They are a rather neglected aspect of the fashion industry and the last thing you consider when putting together any outfit. They are boring. Start to smell. Or have holes. Get lost. Are eaten by your washing machine. Going out to buy new ones holds no interest for you, their wearer. No, the traditional image of socks isn't working in their favor.

But enter Maurice Poot, Bas Verkaik and Bob de Vries, who nonetheless - or precisely for all these reasons - saw a gap in the market. It started out as a joke in April 2016, when the three of them had their hands full, mainly with STORM's electric motorbike and the world trip the student team was due to make with it. Undeterred by any design or entrepreneurial experience and girded with their “yearning for awesomeness”, it seemed to the threesome like a lot of fun to start designing their own eye-catching socks. And to market them to the man in the street (and the woman as these socks are gender neutral and one-size-fits-all).

After a year-long search, a manufacturer was found in China who could offer Poot the price-quality balance the three students were looking for. The socks started selling, not through a store or web store, but exclusively by subscription to Sok & Sok. Because, as the Master's student of Systems & Control says, there may well be other ‘happy socks’, but subscriptions are hip, and life doesn't get any more relaxed than a subscription to socks.

Pure happiness

For 6,95 euros per month (postage & packing included) subscribers find a pair of ‘exceptional socks’ landing on their doormat every few weeks, together with the ‘pure happiness’ they bring, as the enthusiastic Eindhoven entrepreneurs promise. What's more, every pair of surprise socks has its own personal story, relating to the season or something else equally topical. Having difficulty getting back to the office or lecture theater after a wonderful summer vacation? Sok & Sok will pull you through.

This past January, they got the first batch of self-designed foot textiles out the door in Eindhoven; nine months later the student-minded sock service has over two thousand subscribers throughout the Netherlands. “Our socks reach the craziest places.” On Instagram and Facebook, says Poot, there is now a veritable Sok & Sok family.

Pinch of salt

The company is thus expanding and so the original joke is becoming increasingly serious, but the principle remains unchanged, accordingly to Poot: “Everything with a pinch of salt and a wink. We are doing this mainly for kicks, ours and other people's, and actually, we aren't making any money yet, we're only putting money into it.”

Moreover, as he says, Verkaik, De Vries and himself are still pretty much fully occupied with studying, working and other activities; Sok & Sok is being run in the lunch breaks and evening hours. “But it would be great if it grew; then we could start putting more of our own time into it, sort out the details and come up with even more fun and crazy concepts.”

For now, Poot and partners simply hope that the Sok & Sok movement gains a stronger foothold on the campus: “To our mind, TU/e can certainly use some more color. Although I don't think the average science student loses their socks that easily,” says Poot with a laugh.

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