intrigue alive. Implement a system to keep your customers in the loop about the latest additions, be it through newsletters, SMS updates, or exclusive member previews.
By weaving these strategies into your merchandising approach, you'll ensure that every visit to your store offers a fresh, personalized experience, enticing shoppers to keep coming back for more.
In the current consumer landscape, shopping isn't merely a transactional act. It's a reflection of beliefs, aspirations, and values. For businesses, aligning with these sentiments can cultivate loyalty and boost community relations. Let's explore several important ways to showcase that your store's ethical and cultural values are in alignment with consumer expectations.
A vast majority, 83% of shoppers, value inclusivity when choosing where to spend. Your space should radiate warmth, welcoming every individual, irrespective of their background or beliefs.
Rooted in community spirit, small businesses have a unique charm that resonates with their community members. Half of the surveyed shoppers highlighted their desire to uplift the local economy. Embrace this sentiment by collaborating with local artisans, hosting community events, and promoting sustainable practices. After all, your business isn’t just located in the community; it's a part of it. Be sure to promote all of the incredible things you're doing with our FREE downloadable signage for your storefront and social media.
The push for eco-friendly solutions is more relevant than ever. Evaluate and optimize your packaging for environmental impact. Further, introduce in-store recycling initiatives. Imagine the impact of allowing customers to return old product packaging, ensuring it's responsibly repurposed or recycled.
Your team is the heart of your business. By hiring a diverse workforce, you ensure an array of perspectives, mirroring the beautiful tapestry of your community. This diversity fosters richer interactions and a more inclusive shopping experience.
Show your support for the LGBTQ+ community by visibly aligning with their rights and values. Use Socksmith’s free downloadable signage as a beacon of inclusivity. For further resources and guidance, the Google Small Business Pride portal provides valuable insights.
By transparently aligning your business's values with those of your customers, you cultivate trust, loyalty, and a sense of community. Remember, in today's marketplace, where you stand matters almost as much as what you sell.
In today's fast-paced world, convenience isn't just a luxury—it's an expectation. When customers are on the hunt for convenience, think of it as their search for that perfect, comfy pair of socks. It's the ease and reliability they're after. Let's ensure your business slips into their routine as effortlessly as their favorite pair of Socksmith specials. Here are several ways you can weave convenience into every aspect of your customer's experience.
If you're not on Google Business, you're missing out on a significant chunk of potential customers. Ensure your business is listed, with updated and accurate information. Think of it as the digital equivalent of your storefront's signage; it needs to be clear, inviting, and accurate.
Equate convenience with choice. From delivery to curbside pick-up, flexible shopping options have become paramount. A whopping 54% of consumers admit that the "ease of doing business" is a prime factor when choosing a local business for the first time—ranking second only to price. Even more revealing, 60% say it's a top reason they'd return, standing toe-to-toe with price considerations.
First impressions are vital. Making the initial interaction seamless can significantly influence a customer's decision to revisit your store. But remember, retaining customers is just as crucial as attracting new ones. Offer them consistent convenience, ensuring they always have a reason to choose you over competitors.
In the grand theater of retail, convenience plays a starring role. It's not just about selling a product but about offering an effortlessly delightful experience, from start to finish. Every ease you introduce is a step closer to building lasting customer relationships.
Pulling up a sock without any snags? That's the dream. Similarly, a seamless checkout experience should be smooth, efficient, and hassle-free. This pivotal touchpoint is where customers conclude their shopping journey, and a flawless finish can leave a lasting positive impression. The checkout process must be free of interruptions or inconveniences.
It's undeniable that in today's digital age, shoppers prioritize security. According to the survey, a whopping 81.1% of consumers emphasize the importance of their payment information being secure. So, let your customers know their information is secure.
Just like the myriad patterns and colors in the Socksmith collection, customers crave variety in payment options. 49.5% of them want their preferred payment mode to be available, while 26.6% stress the significance of mobile wallet solutions like PayPal and ApplePay. Don't limit your customers; offer them a colorful palette of choices.
Beyond the basics, keep up with modern trends by advertising the availability of alternative payment methods. With digital wallets and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) gaining traction, it’s akin to showing off the latest sock designs—innovative, trendy, and catering to contemporary tastes.
Consider mobile point-of-sale tablets. They not only help thin out lines but also offer your associates the chance to serve customers on a more personal level.
Just as we might guide someone on how best to wear a bold sock pattern, train your in-store associates to kindly introduce and explain newer payment methods, such as tap-and-go. It's all about making your customers comfortable with every step they take.
In a world of increasing automation and digital interfaces, the power of personal interaction stands out even more. It's the difference between a generic sock and one with just the right flair. People aren't just looking for transactions; they're seeking connections. And while technology is indispensable in today's retail landscape, how you use it can make all the difference.
Rather than waiting for your customers to find new arrivals, take the initiative. Walk up to them and greet them: “Let me show you what’s fresh off the loom.”
Use technology to enhance personal interactions. Consider offering a texting service; it's not only the preferred method of communication for many, but also allows for multitasking. Handling six text conversations is more efficient than juggling six phone calls.
Remember that fun sock pattern your customer had their eye on? Make a call when it's in stock! It's a simple gesture, but one that shows you're in tune with their interests and wants.
Whether it's a message about stock availability or a query about sock materials, ensure your responses are prompt. And remember, a personal touch in your reply means a lot.
In the vibrant world of retail, having the perfect products—those impossibly cozy, quirky socks—is just one step. The next is ensuring that people know about them. With the digital realm becoming ever so essential, your marketing efforts need to be on point, fitting perfectly into the expectations of your audience. Consider the following:
As Small Business Saturday approaches, a day dedicated to celebrating and supporting local ventures, it's imperative for businesses to be more than just a storefront. The modern retail landscape demands an establishment that not only sells products but also fosters genuine, lasting relationships. From presenting not just a price but a unique value, to ensuring that every step of the shopping experience feels as comfortable as one's favorite pair of socks, the strategies highlighted embody the spirit and depth needed to shine on this special day—and all year round.
Merchandising goes beyond stocking shelves—it's an intricate dance of tapping into current trends while nurturing personal connections with customers. Embracing the digital realm, from Google Business listings to optimizing SMS outreach, is crucial for capturing and retaining the attention of today's savvy shoppers. As patrons are on the lookout for local gems, remember that it's the combination of product excellence, unique engagement, shared values, and a sense of community that makes a business not just a stop but a destination.
In the world of retail, your brand should embody the essence of convenience, tailored experiences, ethical alignment, and community integration. As businesses gear up for Small Business Saturday, let the vibrancy and uniqueness of your venture stand out. Let your enterprise be the one that patrons remember, talk about, and eagerly return to. Stay innovative, stay personal, and continue to weave those customer-centric strategies into the fabric of your brand.
Are you ready to step up your sock game? We've been cooking up something extraordinary in the Socksmith labs. It's time to unveil a new collection that’s our first-ever foray into the realm of Merino wool. Inspired by the beauty and wildness of Santa Cruz, California, we're stoked to offer you the ultimate companion for your customer’s wanderlust-fueled adventures.
"We’re all here for the journey, and it’s great to have the right socks for the job!”
Our Captain of Socks, and Owner, Eric Gil, shares the details:
"After 15 years of best-in-class cotton novelty sock design, Socksmith’s innovators are launching a new Outdoor category of Socks in a ‘Soft Merino Wool Blend’ for Fall 2023–we’re calling these socks COMPASS! ‘Here for the Journey’ is the COMPASS catchphrase. We’re all here for the journey, and it’s great to have the right socks for the job!”
Let’s have a sock heart-to-heart. Many folks are traditionalists–all about cotton socks. They're cool, they're casual, and they've got that oh-so-soft feel. But, let us spin you a yarn about the wooly wonder that is Merino wool.
Merino wool may be the world’s most adaptable performance material. The wool comes from the sheep high-elevation areas in Australia and New Zealand and is valued for its durability and moisture-wicking capabilities. Under a microscope, these fibers are only half as thick as human hairs but are somehow twice as strong and can be twisted tens of thousands of times without breaking.
This stretchability is what makes Merino wool so valuable. Tiny crimps in each fiber allow the strands to coil together yet remain elastic. Merino fabric is durable thanks to its ability to repeatedly return to its original shape.
Let's face it, not all socks are created equal. Merino wool socks are a cut above, offering versatility and comfort no matter the conditions. This super-fabric is a beast at regulating temperature, making it perfect for all seasons and activities. Our President, Sean, says, “From hiking to camping, riding bikes on the coastal highway to hanging out with our friends and family,” our Merino wool socks keep your toes toasty in winter and cool as a cucumber in summer. Plus, they breathe like a yogi, delivering superb comfort.
Here's more information on why Merino wool is a top option for your adventure junky customers.
Merino wool has an uncanny ability to adapt to your body's thermometer. In winter's icy grip, these socks are your own personal foot-heaters, holding in the warmth to keep your toes as toasty as a marshmallow in a campfire. But when the mercury rises, Merino does a complete 180, serving as a mini air conditioner, wicking away sweat and keeping wearers cool. It's like having a climate control system for your feet!
Speaking of sweat, Merino is a total pro at moisture management. Ever had that squishy, icky feeling of sweaty feet at the end of a long day? Merino Wool says, "Not on my watch!" It absorbs moisture from your skin and evaporates it into the air, keeping your feet drier than a stand-up comedian.
Merino wool comes with a secret weapon: odor resistance. Thanks to its moisture-wicking powers, it creates an environment that's not so friendly for the bacteria that cause foot odor. Say goodbye to that awkward moment of kicking off your shoes and clearing out a room!
One of the best things about Merino wool socks is that they are kind to the planet. Merino sheep are typically shorn once or twice yearly, and their wool regenerates quickly. The wool is naturally sourced and harvested with no harm to the animal.
Merino wool’s natural elasticity allows garments to stretch easily and return to their original shape, making them an ideal material for socks. The Merino fibers prevent bagging and sagging and offer flexibility to fit your feet perfectly.
Last but not certainly not least, Merino wool socks are unbelievably soft. Seriously, it's like they're made of cloud fluff. Wearers enjoy comfort no matter where life takes them: outdoor adventures, hikes, treks, watching the game, or relaxing by the campfire. They offer the kind of comfort that makes you want to put your feet up and say, "Ahhhh."
The COMPASS Collection is a power combo of acrylic, wool, nylon, and spandex. Here's a quick rundown on why these fibers rock:
Our COMPASS Collection also boasts several premium features to ensure the wearer’s comfort. Slip your toes inside to enjoy, including:
We're talking VIP treatment for your feet here!
Our COMPASS collection socks are ready to tag along wherever your wild heart takes you. Whether you're hitting the trails, spinning your bike wheels, sharing spooky tales around the campfire, or just running to the store for some ice cream, these socks have your back. Crafted in China, our COMPASS socks are soft, supportive, versatile, and ready for anything.
Get ready to meet your sole-mates in time for fall! That’s when the COMPASS Collection will strut in with eight women’s and nine men’s styles, all rocking nature and outdoor adventure vibes. We've got something for every sock lover with eclectic, colorful designs like birds and bees, dogs and RVs, mountains and deserts, beer, and even Sasquatch!
The collection will retail for between $8.50 to $18.00 for single pairs and $51.00 for a 6-Pack, so there's a sock to suit every budget.
Our COMPASS Collection is more than just socks. It's our love letter to comfort, quality, and style, and we can't wait to share it with you and your customers. Get set to offer socks made for any adventure, in any condition, at any time. We’re here for the journey and ready to kick up some fun with our COMPASS Collection!
SEO isn’t just a buzzword. It’s your golden ticket to the front pages of search engines like Google and Yahoo. SEO helps retailers like you draw eyeballs and, more importantly, convert those eyeballs into shoppers. Within the first six months to a year of implementing SEO, you could see an organic traffic increase of around 20-30%. We're talking about high-quality, ready-to-shop traffic that makes a real impact on your bottom line.
Now that we've jogged through the why let's take a leap into the ‘how’–getting to grips with the three fundamental types of SEO: Technical, On-Page, and Link Building.
Technical SEO is like ensuring your physical store is easy to find and pleasant to navigate. It's all about ensuring search engine bots can effectively crawl and index your site. We're talking sitemap optimization, website speed, and mobile responsiveness. If your website pages cannot be accessed by the likes of Google, they won't rank in the search results, no matter how high the quality of your content.
