Being familiar with HOT SOX, it would actually come as a surprise that the foundation of such a strong company can be associated with Cape Cod. But this is what exactly happened with Ellie Gordon, the founder of the company itself.
The earlier part of the 1970's saw a lot of hippie culture. Hippies were quite prominent during this time, and they were very present during the Vietnam War, participating in peace marches and such. But during this time, Ellie and her husband, Mark, decided to get away from the disturbance one weekend and visited some friends in Cape Cod.
Ellie and Mark took Ellie's sister and her husband with them as well. The friends that they visited were actually artists in their own right, profiting quite a lot from tie-dying shirts in the region. At the time, the tie-dyed shirts came with appliquéd fruit. It was actually the prevalent fashion statement back in the 70's.
Going home from the trip, the foursome began talking with each other, brainstorming at how they could earn as much money as their tie-dying friends from Cape Cod. The foursome agreed that they had the brains and the talent to conceptualize a great-selling idea of their own as well. From much brainstorming, they decided to go with socks because the socks at the time were actually pretty boring. Thus, they took it upon themselves to develop that pizzazz that the typical pair of socks needed.
The foursome decided on the production of silk-screened opaque socks for two simple reasons. The first is that this type of socks was not expensive to come by, so capital would not be too much of a problem. The second reason is that the process of silk-screening the socks is not too complicated to carry out, and can be done during the short hours after work. This means that no one would be forced to quit the jobs they hold during the day.
With that problem solved, they then moved on to the issue of finding a name for their company. At the time, the phrase 'hot pants' was popularly used in the fashion industry, so Ellie herself suggested that they go by the name of HOT SOX. The name stuck ever since.
Throughout the years, Ellie and her entourage of skilled craftsmen have continuously impressed the lingering market with the very hot designer socks they have been producing. They have also released a lot of trademark designs in the market as well.
That ever-so-popular design of King Kong hanging onto the Empire State Building is actually one of the pioneer designs ever released by HOT SOX. With superb quality in mind, it is no wonder HOT SOX has become the large empire that it is today.
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Neil Thompson is a fashion writer who specialises in men's gifts and accessories. He has a particular interest in socks, pens and wallets and brands such as Parker, Paul Smith and Ted Baker. Click here for more information on a range of
socks and
fountain pens.
