Samy Liechti was embarrassed to find he was wearing holey and mismatched socks as he took off his shoes at a business tea with Japanese customers in 1994. His humiliation led to an obsession that would not end until, five years later, a business was born. Samy sums up its credo, “A man shouldn’t look for socks, the socks should come to the man.”
As crazy an idea as any hatched in the heat of the first dot com bubble, Blacksocks.com was launched in Switzerland for a European clientele. At the urging of customers, the company later branched out to sell boxer shorts, briefs and t-shirts. Still, says Samy, “99% of our underwear customers are sock customers so we position ourselves a sock company, the sock specialists.”
Today blacksocks.com serves 50,000 men in 75 countries around the globe. (No women — “the female market becomes very complicated” — but his leadership team is all female.) Blacksocks arrived in the U.S. earlier this year. Sockscriptions, simply explained, sends socks on a cycle, includes delivery and there is no obligation.
After eleven years of selling only black socks, they’ve taken the bold step of offering colors. Now you can take a walk on the wild side in “lounge colors;” dark blue, dark gray and red. The future is RFIDs in socks so you can always be certain your socks are properly matched and to track how often the socks are washed and when they need replacing. That, in an app, Samy hopes to release later in the year.
I’m tempted. When I succumb, I’ll let you know how it goes. If you go first, or if you’re already a sockscriber, tell us about it in District TMV.
Via NYTimes Tech Talk (mp3).