There are a few fundamental steps you can take to massively improve your website's accessibility. We'll discuss these briefly below.
You can find more on the nitty-gritty in Google's Technical SEO Guide.
For the full lowdown on On-Page SEO, check out Moz's Guide to On-Page SEO.
If you’re unsure which content to focus on first, a proven tactic is to use a tool like SEMrush to determine what keywords you’re currently on page two of Google for. Why? The percentage of people that go beyond page one of Google is quite low, so the biggest lift will come from getting those nearly-on-page-one results to the main stage.
There’s a lot more to learn about Link Building. We recommend checking out Backlinko's Guide to Link Building.
When trying to rank, understand that technical SEO is the foundation of everything. Poor technical SEO will water down the results of everything that follows, so start there, first.
Conversely, link building can be thought of as the “cherry on top.” It’s important, but only put the focus there once your technical and on-page work is in good shape. Exception: Local SEO is vital if your online store has a physical location! If foot traffic is as important as clicks, be sure to read this comprehensive guide to local SEO.
If the above guide has convinced you that SEO matters, but you don’t have the bandwidth, rest assured, there are plenty of consultants and agencies that specialize in SEO. Still, the industry has become more specialized in recent years and many technical SEO consultants might not be as savvy about link building, so it’s key to understand your needs and see how prospective partners might fit into the solution.
While the Internet often rewards instant gratification, it takes time for SEO results to show. Changes you make to your website will only be reflected after Google has crawled your site, and guess what? Google has a lot of sites to crawl!
When you have a massive site with lots of content (think: Amazon), Google might index your changes multiple times per day, but for most of us, it only happens every four days to four weeks.
Still, the payoff from SEO is ongoing, unlike pay-per-click, where the benefits stop the moment you cease paying.
To wrap it all up, SEO isn't just important—it's essential for sock and footwear retailers who want to stand out online. Implementing SEO strategies may take time and patience, but the results build upon one another, leading to long-lasting success. So, pull up those socks, tighten those laces, and start your SEO journey today!
Long before the conception of Socksmith Design, our founders, Eric and Ellen Gil, started their retail journey as owners of the iconic downtown Santa Cruz boutique, Sockshop & Shoe Co.
In 2007, it became their mission to create a brand that could meet the demand of small retailers, just like Sockshop & Shoe Co.
There has been a lot of learning along the way, and the success of Socksmith can be attributed to hard work from our team, but equally from our reps and retailers. Your feedback and honesty have been fundamental to our growth. So, for that, we thank you.
Occasionally, we ask for your input on how we can take Socksmith to the next level. Since our last questionnaire at the start of 2022, we've been working our little socks off to support our retailers in every way possible. We're excited to be able to share the results with you!
With many different ways to stay connected, it's important that we can reach you in whichever way works best for you. Here's what ya'll said...
Email updates
As almost half of you prefer to receive updates by email, we've built a team to support that. We've established a consistent email marketing calendar where you can expect to hear from us with every update (small and big). Sounds like too often? You have the option to select how often you hear from us! Check out the link in the footer on all of our emails.
Social media updates
For those of you active on social media, we post all our updates there, too, so don't worry; you'll never miss a beat. More about that later...
Website updates
As a few of you like to get updates at your own leisure (on our website), we've been working hard to streamline our user experience and make it easier for you to shop our latest and greatest product and stay up-to-date with Socksmith news. Here are the improvements we've made to our site:
- At the end of last year, we added a new menu view to our site. The List View feature lets you view and add individual SKUs to your cart from the collection page!
- News and Socksmith initiatives added as announcements on the Socksmith homepage. This area used to feature collections before the change.
- Website one-on-one tutorials. Need help navigating our site? Set up a time with our customer service team to walk you through the process on a video call. To do that, email us at: customer.service@socksmith.com or call (831) 426-6416.
Rep updates
Our reps continue to receive monthly updates from our president, and we have a dedicated inside sales team that assists them with any needs they have. Since launching our dedicated social media pages (read more later), our reps can stay up-to-date with us in the same ways you can and more! They're fully equipped to cater to your Socksmith needs and requests.
Blog updates
Only a few of you take the time to get your updates from our blog, but we're hoping that'll change. We've been putting out some epic content at least once per month, and it's stuff you won't find anywhere else.
OK, so it was a bit of a bummer to see that many of you didn't follow the Socksmith blog. Whether that was due to the quality of content, or not knowing about it, we've done some things to address that:
High quality content written by the professionals: Our blog calendar incorporates a huge variety of topics (monthly), and our dedicated writer can put it into a format that is engaging to our audience.
Promoting it on our website: A link to the Socksmith blog can now be found on the homepage of our website.
Blog posts shared via email and social media: Don't worry, you don't have to remember to check out the blog to see new content. Our monthly posts (like this one) will be promoted via email and social media. Choose what interests you, and go from there.
As smaller retailers, the chances are you're wearing all the hats (good, bad, and ugly). You want easily accessible resources at your fingertips. Are Socksmith's easy to find? Our Marketing Drive is the go-to place for all of your creative needs.
For those of you who know about it, but don't necessarily use it: We're packing the Drive full of content we know you'll love, like new posters and items to print, and wayyy more lifestyle images.
For those of you who are like "Marketing Drive, what?" we're doing our best to promote it at every opportunity we get. Tune in to our social media for announcements on when it gets an update!
This feedback was awesome for us! We've been tailoring our entire marketing strategy around ways we can help you and what support we can offer. Keep reading to find out more.
In October 2022, we created brand new Instagram and Facebook pages just for our wholesale audience. Our posts include all sorts of goodies, and we'll talk about those in the next section of this blog.
Our email updates now include far more than just product updates. We're talking about industry tips and tricks, giveaways, tutorials, promotions, and more.
For the last two years, we've made it our priority to streamline our photography process. You'll find a vast offering of high-quality images for every collection; yep, every collection...
Many of you had specific requests when it came to marketing your store. Here are some of the things which came up and how we've worked to address them:
Comment
Pictures of kids' socks–either on kids or individual pictures that I could use for my FB, Instagram, and emails
Action
In July 2022, our Kids' collection saw a refresh. We switched up packaging, added more styles to choose from, and even added a new Active Youth category to our offering.
We have a ton of lifestyle images for web and print that you can download.
Comment
I have worked with some vendors that post a list of their high-volume retailers on their websites. I may not be super high volume, but one idea would be to perhaps do a social media or website campaign for different areas of your retailers.
Action
Easy! Our retail site features a Store Locator and we've promoted this via email to our D2C audience, and on social media too.
We've also collaborated with many of our smaller retailers on social to help them gain exposure.
Comment.
I like being updated on your top sellers...It helps me add new socks to our line.
Action
All of the best sellers on our wholesale store are marked "Best Seller". You can also filter collections this way.
We also have regular email and social media campaigns scheduled to show our top-performing styles.
Comment
I'd like to know if there's an easy way to download photos, particularly model shots, for our social media.
Action
Certainly, you can find those on our Marketing Drive. Contact marketing@socksmith.com to get access.
Comment
Once a month emails.
Action
As we mentioned earlier, we have the option on every email to select how often you'd like to hear from us, whether that is weekly monthly, or daily.
For those of you who use social media for your brand, you'll know the time it takes to create good quality content which resonates with your audience. What can Socksmith do to help?
If you followed our D2C Socksmith accounts when answering this questionnaire, we've since made dedicated wholesale Instagram and Facebook pages with more retail-specific content.
Check, check, and check.
Since the start of 2022, we've dedicated most of our marketing resources to our wholesale accounts. We've hired a new part-time content creator so our full-time Social Media Manager can focus her efforts directly on your needs. If you haven't already, look at our social media accounts here. We'd love your feedback!
Since you took the time to provide marketing-specific comments (thank you!), we wanted to provide a safe space for you to give any other honest feedback. Here's what you said and what we've been working to do to address it.
Comment
I don't even know who my local sales rep is. I order at shows or online. Knowing that would be nice.
Action
We've made it our mission to introduce each rep, their territory and their contact details. You can see all of that here.
Comment
Would love to see designs for other cultural holidays; Chinese New Year, Diwali, Passover, etc.
Action
We're definitely working on this. At the end of 2022, we launched a Lunar New Year sock, and there might be more in the works ;)
Comment
Nebraska (State) Socks, Outdoors Themed Socks (Lures, Trout, Deer), Wedding Party Socks, Create your own Variety Pack (where we can get one or two of a few different styles)
Action
We've added new styles per our retailers' suggestions which we anticipate well enough to meet the minimum order quantity. Keep ideas coming and we'll add them to the list.
When all is said and done, what matters to you matters to us. You definitely don't need to wait for a feedback form to give us your honest opinion. Here are the ways you can get in touch with us:
Email us: customer.service@socksmith.com or marketing@socksmith.com
Call us: 831-426-6416 (8AM to 5PM PT)
DM us on Instagram here
Facebook Message us here
But if you like a feedback form, when there's one coming your way soon! Jot down your ideas–we can't wait to hear them!
Out of the eight billion people in the world, over half are active on at least one social media platform, and that's doubled since 2017! What does that mean for a small business? Simply put, it's your chance to reach new and loyal customers, and you could be missing out on a huge opportunity if you're not engaging with your audience. In fact, 71% of businesses similar to yours are using social media to market themselves.
Starting out as small retailers, Socksmith founders know too well what it means to wear all the hats. Until a few years ago, Sockmith was made up of a small team, and social media was the first task to get pushed down the to-do list. As our partners, we want to share our secrets with you, and trust us when we say keeping up with social media should be one of your top priorities.
In 2020, we hired our Social Media Specialist, Kat, who started out as a part-timer, shortly thereafter was taken on as an FTE (when she showed us how valuable social media could be) and was recently promoted to Social Media Manager, who now manages a team of two. Sockmith owner, Ellen Gil, says that every time she looks on social media, she is "...blown away by the quality of our content" that our social media team produces.
Social Media Manager, Kat, is here to share her top tips for growing an online presence as a small business.
The barrier to entry for social media is low enough for any small dog to jump, and that includes you. Kat says, "No matter the size of your business, social media is an opportunity to increase your brand awareness and engage with loyal customers." In fact, 57.7% of people are likelier to buy from a brand they follow on social media.
If you can follow our best practices in this guide for managing your business's social media, it can unlock the following for your brand:
It's all good knowing that social media is a necessary task for your business, but with all of the platforms out there, it can seem overwhelming, right? Kat's methods for finding key platforms to target our Socksmith audience look like this:
Most importantly, don't make assumptions. There is enough research out there to help you determine which platforms you can use to reach your demographic. We've put together the below visuals to help you see some deeper demographics when it comes to social media platforms by age and gender.
Graphs produced by Socksmith and data collected from Hootsuite and Exploding Topics.
Ultimately, your social media goals are meant to support your overarching business objectives. Here are some tips for setting goals:
Common social media goals can include:
The KPIs (key performance indicators) you focus on will depend on the goals of your business; however, here are some common social media KPIs and metrics for measuring their success:
KPIs for reach/awareness:
How to track these metrics: Explore and keep track of the analytics available on the social platform. As a business account, social media platforms are often on the ball with recognizing a brand's need to be able to measure progress. Oftentimes, this info will be available to you in real-time on each platform.
Learn about insights available on Facebook and Instagram here.
Learn about insights available on LinkedIn here.
Learn about insights available on YouTube here.
Learn about insights available on Twitter here.
Learn about insights available on Pinterest here.
KPIs for engagement:
How to track these metrics: These metrics will often be available on the platform itself. Rates and percentages can be calculated using platform analytics.
KPIs for conversions:
KPIs for retention and loyalty:
How to track these metrics: These are qualitative metrics that may be a little more tedious to measure, but they're important nonetheless. Read up on what people are saying about your brand (comments, review sites, DMS, mentions...etc.). Analyze the inquiries coming in to understand the needs, opinions, and desires of your customers.
Organic and paid social media are riddled with their own list of positives and negatives. Here's a look at some pros and cons.
Organic
Paid
So you've done your market research, established your goals, and set up your accounts. Now what? Creating good content doesn't have to be complicated. Here are Kat's best practices.
Building your brand is time-consuming, so take baby steps and remember that if you put the work in, it'll be sure to pay off. Celebrate the small wins!
