Sox Footwear on funky, bold designs & the perfect cycle sock formula

Sox Footwear appeals to the eye but the brand’s beauty goes deeper than looks. CIN speaks with Sox footwear Co-Founder Francois Theron to talk through Sox Footwear’s South African roots, upending the traditional way to make socks and why the cliches about northern Europeans only wearing conservative colours aren’t necessarily true…

One of the things that stands out with Sox Footwear are the bold and strong designs. Was that a core element that was there right from the start?

That’s one of the major reasons we started. I retired from racing professionally for Adidas Global and was looking for socks that were a bit more bright and funky. My business partner went straight to a factory and asked them to make him something. We called it Sox Footwear – it’s quite original (!) but we ended up loving the name.

After going to factories we realised it’s really difficult to make good socks just because of the traditional way people had done it. They want to make you the cheapest socks possible, in big
numbers, with longer times and colour limitations. We started working with a factory on some bright funky colours…and then the factory went bankrupt overnight.

We imported a machine from China and thought “it can’t be that difficult to make socks”. We soon realised we needed a bunch of machines, not just one. So we started a factory. It was a lot of work but we luckily had a good bunch of skilled people. We did things completely differently and quickly realised there’s a place for brighter, funky, really good technical socks with small MOQs. Initially the plan was just to manufacture for ourselves, but then we started producing for other brands and companies, with good quality, good communication and short lead times.

Then we realised we couldn’t keep on with the traditional way as every new colour you wanted meant you had to buy another piece of equipment.

We thought, if you can print on a cycling jersey you could also do it on a sock. So, we started engineering that. We were small enough that we could manipulate the machines until it
worked and developed the printer that can print directly onto the socks. We paid attention to the details; We got the software sorted, we managed to dial the ink so it works, the ovens we customised to bake the socks in…

We got the socks looking cool and then we managed to get it to where the quality is right.

It was quite similar to the early days of electric cars; at the beginning it was just not cool to have one, you don’t have the range, it doesn’t feel good… With Sox Footwear the reaction was no, you
don’t want polyester, no you don’t want printed socks, that’s a terrible idea. So that was a tough beginning. But now it’s similar to where we are with electric cars. Now people want them, they see
the benefit and it makes sense.

Things scaled and we ended up being just a custom manufacturing company. When Covid came we had time to build our own in-line brand and focus a bit more on that. That was good for us,
there was this big demand. Obviously the industry took a dive, but we were also in different spaces like running.

Bright and fun is what it’s all about. You can get boring socks everywhere and really good ones, and trying to compete with those doesn’t make sense. We do something different with the design and that’s the initial head turner. People stop and look. Then they realise the quality and end up buying more.

How does Sox Footwear approach the technical side of socks?

Funnily enough, I would say a lot of the other sock brands put in what they call technology but they’re often just breaking a really good sock. The less you fiddle with the sock, the better. There’s a basic formula – everyone’s got it, the recipe is out there.

A really good sock is seamless on the toe. It’s padded on the heel and toe. It’s got a Y cup heel which cups the heel better. Then something that stretches well, it’s soft on the skin, durable and
the elastic we use is much stretchier than anyone else’s.

We quickly decided on sizes in the early days. There’s not really a good way of saying what a foot size should be, it depends on how much it stretches. To just put in a rule that if you’ve got small feet you should have small ankles… it’s not right, because you’ll have ladies with small feet but wide ankles, guys with massive feet but small ankles… so you need something that stretches, and
it’s what we’re really good at.

We don’t make all of this noise about stuff that doesn’t matter. Try putting on one of our socks and it will work really great.

The brand is now about 10 years old. I’m guessing the range is now a lot bigger than in those early days?

It’s been growing quite a lot. One of our unique selling points is that we go for whatever the flavour is, whether it’s Valentines’ Day, Mother’s Day, anniversaries, Super Dad… it gives something back to the retailer. There’s new stock to put on the shelves, but it’s not a dead stock item. Weirdly we see that Christmas socks tend to sell throughout the year. We don’t get it, but they still do it!

The other thing is the crew style sock, and then we developed a really nice knee high compression sock, then people asked us for a shorter sock like a tab sock, then there’s a kids range which has been phenomenal and has opened up new retail networks. A kid is more likely to like riding a bike if they’ve got the right socks, especially if the socks are bright and funky. The really nice thing is the parent and the kid can have the same socks, so it’s connecting them again. They initially go to the kids section and then the parents end up buying socks themselves.

