We all need socks, right? So we might as well have a bit of fun with it, at least that’s what Rachael Barton’s husband Adam thought when he launched Sock It Up nearly five years ago.
Adam worked in hospitality at the time and owns several bars and restaurants in Brisbane when he and a friend decided they wanted to design cool and funky socks.
Two years ago he asked Barton to take Sock It Up retail and the rest is history. “I began wholesaling our socks to retailers all around Australia,” she explains.
“This was probably the moment when Sock It Up went through a massive change as I started to become very influential in the decisions of the business.”
At the start of this year Barton decided to take 100 per cent ownership of the business and bought Adam’s business partner out.
“This would allow me to have the complete freedom I required to take the business in the direction I wanted to and at the same time grow the business. It has been a very sharp learning curve and I have had to learn on my feet pretty quickly as my knowledge of running a wholesale business prior to this was very limited.”
Barton designs the unisex socks herself and with the consistent and rapid growth the company has experienced, it has been challenging to keep coming up with new ideas that are different and stand out from the crowd.
“So much thought is put into particular colours, designs and pictures on the socks, but I think the biggest thing is they aren’t overly novelty. The images on the socks are small and not too big and each sock comes with a name attached to the tag so it creates an identity for each sock.”
The socks are sold through an online sock subscription method, a platform that is becoming more popular these days.
“Subscriptions services are so popular. My husband isn’t a man for shopping and regularly signs up for different subscriptions. They are massive business in America and he could see that they worked and wanted to do something that could just be a bit of fun. I don’t think we ever imagined the extent and the growth we have experienced.
“Once a month we do about 1,000 to 1,500 sock subscriptions. It’s just the perfect gift to get someone especially at Christmas when you don’t know what to get someone.”
So what’s next for this quirky brand? “Baby and children’s socks are our next adventure as of next year. They are coming out in February 2019 and it’s the most excited I have been as it will be completely new to Sock It Up.”