Socksmith is always looking for small retailers to collaborate on social media with. Interested? Reach out to us here.
If you like how Socksmith looks, if you're a fan of our brand, and especially if you are a friend of our socks, you probably wonder who's responsible for all the glam. All the credit goes to our fabulous creative teams, made up of our designers and marketing department. Let's get to know them!
The Socksmith fam shares one core value–that life is too short for boring socks. Our design team’s mission? To continually develop new and exciting socks that keep your toes excited!
Seven individuals bear this responsibility, and it would be an understatement to say that your feet are in good hands. Meet the Socksmith design team:
Krystle is a senior Product Developer and Sock Designer with the longest tenure of our Creative Team. Krystle not only designs socks, but she also works closely with the manufacturers to develop exciting new sock categories guaranteed to tickle your tootsies.
Holly is a Sock Designer extraordinaire who has been with Socksmith the second longest. She creates super imaginative socks and forecasts the Creative Team’s schedule to keep us on track for our design seasons.
Katie is Socksmith’s busy Creative Director. Katie manages a team of designers, from textile to graphic design, and develops new products with multiple manufacturers. She also finds time to support the sales and marketing teams by designing marketing materials, socks, other products, and packaging.
Sarah is a Passionate Sock Designer and the proud daughter of Socksmith founders Eric and Ellen Gil. Sarah works remotely from Washington and is the talent behind our incredible new Endangered Species Collection.
Amanda is another dynamic Sock Designer who works remotely from Maine. Amanda created our new Kids' Collection, featuring playful designs and fun colors. Little feet can express themselves, sporting anything from unicorns and astronauts to dinosaurs and donuts.
Leah–Leah wears two hats as an expert Graphic Designer and Web Developer. She works closely with the marketing team and keeps the Socksmith website running smoothly.
Charlotte is a multi-talented Graphic Designer and Sock Designer, and her design work spans graphics to textiles. Charlotte also works to support the marketing and sales teams.
We are small but mighty, and our team works hard to crank out 250-300 kickass new designs each year. We strive to design with artistic flair and a sense of humor, keeping in mind that our customers love to have fun!
Our team is known for their current, pop-culture-inspired novelty themes that sometimes border on edgy. Though we lean towards youthful styling and motifs, our designs appeal to all ages.
We love being part of Socksmith – an altruistic, eco-friendly, forward-thinking, approachable brand.
Socksmith is known for its laid-back lifestyle nature. Our customers are expressive, unique, playful individuals who don’t take themselves too seriously.
Generally, our socks feature super colorful, highly-patterned designs. We like to be artful in a fun way and love the opportunities we get to collaborate with independent artists. (Socksmith features a huge officially licensed sock offering!)
Beyond the bright colors and lively designs, our socks are made to be all-inclusive and kind to the Earth. We’re super proud of our Outlands USA collection, made to be as ecologically friendly as possible and manufactured in the USA from upcycled textiles.
You can count on Socksmith designers to continue to dream up and bring fabulously creative, comfortable, durable, reasonably-priced footwear to life. We want you to be able to express your true self, and it’s our goal to feature a design for everyone. It’s our passion!
The extraordinary humans in our Marketing Department work to bring the Socksmith brand to life, whether by designing creative ads for a campaign, posting on social media, spearheading an email campaign, or updating our websites. Each member of this team wears many hats. Quite simply, they rock!
Allow us to introduce:
Sean is the President of Socksmith. Sean also oversees the Marketing Team and is an incredibly supportive checks-and-balances person whenever and wherever he is needed.
Rachel is our Marketing Manager. Rae also manages and oversees email marketing, eCommerce shops, social media, and everything digital. (She. Is. A. Boss.)
Kat, our in-house SMM Guru, is the Socksmith Social Media Specialist. Kat’s other roles include overseeing and running our social media accounts and handling company donations.
Jessica is the talented Director of Socksmith Web Sales. Jess also assists with our website sales and updates.
Also, here are two re-introductions:
Leah, our Developer, and Graphic Designer assists with web development and graphic design for marketing campaigns. (Is it just us, or does her creativity never end?)
Charlotte, the talented Graphic Designer who assists with graphic design for marketing campaigns, signage, and catalogs. (We value her keen eye for aesthetics.)
Socksmith’s expert Marketing Team works hard to directly support our valued retailers by providing everything they need to serve customers, including email updates that keep retailers up to speed on Socksmith happenings. We also create, catalog, and supply high-quality lifestyle and product photography for retailers' marketing use.
As a small, ever-changing–and rapidly growing–brand, Socksmith participates in many trade shows, meeting with wonderful retailers worldwide. There are very few months in the year where you won't find us in a booth, clipboards in hand, writing orders, and meeting new people. It’s exhilarating, exhausting, and part of marketing life. Good thing we have our coffee socks (along with our Happy Hour attire) to help us through the days!
In addition to traveling to meet and support merchants, we’ve launched specific initiatives to assist our retailers, creating a dedicated B2B social media platform to offer targeted support. We also provide specialized B2B branding and easy-to-use ordering sites.
Our marketing team also produces industry-related blog posts and other free, high-interest content. We aim to equip our merchants with a well-equipped, all-in-one marketing tool kit.
Each retailer is unique, and their needs vary. As an example, sometimes they want to collaborate on specials or giveaways. Regardless of the situation, our team is always eager to customize initiatives to work for you.
We are always available to answer any questions you might have. Don’t hesitate to reach out via email at marketing@socksmith.com.
Our Design and Marketing Teams are committed to serving customers, retailers, and the community.
As they shared their experiences being part of Socksmith, each reiterated how proud they are to be a part of a company that gives back.
To the individuals within our Design and Marketing Departments, community matters.
Marketing guru Seth Godin once famously said, “Every interaction, in any form, is branding.” Hopefully, this article gave you a peek into the talented individuals behind the Socksmith brand. The magic begins with how the Socksmith Design and Marketing Teams interact with one another, our customers, and our retailers. It’s the people who are behind Socksmith’s sizzle.
The natural world holds so much beauty, but sadly, our planet’s biodiversity declines each year. Over 42,000 creatures from both land and sea are currently on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. This post will share reasons why animals are increasingly becoming endangered, facts about several threatened species, and the exciting new way to team up with Socksmith to help.
OK, stick with us here...Although species extinction occurs naturally, scientists believe the current extinction rate is hundreds–or even thousands–of times greater than the past natural extinction rate. The main cause is habitat loss. Other factors leading to creatures becoming endangered or extinct include invasive species, deforestation, pollution, climate change, and the spread of new diseases within the natural environment.
Every living being on Earth has its purpose. There are specific benefits to conserving species and maintaining diversity. Scientists categorize these values in three ways:
Consumptive | Non-Consumptive | Non-Use |
- Fishing - Hunting - Development of medicine |
- Wildlife viewing - Tourism - Balance within the ecosystem |
- Species existence |
Animal species act as indicators of environmental health, and their decline may signal that something is wrong within the habitat that they—and humans—live. In protecting threatened and endangered species, we protect ourselves and future generations, and our efforts can begin right in our backyards.
Socksmith has given back to the community over the years via donations and our partnership with the Trevor Project.
Now, Socksmith is thrilled to launch its new Endangered Species Collection, available today as part of one of the most significant philanthropic initiatives the company has undertaken.
Socksmith was born in Santa Cruz, a small beach town on California’s central coast. As coastal Californians, marine preservation is a passion for company co-owners Eric and Ellen Gil and their partner, a long-time friend and industry expert Cassandra Aaron.
The Endangered Species Collection will directly benefit environmental causes within the Santa Cruz area. Socksmith firmly believes in the importance of making an impact by supporting local businesses and affecting positive change within one’s community. Two entities will share 10% of the Endangered Species Collection’s net proceeds. The best part? You can see your impact as you purchase.
Meet our neighbors and partners in helping the environment!
The Seymour Marine Discovery Center–operated by the University of California, Santa Cruz– is a community-supported marine science education center dedicated to educating people about the role scientific research plays in the understanding and conservation of the world’s oceans.
The Center, located in an environment rich with marine life, is home year-round to harbor seals, southern sea otters, bottlenose dolphins, and two porpoise species. California sea lions, northern elephant seals, northern fur seals, four dolphin species, 13 whale species, and the threatened Steller sea lion also visit at various times of the year. Local waters are home to thousands of invertebrates, over 450 different kinds of large marine algae, and thousands of migratory and resident sea birds, shore birds, and fish.
The O’Neill Sea Odyssey aims to provide students with “a hands-on educational experience to encourage the protection and preservation of our living sea and communities.” Their odysseys happen aboard a 65-foot sailing catamaran that was once used by Jack and Tim O’Neill as a vehicle for Jack’s hot air balloon.
Today, the Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor facility consists of a two-story, 8,500 ft² building complete with an education center that offers over 200 classes each year. The O’Neill Sea Odyssey’s school science program has served over 100,000 students through two endowments and the community's continued support.
We are super excited to share this meaningful, colorful collection that features all types of amazing, endangered creatures, from those that swim and swing to those that herd and stalk. Here are some of the wildlife featured on our newest footwear.
Marine life has a way of swimming into our hearts, and these animals are among our favorites. Offered in men’s and women’s crew-length sizes, these beauties will ship starting today.
Vaquita Dolphin
Discovered in 1958, this tiny gray porpoise is now on the verge of extinction. Vaquita is the world's rarest marine mammal; less than 20 animals remain. Most often found near land in the shallow waters of the Gulf of California, the Vaquita is the smallest dolphin species, with an adult length of under five feet.
The biggest threat to these animals is us. Vaquitas may become entangled in fishing lines, and increased illegal fishing practices have resulted in a catastrophic population decline.
Sea Otter
Besides being impossibly adorable, sea otters occupy an important place within the ocean environment. These otters are a keystone species, meaning their role within their habitat has a more significant effect than other species.
Sea otters are top predators, and their presence is critical in maintaining the balance within their ocean, estuary, and near-shore ecosystems. Without sea otters, the population of sea urchins would skyrocket, and urchins would wreak havoc on sea floor plant life and kelp beds. Because sea otters help to maintain these plant areas, the otters also help to reduce levels of carbon dioxide and absorb greenhouse gasses.
Leatherback Turtle
These prehistoric, air-breathing reptiles have been around for 110 million years. Named for their soft, leathery shells, leatherback turtles live primarily in North American waters but rely on beaches for nesting. 90% of United States sea turtle nesting is on Florida beaches.
As humans develop coastlines, leatherbacks have fewer nesting sites and feeding habitats available. Fishing gear entanglement, increased plastic waste, and garbage in ocean waters threaten these beautiful animals.
Elephants, tigers, and bears–oh my! If you’d like to honor animals that walk rather than swim, this hosiery is for you.
Snow Leopard
Snow leopards are magnificent creatures equipped to survive in some of the roughest environments on Earth. They live in rocky, high, mountainous areas in Asia and are masters of camouflage, sporting a thick gray and white coat with large black spots. These leopards live above the tree line, are reclusive, and are rarely seen; they are often called “ghost cats.”
Environmentalists now classify these powerful cats as vulnerable to extinction due to habitat loss, poaching, and climate change. Between 4,000-6,000 snow leopards remain in the wild.
Tiger
Tigers once inhabited all of Asia, but they’ve since lost over 96% of their habitat due to human expansion. The world’s biggest cats now live in small, remote pockets of land and are often victims of poaching. Scientists believe about 4,500 tigers exist today in the wild.
It will be challenging to increase the tiger population; the cats are slow to reproduce, valued by hunters for their fur, and vulnerable to rising temperatures and climate change.
Asian Elephant
Outranked only by its African cousin, the Asian Elephant is the world’s second-largest land mammal. An estimated 20,000-40,000 of these majestic creatures roam parts of India and Southeast Asia in herds of related females, their female offspring, and immature males. Elephants form strong bonds with their herd mates and work together to raise their young and protect the group.
Elephants face multiple threats, including habitat loss, deforestation, and poaching for their tusks and skin.
Rhinoceros
Although rhinos look like dinosaurs, they are mammals just like us. The Javan, Black, and Sumatran species of rhinos are on the critically endangered list, and only 30,000 animals live in the wild.