For the retailers that are suffering in this difficult economy, it’s a nice way to capitalise on the people coming through the door who come for a new tube or to get their bike serviced. This is one of those counter options that makes people feel good. Everyone wants to support a local bike  store, but it’s tough. If you want to take something home or something to make you feel good, it’s not so expensive. You can go to a bike store, get a pair of socks for someone’s birthday… it’s convenient.

Can we tackle one of those cliches – now Sox Footwear is pretty international, do you see noticeable regional differences in styles, eg do northern Europeans dislike outlandish designs?

Ironically, no. In the beginning, I was scared to disclose that we were making the socks in South Africa. I thought people will think they must be rubbish, but it’s been our biggest advantage by far. We go to any expo and say these socks are made in South Africa and it’s a different conversation. We explain why and then we usually follow that with mentioning our five-year guarantee. Then people know we’re serious about our quality. We’ve been doing it for four years, so maybe next year everyone returns their socks, I don’t know! But so far, it’s been really good and differentiated us.

People are usually scared of buying funky socks because they’re usually not good quality, they’ll buy a sock because it looks cool, but then they know it’s actually just going to take one or two washes.

But back to your question, you get a mix of people everywhere, nice people, arseholes, crazy people… it doesn’t actually matter where you go. Everyone wants that one pair of funky socks in
their drawer whether it is golf or cycling. And once they’ve got it they tend to keep reaching for it. We have these unique socks and all the flags of the world, they’re strong for us. Tourism is big too. We’ve got eight Dolomites designs and they are selling like crazy. People want to buy some
thing and take them home – destination socks do well for us.

Can we talk about sustainability – fast fashion has got a bad name and you’ve been talking about socks that last… so is there a sustainability angle for Sox Footwear?

Yeah, there’s quite a few boxes we tick, and some of them weren’t on purpose. In South Africa we had some serious electricity issues at some points, so that pushed us into a direction. Our property had no electricity, and we’re now 85% off grid and during the day, we just run on solar. We only use grid electricity if we run into the night or if there’s cloud cover.

All our polyester is recycled. It also outlasts any other sock. Wastage is much lower. The printing we do on the socks is with water-based inks. For cotton you have to dye, which wastes a lot of energy and then there’s the wastewater which you can’t do anything with – it’s worse than sewage – so we’re comparatively very good. And cotton unfortunately doesn’t last. It’s a nice feel but it’s a natural product and after two or three years it loses integrity and starts disseminating. We have this packaging which is like a utility bag – you can reuse it and put your CO2 canisters and your cheese and your cell phone in. And our socks are PFAS-free.

The culture of how we manufacture is important to us too. We have a nice facility, and when we employ we try to look after youth, particularly if they’ve not had many opportunities. Our machines are easy to teach, even for those who’re not computer literate. We have a whole system where you basically upskill yourself if you’re willing or wanting, depending on the different personalities, so that’s been great.

We will have 150 people by the end of the year, we’re at 113 this morning [at time of interview]. We’re interested in job creation and the workforce is predominately ladies. So we tick a lot of
boxes by accident, and it works.

Bringing it back to Bob Elliot, you started working with them in summer last year, but you dabbled in the UK before?

Our first international business was in the UK. There’s that normal entrepreneurial cycle you’re like, oh, we have to go to America, start up in the UK… you have to go global! We worked with a South African distributor that was branching out to the UK, but it never really got off the ground and eventually pulled out.

It’s better to have people that under stand the conditions, the people, the relationships. We met Bob Elliot and the team at Eurobike last year. It was a quick onboarding and then we were soon at Cycling Industry News Live. It was great to spend time with the Bob Elliot team. They have a great culture, they’re kind and professional and passionate about cycling.

Are there any other ways you work with the industry?

What also sets us apart is how we do business. We do white label manufacturing, custom-made. We always support the teams, clubs and professional riders as well as the local bike shops. So, it’s not just about having our range. We can also make a sock with their logo on it and the minimal order quantity is really low. It can be done through Bob Elliot.

They don’t have to worry about the import, we take care of all that, the designs. And if a local bike shop wants to support a youngster, you can give them socks, colour match it to the shoe… it increases the likelihood of a sale. You can get them for your staff, your loyal clients, and it’s of the same quality as our retail products. We protect the brand as much as possible. It doesn’t have to be discounted at all because it ticks all the boxes for a premium sock.

soxfootwear.it
www.bob-elliot.co.uk