June 2007

BUSINESS OF WEARABLES
Happy Feet

Offering footwear and socks to your clients can lead to even more sales than you imagined. Learn how to get started.

By Nowell C. Wisch, MAS

I was sitting at my friend’s house, watching his almost-new baby discover her feet. I’ve watched two of my children and two grandchildren discover their feet, and it’s a process that never ceases to amaze me. It keeps children occupied for days, and entrances parents and visitors alike.

Babies and distributors have a lot in common. When distributors discover that customers have feet, it can keep them entranced for anywhere from the length of a sale to an entire career. Feet are viable body parts – and a valuable sales avenue, too.

Selling footwear and socks requires some work, however. Feet-oriented sales don’t just jump out at you. For distributors who can think beyond their client’s initial requests, footwear and socks really can add value to an order.

 My friend Jake is a “master of feet.” He has a nice business packaging corporate events and includes some footwear items in “about half my sales. I sell a lot of destination and incentive programs. These are the staple sales for all kinds of footwear products,” he says.

While footwear encompasses a narrow group of products, the sales potential is wide. “I sell everything from imprinted shoes to imprinted shoe laces,” Jake says.
 Jake likes the simplicity of footwear sales. “Even sandals are a dream compared to other wearables items. Within this niche, you really only have a few style choices, although the color choice is greater,” he says. “But, if my customer wants to have a casual footwear choice for a sandy location, there are only a couple of suppliers doing imprint sandals, and they really know the market.” 

Theme is key to selling footwear and socks. “It’s much more difficult selling a sock until a sock fits a theme,” says Marsha, another distributor I know.

As a wearables category, socks are the easiest items to sell. They only come in a few sizes and colors, and there are only five or so different styles. Jake, distributor

Marsha tends to focus on themed sales. “My retail clients usually buy something to support a special event. For example, Valentine’s Day this year provided a nice opportunity to sell pink socks to a local card shop,” she says. “The client aimed to increase sales to younger girls and their moms. We created pink ankle socks with the client’s logo woven onto the collar. The client ran a series of ads in the local paper, offering a free pair of socks with every purchase for the holiday. They bought a gross of socks and gave out every pair.”

Put a sock in your orders
Socks, Jake says, represent the best opportunity in the footwear and socks category. “As a wearables category, socks are the easiest items to sell. They only come in a few sizes and colors, and there are only five or so different styles,” he says. “It’s way easier than even the simple T-shirt sale, where I have to show my customer eight or 10 styles, hundreds of colors and every size from XXS to 6XL. Socks are heaven in a catalog.”
 Distributor Barbara doesn’t just like socks – she loves them. “Socks, socks, socks,” she swoons. “There’s no other product that’s so easy to show and sell. Every single customer has the potential to use socks for a promotion because they’re a way to tie in every message.

“My last two socks sales were very different uses of the same item,” Barbara says. “My dry cleaner bought six dozen to give away after advertising, ‘We found the sock your dryer ate.’ He gave away a pair of white crews with every dry cleaning order and was out of stock in only a few days.”

Her second client, a manufacturer, sent 800 single socks to pre-registered attendees of a trade show with the offer to match the lonely sock with its mate if the attendee came to the booth. “The promotion worked on several levels,” Barbara says. “First, it went out in a bulky envelope, which always attracts attention. Second, it connected on an emotional level because everyone has a single sock in their drawers. Finally, it was a really successful promotion that brought almost 300 prospects to the booth specifically to redeem the offer.”
Another distributor, Kimberly, used socks for a different type of corporate program. “We supplied items for a large teambuilding retreat for our biggest client. We included socks as part of the welcome packet. The client bought 600 pairs for the attendees and another 600 pairs for ‘significant others,’” she says. “This doubled the order and put a reminder of the event in everybody’s sock drawers. It was the best received item in the sale.”
 Corporate clients aren’t the biggest users of socks. That honor belongs to schools and sports teams – this niche provides a never-ending source of sales. “I probably sell 50 orders a year for team-color knee and soccer socks,” says Ralph, a distributor in the Midwest. “It started when my daughter was 8 years old, and joined the Saturday soccer league.

 “Every team wore uniforms, and every uniform came with a pair of socks. My daughter wore hers out in a few weeks and it was difficult getting replacements, so I had some made for her and the team. Instead of simply using the uniform color scheme, I had the team name woven into the color band,” Ralph says. “This was an instant hit with the parents, because the girls really looked sharp. Jealous parents gave me seven other team orders on the first morning. Now, I sell to all 20 teams in the league, and have for the last 10 years. The sales average three dozen per team – the minimum necessary to get woven logos.”

Decoration know-how
Embellishment techniques on socks are varied and very important. Jacquard woven socks require that the logo or words be placed within the fabric itself. As the sock is being knitted, the logo is added to the fabric. This makes the embellishment a permanent part of the garment. “The downside is that the graphic is a little blocky, sort of like a pixilated image on a computer screen,” Ralph says. “The upside is that the graphic can be reversed to white from the color band on the sock. This saves money because socks tend to be made in two colors of yarn.”

 Appliqués are becoming more common. “One big advantage to appliqué is that it lasts longer than the sock,” says Jim, a multiline rep in the Southeast. “If you want a really detailed or crisp logo, it provides the best alternative among screen printing, weaving or embroidery. A good appliqué can be made with up to nine colors, and it’s applied to the outside of the cloth so it doesn’t irritate the skin when worn.”

Jim says that a recent trend is toward black team socks. “Many teams are using black athletic shoes, and black socks just look better. As teams change colors to reflect new fashion trends, the uniform sock has to keep up with the trends,” he says. “Weaving the name or logo in a white reverse is a really strong look that drives some sales, as well.”

Several distributors are noticing a shift in the color patterns of their sales. Linda has added many pastels to her hospital programs. “I sell to seven hospital groups throughout the nation. Lately, our Nurse Appreciation Day package offers include anklet and crew socks in several pastel colors,” she says. “We’ve always offered tiny pink and blue socks for the newborn programs, but as scrubs have become more colorful, the socks have to match or augment the look.”

Another trend Linda sees is the addition of “fuzzy feet” to traditional sales. “One of my manufacturer clients gives socks to their sales and marketing people to use when they travel. Since hotels can get pretty skuzzy, they give oversized socks to use for slippers. They’ve started screening a grabby pattern on the bottom,” she says.
This trend has also gained acceptance in the hospital and nursing care industry. As nursing facilities and retirement communities discover the benefits of providing nighttime footwear, the sticky substance helps keep patients and residents from slipping on floors.

Paul takes a different approach to footwear. He goes for the gold in a big way. “I had a large corporate client who needed an inventive solution to a sales incentive program. The biggest competition to a product offering was cash spiffs,” he says. “After doing research among dealers, I found that some salespeople were very entry level, and needed spiffs to put shoes on their kids’ feet, while others were making six-figure incomes but could always use another good pair of shoes. Shoes are basic, and everyone needs them.”

 One truth that applies to every footwear sale is that happy feet make for happy people. Jake returns to a core philosophy whenever a client asks why he recommends a footwear item. “I always tell them the same thing. It’s hard to put a smile on your face when you have a frown on your feet. It’s corny but it works,” he says. And corny or not, happy feet can help lead to …

Happy Selling!