Adult rhinos have no natural predators except humans, who hunt the creatures for their horns, which are made of keratin–the same material that forms our fingernails. Habitat loss and global warming also contribute to the animals’ endangered status.
Giant Panda
Known for its bandit-like black mask and adorable black and white chubby bear body, the Giant Panda lives in the bamboo forests of China. Pandas are solitary animals who only interact during mating season. These bears produce the tiniest babies (weighing an average of 4 oz. at birth) of any land mammal.
The combination of deforestation and poaching caused the Giant Panda’s population to fall to just over 2,060 individuals living in the mountainous habitat of the Tibetan Plateau in southwestern China. Approximately 600 other panda bears live in sanctuaries or zoos across the world.
Orangutan
Furry, red orangutans spend nearly all their time high above the ground in the treetops. They have mighty arms that help them to hang from branches and deftly move among the canopy in the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo. The orangutan lives alone and makes nests to nap during the day and sleep at night.
The Orangutan, whose name translates to “person of the forest,” plays an essential role in seed dispersion in its environment. These animals are some of our closest relatives, sharing 97% of their DNA with humans. Due to deforestation and climate change, scientists estimate only 55,000-65,000 orangutans exist in the wild.
Gorilla
Gorillas are among the largest apes and are even more genetically similar to humans than orangutans. They tend to be shy, social animals who live on land in Central African rainforests. Gorillas live in groups called troops that a dominant male silverback leads.
The only natural predators of these creatures are leopards, which may hunt young or weak gorillas. The biggest threat to the gorilla population is man. In recent decades gorilla populations decreased due to habitat loss, poaching, and disease. Currently, scientists categorize all four subspecies of gorillas as endangered species.
We at Socksmith hope you love the comfort, beauty, design, and hope that lies within our new Endangered Species Collection. All of us humans can work together to help one another and the animals with whom we share this planet, and each of us can make a difference from right within our communities.
If you’d like to learn more about the Endangered Species Act or the animals threatened or facing extinction, explore the World Wildlife Fund's Species Directory. Knowledge is power, and there are many ways that you can get involved to help protect vulnerable wildlife.
Life’s too short to wear boring socks and it’s for damn sure too short to let it pass us by without making a difference.
Trade shows are back, baby! After more than two years of Covid closings, vendors and retailers are flocking back to some of the country's most extraordinary trade show events. As a retailer, you are likely looking forward to learning about the newest products and the best opportunities to grow your business. Whether it's been a few years since you've attended in-person shows or you're a complete newb (along with 50% of others attending), we've put together some tips on executing your best trade show experience.
If you're looking to attend any of the MAGIC shows, FFANY, or others this summer before you pack your bags, follow these pre-, during, and post-trade show tips to ensure you're maximizing every opportunity to grow your business at some of the industry's top events this year.
A successful trade show experience hinges on taking the proper steps from preparation through follow-up. Consider taking these steps to maximize your trade show return.
When to Act |
Your Move |
Before |
👟 Check the calendar of events 👟 Register early 👟 Book your accommodation and travel 👟 Determine your focus 👟 Pick your kicks 👟 Sync up with colleagues 👟 Be mindful of the show schedule |
During |
👟 Guard your time 👟 Hydrate! 👟 Socialize 👟 Categorize your cards 👟 Be a savvy seminar shopper 👟 Network 👟 Take advantage of tech to "link" up 👟 Don't forget the fam |
After | 👟 Reflect and evaluate for next year |
A successful trade show experience begins with pre-event planning. As soon as you know you want to attend a show and your budget allows it, follow these steps.
Check the calendar of events
With over 13,000 trade shows to choose from in the USA alone, it's crucial to settle on the one(s) which fits your business needs. Keep an eye out on industry blogs, local business listings, and LinkedIn, to see which shows your favorite brands are attending. If you're still not sure, you can refer to guides like EventsEye to see what your options are.
Book your accommodation and travel
If you forget to do everything else, just be sure to book travel and accommodation early. Large shows can attract huge crowds of people, and the sooner you book, the more money you'll save and the less stress you'll have scrambling to book somewhere, which could end up being miles from the show.
The goal is to maximize your time at the trade show, and the less of it you spend traveling from your hotel to the show, the better!
Determine your focus
Trade shows can be large, intimidating, and exhausting for participants. Prepare by knowing what you’re shopping for before you arrive. That way, you can deprioritize products you’re not interested in and focus on what matters most.
Review the trade show floor plan
Whether you’re attending a smaller show or one as large as the multi-floor Footwear Show New York Expo, reviewing the vendor floor plan is crucial to a successful experience. Map out the most efficient way to walk the floor to hit the vendor booths you are most interested in seeing.
Pick your kicks–wisely
Hopefully, it goes without saying, but the right shoes matter in a trade show environment. Chances are you will be walking on a quarter inch of commercial carpet laid atop a cold concrete slab. You probably know what the right walking shoes are for you; Make sure that that's what you wear on the trade show floor.
Sync up with colleagues
A good trade show experience starts with proper planning in the weeks and months before the event. Ask your vendors if they're going to be attending the show. You might find that you can put off meetings by syncing up with people when you meet them at the trade show. You also might learn about which vendors are not investing in trade shows, which is valuable information. You may want to explore why specific companies are going to certain trade shows while others are opting to pass.
Be mindful of the show schedule
Pay attention to the trade show floor schedule. Typically when the floor first opens, it will be mobbed by vendors and customers. While that creates a vibrant opportunity, you might not see everything you'd like.
In comparison, you’ll likely find that booths have much more capacity during meal times and as the trade show reaches its logical end. At those times, the previously swamped salespeople will be eager to make new friends.
Once the show begins, the clock is ticking for you to complete your list of to-dos. Make the most of your experience by sticking to your plan and incorporating the following tips.
Guard your time
Trade shows are a great way to see many vendors quickly; however, that also means that many vendors will want to meet with you. Be sure to guard your time by spending it with the people most positioned to help your business now.
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate
Whether you’re attending a convention center or a hotel trade show, you'll find you do much better if you have water with you at all times. Fortunately, you probably won't need to buy it, as most vendors know this, and there are ample opportunities to find complimentary drinks along the way.
Check out the nightlife and socialize
Speaking of free drinks, make sure to plan some fun time in the evening, recognizing that you're likely in for long days between seminars and shopping the trade show floor.
Parties with vendors and dinners with salespeople are part of the experience, but make sure they don't detract from what you're trying to accomplish.
Categorize your cards
Vendors have a way of categorizing leads, and you should too! You’ll typically have a stack of business cards with you when you come home from a trade show, and if you don't jump on them right away, you probably won't remember which ones are most vital for your business.
A straightforward framework for categorizing leads involves writing the number one, two, or three on all the business cards you collect. The cards labeled ones are high priority. The ones marked two should be of medium importance, and the ones designated as number three might be something novel you could add to your lineup given the opportunity.
Expect salespeople from various vendors to contact you in the days after the trade show. Having them well organized will ensure you know if that’s a call you want to take as soon as it comes in.
Be a savvy seminar shopper
Many trade shows have an education component, and you should review all the available seminars. Keep in mind that your time is limited, and if there's a topic that you could learn about by stopping at a vendor’s booth, you might not wish to attend that seminar.
Time hack: Most shows will publish their seminars online following the scheduled time, so keep that in mind for a post-show opportunity.
Education matters; just make sure you're spending your time wisely.
Network
Networking is not just about the vendors. The trade show will be filled with people like you who have challenges similar to yours. Take the time to sit down at meals and introduce yourself to other attendees, and you’ll likely find unique ways to solve the challenges everyone in the room deals with regularly.
Here's a pro tip if you are too shy to start a conversation– just ask someone to share the most interesting thing they've seen at the show. In addition to starting the conversation, you'll likely learn about a new vendor or service.
Take advantage of tech to "link" up
Here is a high-tech trick for making fast connections: Chances are you're already on LinkedIn, but did you know that the platform makes it super easy to connect with other retailers or vendors? In addition to traditional handshakes and introductions, you can use LinkedIn to connect with on-site attendees in just a few quick steps. Simply follow these instructions to tap your phone to someone else's and be linked in a few clicks.
1. While attending your trade show, open LinkedIn’s My Network tab and tap the “Connect” button.
2. In the pop-up menu, select “Find Nearby.”
3. As you meet with vendors and colleagues, ask them to do the same so that the app can populate a list of attendees.
4. Tap to connect!
Psst! Don't forget the fam
One of the most entertaining things about trade shows is the free vendor giveaways that may include pens, tablets, bags, candy, phone grips, stress balls, or other goodies that might tickle your spouse or kids. Snag some swag; just keep in mind the space limit of your carry-on bag.
Once a few weeks have passed, it’s a great time to assess how valuable the show was for your business. How you evaluate that should be customized to your goals. For example, were you looking for new vendors (and did you get new vendors), or were you simply looking for a way to network with others?
If you attend several trade shows, it might be hard to remember how valuable one was when it comes time to register next year. Be sure to firm up your thoughts and make a note of them while the show is still fresh in your mind.
When you attend a trade show, you are working. Your days (and nights) will be full, and you will surely go to bed tired. The key to successful trade show attendance is preparation and execution pre-, during, and post-show.
Use these tips as a guide, and you’re sure to maximize both your experience and return on investment.
Ellen Gil and her husband Eric are the proud owners of Socksmith, a sock design company that lives by the mantra of #NoBoringSocks.
But their real journey began in 1988. The two founded the Sockshop & Shoe Company—a small, humble boutique in downtown Santa Cruz, California. Nineteen years later, they turned their passion for socks into Socksmith, their most successful venture yet.
Ellen and Eric have a lot to teach prospective merchandisers about creating the right team, using visual merchandising strategies to showcase products in the best light, and establishing customer relationships.
It's a collection of strategies designed to get sock lovers (and others) interested in and about your store's products. Merchandising includes how products are aesthetically displayed in stores, marketed and promoted, and the signage used.
You'll see that although Socksmith offers hundreds of fun and unique styles, they are merchandised to highlight each style and make it easy for buyers to choose the pair which resonates with them best. Whether it's our best-selling Significant Otter style, or our basic (not boring) bamboo design, who are we to judge? Most importantly, the array of design options helps to illustrate our brand's slogan: "No Boring Socks."
"Don't rack your brain; let the creativity flow and land before you second guess an idea."
The primary function of merchandising is to ensure optimal product presentation, both online and in-store. The merchandiser must be able to identify what products customers want, know where to place them to attract customers, design their in-store and window display, and maintain a clean space (that means no oat milk latte cups lying around).
If your store is just getting started (woo!), the owner or store manager might be responsible for merchandising (among many, many, many other things). Since they have more branches to manage, more prominent brands usually hire a dedicated retail merchandiser to oversee merchandising teams.
For the past 14 years, Santa Cruz's downtown Sockshop & Shoe Co. has had the pleasure of employing Audrey Thomas' creative design and display artist talents. Creative thinking is a must for merchandising. Some words of wisdom are straight from the horse's mouth: "Don't rack your brain; let the creativity flow and land before you second guess an idea."
The role of a merchandiser calls for someone who is both creative and analytical. Merchandising involves a lot of data (and you thought it was just moving around pretty stuff). They need to be skilled at data analysis because they have to deal with sales, inventory reports, margins, and product sell-throughs.
Additionally, merchandisers should have sales forecasting expertise to anticipate peak sales periods and adjust store stock levels. Similarly, if a merchandiser is adept at trend-spotting, they can stock and display products at the right time.
To develop a profitable strategy, merchandising involves a firm grasp of basic financial metrics.
Recruiting the right people is essential if you aren't handling the merchandising yourself. When starting their retail business, Ellen shared that one of the best lessons she ever learned was to recruit nice people. "We provide them extensive training in the culture we want for the store before eventually letting them operate it themselves.”
We thought you'd never ask! Visual merchandising and merchandising are two different jobs, although, in smaller companies, they are often done by the same person.
Merchandising ensures that the right products are ordered and delivered to the store in the correct quantity.
On the other hand, visual merchandising is concerned with displaying products to increase sales (oh now we're speaking your language, huh?). It involves being aware of the best ways to arrange products, the shelves and fixtures that will best display them, and the lighting and signage that will draw in the most traffic.
Merchandising is a team effort, so the two roles must work collaboratively. They both need to be clever in business and creative enough to get people to buy what they came in for and things they didn't know they wanted or needed.
