sock & roll

"IT ALL STARTED WITH A TENT AT AN OUTDOOR MARKET, A DESK IN MY MESSY BEDROOM, AND THE COURAGE TO APPROACH OUR VERY FIRST WHOLESALE CUSTOMER..."

 -Carrie Atkinson

(El Presidente, owner, total sweetheart)

The original logo, now retired due to perceived nudity... awkward.

 (more about SITM after the jump!)

... and thus began local Portland super sexy sock company, Sock It To Me. That was back in 2004, and SITM is now taking over the world with delicious socks available from over 300 wholesalers worldwide. SITM has held a Portland-ONLY sock design contest for the last four years now. Maybe you've heard of it, or even entered. Unfortunately, I had never even heard of the company until I saw their nice big bright shiny Design Contest ad/template in both the WW and the Mercury... UNFORTUNATE because if I had known about them sooner my sock drawer would be overflowing with cuteness (seriously THESE?! Shut UP!) by now! But what is fortunate is the fact that I got SO excited by their design contest that I grabbed ten copies of the WW and ran home to get started on my designs. And THAT is fortunate because I ended up winning second place with this design, called Right As Rain. Wahooooooo! When I went to pick up my winnings- $100 and 5 pairs of socks- I was granted permission to take some behind the scenes photos of where the magic happens, and Carrie was even gracious enough to answer some questions for us. Love these guys!

STATS

STARTED: 2004  

BY: Carrie Atkinson

GO THERE: There is no brick and mortar store, but several stores in PDX carry their socks. Please contact them for more information, or place an order via their website or through Sock Dreams- free shipping to anywhere in Oregon!

RING THEM: 503-419-6428

WWW: sockittome.com

Here it is- Right As Rain- all scanned in and getting ready for production! Each design they produce is scanned into their computer and broken down into this kind of detail. See those color swatches on the right? Each one has a number....

... and that number corresponds to one of these thread samples here. That makes it much easier to know exactly what the colors are going to look like, no strange computer-monitor-tricking you business.

Above is a mock up trade show booth. Lots of pretty socks and all of the entries stacked up.

This year SITM received over 1,000 design entries- holy cow! It's an honor to be chosen out of that many! There were a ton of great designs from people of all ages.

Carrie shows me the forbidden logo. Both of them are such cuties! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions!

LET'S PRETEND YOU CAN'T WEAR SOCKS AGAIN. EVER. WOULD YOU RATHER WEAR TIGHTS OR LEGGINGS? WHY?

Leggings.  They’re less restricting.  I can pull them way up or way down and the fit is more forgiving.  Unless they are super cozy, soft, cable knit tights I’m not fond of wearing them.  I feel trapped wearing tights!  Weird, I know.

DO YOU REMEMBER THE PAIR OF SOCKS THAT STARTED YOUR LOVE AFFAIR? YOU TALK ABOUT THE SOCKS YOU FOUND AND <3D IN KOREA... WAS THERE ANY PARTICULAR PATTERN/LENGTH/ETC. THAT STOLE YOUR HEART?

There was no specific style.  It was just the quality and price that I fell in love with.  When I bought socks for personal use in Korea all they offered were stripes, stars, and argyles.

IS THERE A DREAM PAIR OF SOCKS YOU'D LIKE TO SEE PUT INTO PRODUCTION BUT MAYBE WON'T FOR WHATEVER REASON (TOO DETAILED/UNICORN HAIR IS SCARCE/ETC.)?

I’d love to have some really detailed vintage looking designs.  If you google image “vintage postcards” you’ll see what I mean.

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU THINK PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOUR SOCKS THAT THEY MIGHT NOT ALREADY?

They’re just pretty great.  We’re still working on perfecting the stretch/tightness on a few of the styles but they stay up and are great quality.  Oh, and they might help you pick up people you’re attracted to.  They’re also a great conversation starter.

ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE SITM MOMENTS IN THE LAST YEAR?

It was pretty cool when I met one of my top role models Tony Hsieh.  He’s the founder of Zappos.  They have a one of a kind culture and they’re crazy successful and very accessible.  If you’re ever in Vegas they will pick you up from the airport, take you to their HQ, give you a tour, and then take you back to your hotel for free!  I saw Tony while waiting in line for a coffee at SXSW.  I was super nervous but I ran up to him, told him how much I admired him and took a picture with him.  I didn’t have any product of business cards on me.  Doh!  But still a very memorable experience.

 

A treasure cart, for rounding up orders.

Hundreds and hundreds of Sock It To Me socks! 

Hard at work in Carrie's 'office.'

What are you looking at? NO, what are YOU looking at?

Can I just take a moment to talk about how much I like a company that holds a contest for Portland people ONLY? I like it. A lot. That is freaking great. Like, supercalifragilisticexpiali-GREAT. Now that I've found these dreamy socks you can bet my drawer will be overflowing by winter. Right As Rain will be available for purchase the beginning of November if you're interested. In the mean time, take a few moments to browse their website and do some swooning of your own- there is something for everybody!

<3