Scan Magazine, Issue 126, July 2019

Page 66

Spreading happiness, one colourful sock at a time Gone are the days of dull socks under the Christmas tree. How are you feeling today: stripy, chequered, bright yellow? Simply open your sock drawer and choose – express yourself, have fun. Happy Socks has been on a mission to spread happiness with colourful socks since 2008, and the world is beginning to look like quite the happy place indeed. By Linnea Dunne  |  Photos: Happy Socks

It all started back in 2008, when old friends Mikael Söderlindh and Viktor Tell had a bit of a thing for colourful socks, or ‘happy socks’, as they called them. One day, when lying on Mikael’s floor chilling in his colourful socks, Viktor had an idea. “He said, ‘What if we’d set up a business making happy socks?’,” Söderlindh recalls. “So we started chatting and got carried away, and we couldn’t believe it when we saw that the name Happy Socks wasn’t registered.” And the rest, as they say, is history. 66 | Issue 126 | July 2019

The friends wasted no time, but immediately emailed upwards of 100 factories presenting their plan to conquer the world with colourful socks. “Only one replied,” Söderlindh laughs. “So we went down to this factory in Turkey, where a father and son ran a factory. It was a bit of a struggle as it was the son who had replied, while the father was sceptical of the idea of making what he thought of as kiddie socks for adults – but we managed to come to an agreement, so we stayed for a few days and

learnt everything there is to know about making socks.” Once informed of their options and colour choices, the former graphic designer and advertising veteran went back to their hotel room to start the creative process, resulting in 100 different designs in three different sizes. “They said the minimum order was 200 pairs per style and size – that’s 60,000. So we ordered 60,000 – three weeks after first having the idea.”


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.