Creating a retail merchandising plan is the next step after recruiting a capable merchandiser. The ultimate objective is to direct customers to the products you want to sell.
Items to Promote
These are usually your best-selling, newest, and in-season products. Naturally, you'll want to be merchandising in a way that draws attention to products having a larger profit margin. Depending on what you want customers to notice and what they are looking for, pick certain products from these categories and put them in the spotlight every month or week.
Store Layout
You must only have a few products on display at a time to keep the store an untidy appearance and make it easier for customers to find what they're looking for.
Stores with disorganized shelves end up looking like discount stores. In contrast, if your shop is neat and tidy, customers can see what you have and are more likely to purchase products at the total price.
Patagonia is one of the more prominent brands that we admire. Looking at their stores, you’ll notice that clothing is organized by color, print, and type. It's aesthetically beautiful, which is always a plus, making shopping more pleasant for the customer.
Budget
The cost of setting up an in-store display varies greatly depending on the type of display you want, the size of your space, and what your products are. It can be easy to go overboard, but if you’re working on a tight budget, it’s best to keep it to a minimal design that achieves maximum impact.
If you're working with a limited budget, Audrey advises keeping your visual merchandising display simple. “You can make your display pop just by choosing a group of products that complement one another.”
Stores can start with well-placed lights, mannequins, attractive signage, and well-organized shelving. Socksmith's shelves are simple: Designs arranged by category, neutral shelving, one giant neon sign, and figure feet to display how the socks look on. Having noisy shelves and placards would be too distracting from the large variety of designs.
Seasons, Holidays, and Special Occasions
No one would expect to see Valentine's Day socks on sale in October. Products out of season should not be displayed, even if you are trying to clear out old stock.
When laying out your merchandising plan, it's crucial to account for the season. Since many people are looking to buy during the holidays, this is an excellent time to get customers interested and boost sales.
Planning ahead will also ensure you’re prepared for seasonal sales and maximize special occasions to highlight special offers or promote new items.
Logistics
It's essential to consider how long it will take to deliver merchandise and furnish the shop. These factors depend on many other things, such as: how many SKUs you carry, how far your warehouse is, and whether your displays have additional requirements.
In general, your merchandising strategy will help you organize your inventory, reduce the need to markdown items or run into out-of-stock issues, and enhance the shopping experience for your customers.
How you set up your store and plan traffic can influence a customer's decision to buy. People want to see how products work and are highly affected by what they see. At least 40% of your customers can be swayed by some kind of visual or informational cue, like the way your product is packaged, where it is placed, or how your salespeople talk to them.
Consider these successful retail merchandising tactics to help boost sales:
Make it a Pleasant Shopping Experience
Customer satisfaction is the key to repeat business, whether customers shop in person or online. Staff members should be ready to greet and assist consumers as soon as they enter the store. Customers should be able to quickly find both the products they need and additional exciting choices.
Keep Branding Consistent
A strong brand image can do wonders for a business. It's the secret to setting your products apart from the competition. It also involves storytelling, which can make your brand more memorable by appealing to your audience's emotions.
Group Products That Sell Well Together
You can group products by:
- Theme
- Price (under or over a certain amount)
- Purpose (formal, casual, party)
- Target customer
- Color
Grouping products that sell well together can help customers see how one product works with another. This can help drive sales by giving customers an idea of what else they could buy simultaneously.
Use Symmetry
Symmetry is great for drawing attention to products, creating height variations, and adding interest to displays. It helps break up the merchandise and keeps things interesting for the customer’s eye.
Highlight High-margin and Popular Products
You want customers to buy the products with the highest profit margin so make it easy for them to find these. Place them in prominent areas of your shop or on display pieces like mannequins. You could devote custom shelving to call attention to your bestsellers or new items.
Change Displays Regularly
Displays should be changed out regularly to keep things fresh. Customers will be eager to check out the latest offerings. To remember what displays to put out, schedule them in advance using a calendar.
If you need ideas for arranging your displays, keep Audrey's five essential visual merchandising tips in mind:
1. Displays should always reflect your store's brand identity and aesthetic.
2. Don't stress over coming up with an idea; instead, just let creativity come to you naturally, and don’t second guess it.
3. Keep your display well-balanced and make use of negative space.
4. Showcase products that consumers don't usually look for.
5. Always have a concept or theme in mind to keep your display cohesive.
Provide Outstanding Customer Service
The entire buying process should be smooth and pleasurable for the customer. However, only some consumers are the same, so tailoring your sales approach to each individual can boost revenue and encourage repeat purchases.
Some consumers prefer a quick in-and-out experience; some people prefer to be left alone until they are prepared to pay or ask a question, while others will want to engage in conversation. Keep an eye out for how customers act when they enter the store, and try to model your greeting after it.
When it comes to visual merchandising, there are some basics that can’t go wrong. But what about what not to do when setting up your store?
Here are three definite “dont’s” in visual merchandising.
Don’t Make it too Busy
When the display becomes too busy, it can be distracting and confusing for customers. A cluttered display sends the message that your store has too much inventory or that you don’t know how to organize your products effectively. It also creates a lot of competition among products for attention.
Your goal should be to create an organized, clean, and simple display.
You don’t have to have every item in your display match perfectly, but there should be some sort of consistency and leave room for the eyes to rest.
Don’t Include Tags or Hangers in Your Display
These items will only clutter up your display and distract from what you want people to see — the product! Instead, use signage or other props as part of the overall theme of your display. Make sure that all signage matches the products under or around it.
Don’t Be Intimidated by Cross Merchandising Products
Don’t be scared of experimenting with your display. Cross-merchandising is a great way to bring more attention to specific items that may not be selling as well as others. If you have a clearance rack full of items that aren’t selling very well, try pairing them with other products that are.
A well-defined merchandising strategy can work as a sensory experience for your shoppers, which brings them back again and again. Investing time and effort in merchandising will always pay back in spades!
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Today’s consumers have many options, which means that you–as a retailer–need to provide numerous choices. Still, how can you position bamboo, particularly against wool and cotton, those two fabrics that have been delighting tootsies since Eli Whitney fired up the first cotton gin? Rest assured, retailer, we’ve got you covered. In this post–The Retailer’s Guide to Bamboo Socks–we will examine where bamboo fits in a marketplace with more options than ever.
At the end of this article, you’ll know how to position bamboo socks and what types of customers are likely to sing its praises. And also–because merchandising is just as much about knowing what not to recommend, we’ll take a look at a few use cases where you might want to recommend something besides bamboo. Unless, of course, you’re talking to a panda bear.
Bamboo has several features that make it an excellent choice; however, there’s no denying that if someone comes into your store and asks about bamboo, that’s likely a signal that they’re looking to improve their environmental footprint–no pun intended. And for that, bamboo socks are ideal.
Bamboo is a more sustainable crop than cotton, making it planet-friendly. In fact, Bamboo plants are “regenerating,” meaning that they reproduce each year without replanting. These incredible canes can grow just about anywhere under various weather and climate conditions and require only a third of the water needed by cotton crops.
Since bamboo plants grow like weeds, there is little need for pesticides and fertilizers. Crops are grown without these toxic substances, and the resulting fabric wears well on any user–especially those with sensitive skin, including children and the elderly.
Of course, the sustainability of all fabrics depends on various factors. Still, there’s no denying that because bamboo is readily available, quickly regenerating, and Earth-and farm-friendly, retailers can confidently recommend it to climate-conscious consumers.
73% Rayon From Bamboo
25% Nylon
2% Spandex
OEKO-TEX Standard 100 tests for regulated and non-regulated substances suspected of being dangerous to human health. Every pair of our bamboo socks is OEKO-TEK Standard 100 certified, meaning there are no harmful chemicals present by the time you put them on.
Quick question: When’s the best time to push bamboo? Answer: In the dog days of summer.
Let’s face it–how you feel about a given sock is not only about its appearance but also who is wearing it and for what purpose. In the case of bamboo, you’ll want to push it hard when the weather turns warm for active folks who deal with sweaty feet.
One of bamboo’s main benefits is its ability to wick moisture away from wearers’ skin. When skin stays damp for too long, it can become irritated. Keeping skin clean and dry is not just about comfort. When exposed to excessive moisture, skin eventually softens, swells, and becomes wrinkled, making skin more susceptible to damage from friction, surface irritants, bacteria, and microorganisms. To be healthy and strong, skin must remain clean and dry.
Many of the materials used for clothing are actually moisture absorbing rather than moisture wicking. Understanding these two properties helps us to realize why bamboo is the best material to keep you dry.
Absorbent materials are made with fibers arranged so they naturally tend to absorb and hold moisture. Common examples of these fabric types include cotton, modal, micro-modal, and other viscose-based cloths. These are composed mainly of plant cellulose fibers, whose main purpose is to suck up moisture.
Materials that wick moisture away are made with fibers structured to repel moisture and stop absorption. Common wicking materials include synthetic polyester and nylon, and of course, natural bamboo. You may wonder why bamboo–a plant–does not absorb moisture. The answer is complex, if not downright magical. Bamboo does absorb moisture, but its fibers do not trap it! This tendency is what makes bamboo so extraordinary.
Bamboo readily absorbs pigment, making it easily dye-able and colorfast. As easily as bamboo accepts dye, it wicks away sweat to keep feet comfortable, dry, and odor free. The fabric is naturally anti-allergenic and incredibly soft–comparable to luxurious Egyptian cotton.
The natural heat-regulating properties of bamboo socks keep feet cool even when the weather gets hot. Bamboo’s breathable and moisture-wicking nature keeps wearers comfortable on the hottest days. Pay attention to what more athletes from marathon runners to triathletes, are wearing not just for socks but for jerseys. Increasingly, they’re turning to products like bamboo.
All of this goes to say that bamboo fabrics will keep folks cooler than cotton alternatives. When you’re a retailer, it makes sense to highlight specific products when they’re easier to sell. So once it’s summertime, it’s time to promote the possibilities of bamboo!
"...double the warmth for your customers and twice the revenue for you.”
If your store is in Florida, you probably read the last section and dragged your bamboo display to the front of your store (smart!). But if you’re dealing with ski bums in Colorado, that doesn’t mean bamboo doesn’t have a place in your merchandising quiver.
Many of the same heat-regulating qualities that make bamboo perfect for hot days will also come in handy when consumers are looking for a nice moisture-wicking layer to put under more bulky products. If there’s anything better than selling one pair of socks, it’s selling two; and in colder regions, bamboo is the perfect yin to wool’s yang. Team them up for double the warmth for your customers and twice the revenue for you.
Another word about wool–not everyone enjoys wearing it. By its nature, wool has a texture that some describe as scratchy. In addition, some wearers are allergic to wool, making them unable to wear it next to their skin. Bamboo has a silky feel, making it perfect to layer under fabrics that might otherwise be uncomfortable, irritating, or unwearable.
The Simon-Kucher 2019 Fashion Sustainability Study examined consumers’ willingness to pay more for sustainable goods and found that companies that espouse “corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives can charge a premium.”
Many shoppers, especially those in their 20’s and 30’s, actively seek out environmentally-conscious businesses when purchasing. Generally, ecologically-minded consumers will pay 10-20% more for sustainable fashion. But if you’ve noticed, the prices of our bamboo socks are actually the same as cotton and cheaper than our recycled cotton. If consumers seek quality, sustainability and value, it’s tough to beat bamboo.
Retail is all about matching the right customer with the right product, and thanks to some powerful brands pushing sustainability, their fans are easy to spot. When someone comes into your store flashing a Patagonia jacket or a North Face vest, that’s often a signal of someone not just able to pay more but of a person looking to pay more in pursuit of preserving the environment.
As a sustainable product, bamboo is riding the tide of consumer demand. Overall, bamboo fiber sales are expected to grow 6% annually over the next several years, meaning you don’t need to worry about it becoming a short-lived hype cycle that leaves you with unsold inventory.
Plus, while bamboo demand is soaring, its price is generally more stable than cotton. Bamboo’s pricing is less dependent on market factors. Trust us: this year alone we’ve seen articles about cotton prices going up and coming down. This inconsistency can wreak havoc on cost management. When it comes to inflation, bamboo has been a steady Eddie of late!
We’ve always felt that socks are the perfect launch pad when you’re ready to break through to the next level of luxury. That sounds a little heady but stay with us.
Let’s suppose you’re looking to step up your game in quality, but your bank account’s a little thin: bamboo socks will put a spring in your step for a similar price to cotton. Natural bamboo fabric is silky-soft, cool to the touch, and gentle on the skin. Bamboo is a fabric that offers eco-conscious consumers comfort and quality at an affordable price.
Perhaps you’ve just watched one of those devastating documentaries about the state of the environment but wonder how you could possibly make a dent: while they won’t stop global warming, bamboo socks can help make an impact. High-quality Bamboo fabric is created by production practices that use a natural enzyme on crushed bamboo wood fibers. These naturally treated fibers are then cleaned and spun into yarn that has a soft, silky texture. This processing method does not harm the environment, yet it creates a strong and long-lasting fabric.
Socks, after all, aren’t just about fabric, colors, and textures. Like all products, they represent a story we want to be told - ideally, a story we aspire to retell.
Bamboo offers wearers a unique, sustainable story that’s not just a tiny bit exotic.
Just ask any panda bear.
Have you ever wondered how a 23,000 sq. ft. warehouse operates? Especially during the holiday blitz? So have we. And so we looked into it, and sure enough, it really is as interesting as you’d think.
The best way to describe our Socksmith warehouse is meticulous. It’s a finely tuned machine that always runs like clockwork. Sure, the Socksmith family is a group of wacky and wonderful individuals, but our warehouse team is the backbone of our brand; they get the job done! Each shipment is lovingly packed by hand from one sock lover to another.
To get a glimpse into how effectively our Socksmith warehouse functions, we managed to steal our warehouse manager, David Magbanua, away from his 3,259-holiday orders for a brief chat. David is the quintessential pro’s pro, so we knew he’d give us the scoop on how and why our warehouse runs so incredibly well. Sure enough, he delivered. As always!
Put on your favorite Socksmith socks, and enjoy this sneak peek into how they reached your feet.
Remember, folks, life is way too short for boring socks!
"...I took a chance in a different direction when I was introduced to Socksmith founders Ellen and Eric Gil."
This is a long story, but I’ll make it short. I was the captain of my high school cross-country and track and field teams, where I developed my leadership and collaboration skills. I then studied Health Science in college and thought that would be my career path, but I took a chance in a different direction when I was introduced to Socksmith founders Ellen and Eric Gil. I started as a warehouse associate and worked my way up to managing the warehouse.
We have eight folks who work the full-time hours of 8:30-5:30, Monday through Friday.
There are a few ways to keep morale high, even during the toughest of times. Caring about the needs of individuals, getting to know each team member, and enjoying time together outside of work can help to maintain a positive environment. We consciously make an effort to hang out together as often as we can.
First, you need to have the right people. Finding a team who cares and loves what they do is massively important. Next, working out the logistics of everything is essential. I work with our IT manager, Ricardo, who sets up a system for success, and I tweak it a little to add character to fit everyone’s skill set.
Finally, setting a high standard for hard work that encourages everyone to respect one another is key to the type of successful warehouse we have.
"We do our best to get orders out the same day they come in."
We do our best to get orders out the same day they come in. I’d love for you to see us unload a container. On a good day (most days!), we can fulfill same-day orders in the system as late as 3 PM.
We’ve already moved and upscaled twice since I started. Looking back from day one, I’m proud to say we’ve been able to grow and find success in my department.
Yes. We can maximize the warehouse space by building taller racks. I hope we stay here a while.
The biggest challenge was implementing safety measures such as wearing masks, sanitizing everything, and doing temperature checks. We didn’t have to think about these things as much before COVID, but now it’s become a top priority and the foundation of our work. I’m blessed to have a passionate team regarding what we do. It’s also been amazing to have Ellen and Eric, who clearly care for our health.
We started our warehouse with manual picking, labor-intensive receiving and shipping of products, and tedious inventory management. We’ve since upgraded to devices for picking, scanners for accuracy, forklifts, and stackers. We’ve even invested in warehouse shoes for the team.
Everyone has their own story regarding Socksmith’s success, but one shared theme connects everyone: The joy of working with one another. For me, Socksmith is simply love and family.
So there you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth. The success of Socksmith’s warehouse is due to so much more than mere logistics. Listening to David, we were struck by how much he and the rest of the team genuinely care for one another and the craft itself. Thanks to David and his warehouse team for always showing the care and concern that is a hallmark of everything we do here at Socksmith. And thank you for reading!
You've all seen, admired, and used the Socksmith Photo Library (we hope). If you haven't had the pleasure of attending any kind of photoshoot before, let me tell you that a lot goes into carefully curating each image. We're talking about (accidentally) traipsing through poison oak to access the "perfect" tree. Or then there was the time one of us hauled an 8ft Christmas tree all the way up a hill–in 80-degree weather and an ugly sweater– just to get the perfect shot. Sure, we voluntarily take on all of this because we're passionate about what we do...but what you don't see in each beautifully-crafted photo is the person behind the camera. In our case, there are two of them, and we can't wait to introduce them to you.
"I believe energy is everything, and it takes a lot of inside work to get to a space where ideas flow and confidence abounds."
My name is Jennifer Regina (my middle name is my mother’s name, and I love that!), living and thriving in Tampa, Florida.
I impulsively purchased a very expensive camera one day, and my friends started asking me to take photos of them. COVID was the push I needed to get my business started, and I’ve been a photographer ever since! I’m a highly visual person, so my job is a great creative outlet for me. I love that I can create my own schedule because it allows me to balance work and mothering an almost three-year-old boy who I thoroughly enjoy.
I’ve been snapping professional photos for almost seven years and have identified (officially) as a photographer for over two of them.
I love that I get to work with models, and curate shots and sets. I discovered my love for branding photography working with Socksmith. I also love that I get to work alongside my sister, Kat (the face behind Socksmith’s social media). We shared a room for 16 years of my life until I left to go to college, and now I get to take beautiful photos with my little sister as my creative director. I love being a part of her work life and getting to share a piece of mine with her.
I put together a photoshoot for myself a while back, to feed my creativity. It turned out to be my favorite shoot to date. It was a women’s empowerment session, where five women met Kat and I (my sister came to assist) in the middle of the woods. I had them exchange stories and affirmations, and the love and connection were strong. I love that you could feel the energy of that day through the photos, and I enjoyed having the freedom to create a space like that. It was powerful.
Needing to be creative on demand, because creativity just doesn’t work like that. I believe energy is everything, and it takes a lot of inside work to get to a space where ideas flow and confidence abounds. But that’s also the best thing about my job—it forces me to do that inside work, and it shows in my professional life and in my personal life.
I plan to continue to grow with photography until my intuition tells me it’s time to move on. Next year I’m taking it slower to be more intentional with my clients and to be more present with my family. Eventually, I want to go back to school to get my Master’s in Psychology and pursue a role that allows me to share the inner work that has brought me so much healing, in hopes that it helps others do the same. For now, I want to focus on how I can do that with photography. I think it can be a powerful tool for self-love and acceptance, and I’ve barely scratched the surface.
"I thrive off conveying the emotion and connection of people through my photographs."
My name is Kerrie and I live in Santa Cruz, CA. I am from Montauk, New York, one of the most beautiful little towns on the east coast. I made my way to Santa Cruz with my husband, Nate, who grew up here. Santa Cruz is similar to Montauk, so always felt somewhat like home.
I love anything to do with the outdoors! I also very much enjoy music, and of course, photography. Camping is my favorite kind of trip.
I went to college for photography in the early 2000s and began making it a career in 2006 when I moved to Santa Cruz.
It is so much fun working for a brand like Socksmith! I get to be creative while working with incredible people. I love all that Socksmith stands for and supports. I feel it is extremely important to find a way to incorporate that into your business, and they do a great job of it.
I thrive off conveying the emotion and connection of people through my photographs. Being creative in the outdoors and enjoying nature is my passion. The most standout sessions are those with people where I can create images that evoke a feeling.
Being overcritical of my work or overthinking an idea too much.
To continue being creative and learning more about photography and its ever-changing world. And of course, to be outside as much as possible.
So there you have it. A little more appreciation for the love, sweat, and fears that go into creating a beautiful photograph. We hope you enjoyed the read.
As Americans, a wimpy 3% of our clothing is made here in the states. As a company who believes in growing communities, supporting local businesses, and doing more to preserve our home planet, hearing this statistic was just mind-boggling to us. It drove us to prove that a company can source responsibly, be Earth-conscious, and be successful all at the same time.
Since then, we have launched our Outlands USA recycled textile socks, certified organic bamboo collection, and partnered with The Trevor Project to give back to our communities!
(Just recently, we also expanded our Outlands USA collection to include essential colors for everyday wear! Check them out here.)
But how exactly are we saving the Earth from wasted materials?
Recover: Closed Loop Fashion
Recover™ has dedicated themselves to minimizing textile waste. As it is, millions of pounds of textile scraps, cuttings, and otherwise wasted material is lost in making shirts, pants, hats, etc. every year. Recover™ uses a process to take all that discarded material, break it down, and recycle it into raw material for new apparel and clothing.
“Each year, humans produce more than 100 billion garments, while we dispose of over 48 million tons of clothing, of which 73% goes straight to landfill or incineration. With global fashion consumption projected to grow 62% from 2015 to 2030, so will its associated environmental footprint. At the same time, the fashion industry needs to reduce its emissions by 50% to keep Earth within a 1.5 degree change. This means there is a huge gap to close.”
How Outlands USA Closes the Gap
We partnered with Recover™ to provide the recycled material for our Outlands USA collection. Recover™ is a Spain-based company, and the material we use for the collection is taken to North Carolina, where the recycled, raw material is spun into our signature hiking socks with a cushioned footbed, and arch support!
Because we used recycled textiles from Recover™, we minimize the use of water, pesticides, and precious soil to grow new cotton fibers. We also keep waste out of landfills and slowly shift the standard of manufacturing by supporting incredible companies like Recover™.
By the time your socks are made, they have already been certified by the Global Recycling Standard.
The Outlands USA collection is not new, but we did add new colors! Check them out here.
Wait wait, you said cushioned footbed?
Yes! Our adventurous crowd loves our Outlands USA socks for these reasons:
Recycled: each pair of socks is sourced from recycled materials.
Cushioned footbed: additional padding and comfort in the heel, arch and toe.
Arch support: dynamic support with light compression, to help support your feet and lessen fatigue.
Roll top: less pinching, constriction, and indentation.
Comfort ribbing: a tight knit with a secure, snug fit that limits slipping.
Needle construction: needle quantities inside the hosiery machine, 144 or 84 needles per loop. The greater the number of needles, the denser the weaving of the sock (makes for a tighter, finer sock)
Feeling Eco-Friendly Two Different Ways
The Outlands USA collection became our bragging point in so many ways. We were so proud to do our part, but we couldn't do it without you!
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Back to us. We here at Socksmith are committed to being as sustainable and environmentally-minded as possible. That’s why we’re switching those aforementioned plastic bags for our wholesale six packs to compostable bags from Propac. Propac utilizes an eco-friendly, 100% biodegradable raw material known as EL724 which contains corn lactic acid and cellulose. Corn - what can’t it do? With our new completely compostable packaging, we’re going to be saving almost one million plastic bags. That’s a whole lot of prevented trash!
Established in 1977, Propac is an industry leader in using eco-friendly materials in their packaging. They have been working on research and development of these amazing biodegradable bags for the past twelve years. The biodegradable bags from Propac are a certified compostable product. Want to know just exactly how legit these bags are? Well, they’re certified by the following highly legitimate bodies:
Our Propac compostable bags break down under conditions such as being exposed to sunlight, moderate temperatures, and humidity. They are secondarily degraded by bacteria and mold. Within 180 days, these bags will naturally completely degrade, and be classified as general waste rather than recyclable waste. In other words, they’ll be more like the gross slimy food rapidly rotting in the drain trap in your sink than the plastic bag you turn inside out and make into a glove to remove that food so you don’t have to touch it and then cut your own hand off because it’s contaminated.
We're super excited to announce this change, and hope that going forward, we can figure out more and more ways to reduce waste and save the fish and seagulls! Thank you for being part of Team Socksmith, now and into the future.
A couple of days later I was in Santa Cruz, meeting with the Gils. I took a tour of their retail store (their Mother Ship store, Sockshop & Shoe Co.), had some lunch, talked for a long time and began to put a plan together. They were some of the nicest people I had ever met. It took some time to exit my current gig, but a couple of months later I started at Socksmith. Of course, they were actually hoping to hire Henry for my job, but the timing just wasn’t right for him so they settled for me :). Another year or so later, after Henry retired from being on the road, they brought him on board as Director of Operations, so it all worked out."
Q: "What are the key events which have influenced where you are today?"
SJ: "I loved being a retailer and owning my own business. When I was growing up, I actually wanted to open a bar. I was the only 6-year-old I knew who actually thought it would be cool to one day pour drinks, shoot the shit with locals, and call it work. I just loved that idea. So did my brother. We grew up in a time when cocktail parties and two-martini lunches were a thing, so seeing my parents entertain state legislators and lobbyists, and having cocktail parties at the house, was cool to me (my dad was in politics when I was young). So, liking the interaction with people, I think I just found myself gravitating towards jobs that put me there. That’s not to say all jobs were great. Painting houses in Sacramento in the summer wasn’t fun, neither was pulling carpet or sheetrock, but bungee jumping as a job, while in college? Come on. That was great. Every step leads you closer to something, even if that step is leaping off a metal basket 200 feet in the air."
Q: "Who is the real Sean Jimenez?"
SJ: "Is this blog PG? Probably. I’ll keep it PG because I have a horrible potty-mouth, something I’m trying to fix. That’s an interesting question… any time you’re forced to look at yourself from the outside, it’s always challenging and a bit scary I think, because I can be a real f**ker at times. Some people would tell you I’m intense. Others would say I’m crazy. Most would say I work hard and don’t take a lot of crap but am very supportive. Many would say I’m a bit dry, but hopefully funny. Several would say I’m too trusting. That might be as much a fault as it is a quality. I’ve probably trusted a few too many people in my day because I’ve definitely been burned and got my ass kicked as a result.
A few of my closest friends and colleagues would say I’m incredibly loyal and that’s one of the more important things to me. If I work with someone, whether we agree on things or not, if we’re on the same 'team' and someone’s coming after you, I’m the one standing in front of them every time. No questions. Colleagues, owners, brand. Always protect the brand. If we’re colleagues, friends, or whatever, I’ll do anything I possibly can to help you if you ever ask. And if I can’t, I’ll try my hardest to find someone who can."
Q: "Where would we find you on a Saturday night?"
SJ: "If my son’s home, maybe smoking a cigar in the backyard, a habit I’ve recently introduced him to as he’s gotten older. My wife’s thrilled about this by the way. If my daughter’s home, well, I certainly can’t smoke around her, so we’re hanging out, watching a movie or driving around in the country. Or, she could be home and ignoring us because she’s on Tik Tok, Instagram or whatever and she’s a teenager. If it’s just me and my wife, we’re most likely looking at each other saying, 'holy shit, I’m tired. Let’s go to bed.' Even though our kids are older and can do their own thing, it’s still exhausting trying to raise them!
But, now that things have opened up, I’m happy to say you can soon find me at our local dive bar, busting out some serious karaoke. And since my band broke up recently, after 11 years, you’ll probably have to tear me away from the damn machine. Oh, and I WILL lead with some serious George Michael, so be prepared."
Q: "Do you have a mentor, or someone who inspires you who has helped you get to where you’re at now?"
SJ: "I wouldn’t say I had a 'mentor' necessarily. The person who had that role in business, when I was learning, totally f**ked me and as a result, it set me on a path that took me a while to recover from. But I’ve had a lot of jobs and worked with a lot of good people and have learned something every time. If I died this very second, I would hope that in my eulogy, many people would know they were important to me. My parents were good parents. Strict father, caring mother who was home when we came home from school. Lots of values and we were spoiled growing up. That shit changed when we got a little older, lost everything and my brother and I were on our own. But, prior to that, it was good. Things like that force you to grow up fast and when you suffer, you learn. Let’s just say I learned a lot.
My wife’s inspiring to me and probably one of the smartest people I know, to a fault. She’s the type of person who figures things out really fast, gets it done and makes everyone better. She could have blown by me in her career, and I mean blown by me, but she gets bored quickly, simply because she’s no longer challenged. And the woman can work a damn room, she really should have been a politician's wife. Now I just laugh, but before I was like, 'What the hell, woman! Go get that corner office!'
Quite honestly, and this will sound like a major kiss-up but I don’t really care, the Gils are people I admire a great deal. They’ve worked incredibly hard to get where they are, made sacrifices, worked together, built an amazing business and I’ve truly learned a great deal from them. And Henry, my friend and colleague, he’d be in my eulogy as well. The man works hard and has incredible character. Nicole Chabot is like that too. She’s another person who I admire greatly and gets shit done.
I could go on, but I’m lucky to have met and worked with so many great people and I’m proud to say they’re all inspirational. Of course, that doesn’t mean they’d all go to my funeral."
Q: "What is your favorite thing about working for Socksmith?"
SJ: "Working in such a creative environment is incredible. I’m in sales and marketing, but I get to create and discuss ideas with the Gils, our Creative Director, Katie, and the rest of the team. It’s fun to be in the room and talk about product - what might work in what channel, what’s new and how we can challenge ourselves as a brand. Miles Davis said, 'If anyone wants to be about creating, they have to be about change.' As a brand, we’re never sitting still. We’re always creating. I really enjoy introducing new products to our team and getting them fired up about it. During COVID we kind of regrouped, and as a result will be introducing a number of really cool things this year and next. When I was hired, we had 3 sales reps and now I manage over 30. Convincing them all to tell the Socksmith story, and be passionate about it, is challenging but also very rewarding.
It’s also really cool to work with the accounts we have and I’ve made a lot of friends in my role. From buyers at giant companies, to small business owners, to marketing executives, and so on, it’s very rewarding to feel like it doesn’t always have to be about work, and there are true friendships that have developed over the years.
I’d also like to add that I really appreciate what we do as a company, on the philanthropic level. We’re not a brand that pats itself on the back every time we hand out a spoon, but we’ve donated tens of thousands of dollars over the years, and thousands upon thousands of pairs of socks for a ton of organizations. We’ve never been a brand that self promotes in that regard but I’m really proud of what we’ve done and the difference we’ve made."
Sean and longtime friend and colleague, Henry.
Q: "If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?"
SJ: "I hate to look back at what could have been since there’s not much I can do about it regarding my career. But, if I could change any one thing, I’d have to say learn Spanish. I only speak it a little and not even that well, but it’s something that’s bothered me over the years. Not so much because I’ve needed it in the jobs I’ve had, but because when my grandmother had a stroke many years ago, before she passed, she only spoke Spanish when she was able to speak at all. English had totally abandoned her. Not being able to communicate with her very well in the end still breaks my heart."
Q: "Where do you see yourself in 15 years?"
SJ: "Wow. The darker side of me says probably dead, since I commute from Northern California to Santa Cruz, and people drive like friggin’ maniacs. It’s so much worse now, post-COVID, it’s unbelievable. But the lighter, more optimistic side of me says hopefully still standing upright with a whiskey and cigar in my hand, hanging out with my childhood friends and all our kids. Maybe there’s a grandkid or two in there, and if so I’ll probably be getting yelled at to get my cigar away from them so they don’t smell. Chances are there’s a guitar or two plugged in somewhere close so if there are grandkids around, you can bet they’ll know a power chord or two so we can make some serious noise. And if I’m really lucky, maybe I’ll be pouring drinks from behind the counter of my own bar, speaking Spanish to a customer, just because I can."
The bulletproof, sure-fire way to writing bomb product descriptions
Get an English degree and study poetry, get super into poetry (like annoyingly into it) and then perform slam poetry for a year or two (specifically on Tuesdays, specifically at a bar where the only crowd is the people performing). Write a book of poems, then get into journalism and write breaking news stories like “Top Rave Clubs in the City: My First Go at All of Them.” Then learn SEO.
The method is bulletproof. Admittedly, that method also involves forcing yourself to enjoy whiskey.
For those of us with less time on our hands
Yes, I do have actual tips, the first being the quickest way to get more of a response from your descriptions.
We are all lucky that our product is fun in and of itself. 90% of the work is already done when you have inspiration like these Study Buddy socks.
The final 10% is embracing your inner dad and make a joke. Here is the best part: it does not even have to be clever.
In fact, the cheesier the pun is the more human we come across in these descriptions. Finishing off with a tag like “that pun probably should have been avoided” brings out the human side of your store. The product description is no longer an AI generated optimized content enhancer; it is you talking to your audience.
The key here is that the joke itself is not important, but that someone took the time to write a cute little note for the reader. It is the difference between a reader and a customer. If you can imagine your potential customers reading dozens of computer-generated descriptions, yours triggers that human connection.
Again, we are talking about socks here! Socks with little weenie dogs on them! Cats in boxes! Burgers and sunsets! When you (the writer) like a pattern let that excitement shine through your descriptions! What would you wear with that pair? Who would you give them too? Write it into the description as if you are telling your friend over the phone “I just got this cute pair of cherry socks…”
Here is a thought experiment: when writing descriptions, pretend as if you are sending the link to those socks to your friend. You send them the link, and then say what? “Look at how cute these are!” and Go on to talk about them. Use THAT energy!
My advice so far has been on writing quality product descriptions, but optimized descriptions are a whole other animal.
You are not alone if you kind of know SEO but not really. It is elusive, and diving into a Youtube learning session can lead you down some deep rabbit holes about semantic cocooning and keyword cannibalization.
For our SEO purposes, this is all you need to know:
Something cute, but then an instant offer for free shipping. You best believe they are clicking through here!
Enough of SEO for now, here are some more general writing tips for you.
I blame academia for snuffing out uniqueness in our writing. Take a style that does not fit a research paper and scatter it on the page, and you have yourself a poem with breakthrough style. Soon that poem will be taught in classes where professors ask for proper essays written on the poem.
Long story short, trust your gut more by writing how you speak. It is that easy. In my opinion, a lot of blockage people face when writing for their businesses is that they are forcing proper form into an ultimately improper medium (dare I say, poetic medium).
I have one litmus test for whether you are using academic speak or your voice: write your description, then read it out loud. Does it sound like a conversation you are having with a friend, or does it sound like a thesis on corgi socks?
The more you read your writing out loud, the sharper your ear for your personal voice becomes (alternatively, you could also perform slam poetry, see tip number one).
This is strategy is your best bet, since it does not require you to learn a new writing style, but to listen to your own way of speaking and write through it.
This is, I have to say, the easiest option for all of you writing sock descriptions out there. Even if the pattern is uninspiring, you can still get a great optimized product description by doing this one simple thing: contract me.
It is not always about ability or practice when writing descriptions, sometimes your workload demands energy elsewhere, not writing haikus about Jimi Hendrix socks. And for that, fellow sock enthusiasts, is what freelancers are for.
Q: How did you end up in marketing, and what drew you to this industry?
RB: Although I was advancing in my career, I had always wanted to travel and meeting that yank in Vegas kind of forced my hand as due to annoying immigration laws, I wasn’t able to move to the States and he couldn’t move to England either (legally at least). We were both able to get holiday work visas for New Zealand and Australia. We thought that would be a good chance for us to test our relationship and see whether we wanted to take a bigger step and commitment. By the time we had finished living out there, we had decided to get married and chose to move to Santa Cruz where we had a bit of a base established with his family. I wasn’t able to work until I got my green card, and knew that being out of work for a few years on the resume would make it really difficult to find a job. Luckily, I met a lady through a friend who worked at Giro Sport Design as their Marketing Manager and our backgrounds were similar. She convinced them to take a chance on me and I was hired as their Marketing Coordinator. Although “marketing” was in my title, I was really just responsible for the coordination of marketing events. I definitely wasn’t convinced that marketing was for me and I wasn’t sure how I could progress. After a while, they restructured and I was part of a big lay-off. As cliche as it sounds, it was a blessing in disguise. After just under a month I was hired at Socksmith as their “Marketing Coordinator”. There was so much to do and with such a small team I took on some huge marketing projects. It’s been a blast. I’ve learned so much and I really think I’ve grown with the brand. After almost a year I had been managing more than coordinating so the title of “Marketing Manager” felt like a good natural progression.
June 2016, somewhere in New Zealand.
KS: "I’ve been with Socksmith for eight years. I started in February 2013 and there were only three people at the company- two socks designers and one warehouse operator. I actually started off going to school for criminal justice, but after a couple of years it was a bit intense and I knew it would run my life, so I decided to go a different route. I am an artist and have been doing creative things all my life. I already knew how to paint and draw and sculpt, but I wanted to learn something new. So I decided to go to school for graphic design. I ended up loving it and eventually that’s what I got my degree in. Things kind of got stretched out for me because I had a family tragedy, but I was going to school down south and moved back up here to Santa Cruz, so it just delayed my graduation. Then I took a year to travel and worked doing just some odds and ends for a couple companies – a coffee company, Hospice of Santa Cruz County, and a lunchbox company. I helped them with design and art for their websites.
In 2012, my mom was planning an event with Eric and Ellen for a hospice fundraiser, and she actually had me work and help her with the event. In doing so, I met the Gils and I got to meet Judi Oyama, who was the graphic designer for Socksmith at the time. She had her own design company and did contract work for Socksmith. After meeting Judi, I wanted to intern with her and she offered me my first interning job assisting her at a photo shoot for Socksmith. It was funny. I did it really to help and learn from Judi, but then Eric offered me a job with Socksmith right after that. I took the job even though it wasn't a design position initially. He wanted me just to kind of join the team and see what happened.
I worked in the warehouse with one other for about a year, and I still had a full-time waitressing job. I learned how to manage and ship the socks and there was maybe a month where I did it all by myself. It was such a small warehouse back then, it was really easy to tackle. Then finally I said, 'Alright, Eric, can I try some design work?' He said yes, but he didn’t have a lot for me to do. Over the next six months, I assisted Judi in graphic work, and photoshoots. It’s kind of a blur, but at some point, I quit my waitressing job and I was working full time as a graphic designer and also during that time I also started designing socks. I took on so much of the work to help Judi and then after a year or so, we decided to have everything done in-house, so I started to create the catalog at that point. I was doing socks, graphics, photography, basically anything we needed and the company started growing. We started to hire more sock and graphic designers. I just was kind of taking on everything that I could, but as we added people, I started to give them tasks and manage what was happening on the graphic design side of things. So my position as Creative Director just organically happened."
Q: "As Creative Director, what types of projects do you manage and what's your day to day look like now?"
KS: "I create catalogs, posters, flyers, packaging, graphic art for printed socks, and design knit socks. I do specs for the factories, mock-ups and mapping, which is taking the sock design from the textile format and making it look like it's an actual sock. I help with all licensing and custom programs. I'm doing a lot of new projects like masks and the other products we’ll introduce soon, which includes product development. I used to photograph the products as well as help with lifestyle images, but now we have other people doing that. I direct the photoshoots for each catalog too.
So all those things can happen intermittently, and simultaneously. I manage the team and all of the sock rounds that they're working on, though the sock design team is a well-oiled machine at this point. I talk to manufacturers daily and any given department is emailing me or calling me to ask me for something daily. It's just literally working on 10 different things while trying to maybe work on my own specific project. It's just a juggling act."
Q: "What are some of the most challenging and rewarding things about your job?"
KS: "One of the most challenging things is to create something, whether it's small or large, and have it not work out for whatever reason. It's always sad when you put your heart and time into something and then it doesn't work out, and you have to let it go. An example would be, designing a whole category that didn’t go forward due to an unexpected price increase. You literally just have let go of all the development and designing we spent months doing.
It’s rewarding getting all the feedback from customers. People really love our socks and our products, it seems to make them really happy. One email that stuck with me, was a kid talking about how they were having a hard time in school, didn’t have many friends, but when they put on our socks, they were able to express themselves and be happy. The kid was grateful for our company and that made us feel really good. Also it is rewarding when you see it out there in the world, like a president getting your socks as gifts, or TV shows wanting to use them, or celebrities wearing them. It just feels like you're connected to people, all over the world. It’s a cool feeling."
Q: "Your team introduces, give or take, 300 to 400 new designs a year, which is far and above what most brands, especially sock brands do. How do you make sure that they're delivering quality work and great art all the time?"
KS: "Well, I don't have to make sure, I mean they're just exceptional designers and artists and they know what they're doing. And even I myself sometimes think, whoa, there's not anything else we could possibly do. We've done everything! But then all of a sudden there's 20 more designs like a month later that they've created. And you're just like, oh my gosh, how do you guys think of these things?
We do put out so much new product every season and in between, I feel like way more than most brands. And so of course, everything's not perfect or a home run. But that's why we make so much and we try and pick what will be strong. But even when you get it to market, sometimes it's funny because the outcome in sales isn’t what we expected. We bet on things that we think are going to be really good, and they only do alright. Or something we were iffy about, turns out to be a top seller. It’s just really interesting to see how they're received out there in the world. But overall, they're awesome."
Q: "Expand on that a little bit as far as managing that many skews and new designs. How do you know, do you pick a number? How does that work?"
KS: "Eric has always chosen the lucky number for each design category. With our main Socksmith line - cotton crew, we always try and do around the same number of design offerings for a certain season. Fall is always larger than Spring, but we usually do around the same number of designs every year. Then we do multiple colors of each design. We usually chose one or two colorways for each which makes for higher SKU count. But sometimes if we feel a design is exceptional, we will do three colorways. Going into designing a season, we set goals on how many women’s or men’s we will need to make, and also some themes that we are after. Like for example the holidays, we may strive to add like three to five Christmas or Halloween socks. If it is a new category or new product, Eric still chooses the lucky number, but it is always a conservative number to start. Then after a few seasons, we may expand to larger quantities. But we currently have around 13 different types of socks that we are making that all have collections that we design into every year. So we are definitely staying busy."
Q: "With your your career path, which didn't start in design as you said, what advice would you give someone who is looking at getting into the design field? "
KS: "You have to be open and able to take constructive criticism on your designs. And know that if you make something and it doesn't pan out, you've got to let it roll off your back because you're going to be making so much more. You have to know who and what you are designing for. Know when to design for what the company or customer needs, and when to take liberties on your designs. We once hired someone who had only ever done contract-based work, so they were used to designing for many different people. Then when I asked them to do simple design projects, they made their own decisions on what they thought the outcome should be rather than sticking to our brand identity. Sometimes, we do want a new spin or fresh idea on something, but other times it’s just simply go with the cohesive look of the brand.
Next, is know the Adobe products! Or you if you want to be a sock designer, you will have to learn the textile software. The Adobe softwares evolve every year. Honestly, I could go back and take another course and learn so much more. They are always trying to make things easier and more awesome and there are many shortcuts. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Everyone gains a certain amount of knowledge and when you get into an environment full of designers, I would just ask, 'How do you do this?' because there’s many different ways to do one thing. You can teach each other. And there’s always YouTube to help when needed. You can find pretty much any tutorial on there.
As far as textile, that's a little more specific and there's not a lot of programs out there. The program that we use is great, it's just more simplified than Adobe products, but the similarities help a lot. I was able to teach myself because I had already been using Adobe stuff. I'm sure there's so much more we can learn because we've only been doing sock design. But with this software you can design all apparel.
Finally, if it's not working out or something's not perfect, you have to ask yourself, what can I do differently? Or take a break from it. Don’t be afraid to ask your peers! This is like a family and we're trying to create, collaborate and design together."
]]>If you're familiar with our managing partners, you'll know that - things just have a way of working out. We managed to sneak in some time with Socksmith partner, Cassandra, to find out a little bit more about how she got to the position she is in today...
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Q. "Can you tell us a bit about your background, and how you started your career as a sales rep?"
C. "I started my outside sales career as a sales representative for an incredible Danish fashion accessory company. They wanted a person who was not a seasoned sales representative as they wanted to train the person to their “culture” of selling. It was a great experience, and since the job involved almost 100% cold-calling, it helped me develop a level of comfort with approaching buyers and presenting product.
Several years later when the company started to fade, the Sales Manager that hired me who had since moved on, contacted me and offered me a sales job with a Japanese sock company. He told me that this brand had incredible machinery that could produce socks with great colorful designs that no one else was doing at the time, and that they were on fire. I had absolutely zero enthusiasm when he offered me the job and I was ready to pass up the opportunity. He convinced me to at least meet with him to discuss the opportunity. When I arrived at our meeting he had a whole collection of colorful unique socks laid out for me to look at. While I thought the socks were unique, not being a sock person myself it was all I could do to not yawn in front of him. I showed no enthusiasm, so he gave me a generous offer if I agreed to try selling the socks for one month. He said if things did not work out there would be no hard feelings. I decided to give it a try…what did I have to lose? So, out I went to sell, and boy was I shocked!
The reaction was joyful and enthusiastic. This brand really was a pioneer in the sock world in those days with a new concept (at least new in the US), and with socks that were knit on intricate machines that were not yet in the US. I knew that I had found my niche, and the world of socks became my passion from a career standpoint."
Q. "What were some of the challenges you faced when you started your career and also some of the highlights?"
C. "Strangely enough, my greatest challenge was finding sock companies that had longevity, and also integrity. So many sock brands come and go and often they do not know how to effectively run a business. I quickly developed my own requirements for what I wanted in any sock line that I represented.
If I found the right line then selling the socks was always a joyful experience for me. It is true that if you find your passion for something, then your first reward is the happiness that you get doing it each day. If you devote the required energy to that passion the financial rewards will often follow."
Q. "What made you partner with the Gils and take such a risk by joining them with Socksmith?"
C. "I met the Gils at a trade show. They had just opened their first store, and it was so much fun working with them as I could see that they were really enthusiastic and excited about their new venture.
There were very few sock stores back then, but there was something very special about them and I knew that if anyone could make a go of the business it would be them. I watched their brand grow steadily over the years, and really admired how they operated. I also admired them on a personal level.
Over time, the sock brand that I represented started asking my opinion and for me to advise on sock related decisions. I realized that maybe I should start thinking about the sock business in a different way beyond just being a sales representative.
The seed was planted in mind that I should start exploring opportunities at a different level. When I returned home one day and there was a phone message from Eric regarding a possible partnership, I did not hesitate to explore what that would mean. It never really occurred to me that I was taking any sort of risk when we finalized our partnership. I knew it would take a lot of hard work and time, but I felt that Eric, Ellen, and I were on the same level. We were all willing to do what was necessary to make the business viable."
Q. "If someone wanted to be an independent sales rep and came to you for advice, what advice would you give?"
C. "To make sure they have the patience and a true desire to make this their profession. They should be prepared to keep themselves above water financially until they get to the level that they need, to be self-sufficient.
I would advise them to do some research on the companies that they are contemplating representing - how long have they been in business, what is their reputation among their sales reps, and what do their buyers think of them?
Finally, trust your instincts with the people that run the company as well as the product that you would be selling for them. If they have been in business for a while, what is their rate of turn-over for sales reps. Talk to other sales reps for the company if you can, and listen to what they say."
Q. "What's your best memory of working with your accounts over the years and would you change anything?"
C. "It has been very fulfilling working with so many store owners that I have gotten to know over the years. I wouldn't change anything, as what you do and what you learn is all part of the experience of living.
If I do something that is not particularly smart, to me that is an experience that I will learn from that will benefit me going forward. Unless you do something illegal, harmful, or inconsiderate toward another individual, you should not live your life with regret as you cannot change the past even if you want to."
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If this year has taught us all anything, it’s that when we set our 2020 goals last year, we could never have anticipated just how unrealistic they would be.
Read more about which Socksmith sock designs were more successful that we could have ever imagined...
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Historically our business goals have been within reach. Our product launches are planned-out years in advance and we reverse engineer our efforts. We prepare for the seasons, the Holidays, and the events in-between. And hey, if something wasn’t as successful as we’d hoped for, then we have our best-sellers to fall back on. Needless to say our Google Calendar has seen more updates than the Dept. of Public Health this year.
Some things never change and yes, people still LOVE to wear disgustingly cute matching sock (and mask) styles. As we reflect upon the unprecedented year we’re about to leave behind, here are the top five products that we did not have the inventory for because, well…#Rona2020
And there you have it.
Well 2020, you win some, you lose some. We’re wishing we could say “it’s been a blast”, but boy, has it been a year we’ll never forget.
Yours Truly,
A fatigued marketing team
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