June 19, 2020
Promo Cozies Up to Comfort Footwear
Custom fuzzy and comfort sock sales are on the rise during the pandemic.
In late March, many corporate employees found themselves working from home, calling into meetings formally dressed – from the waist up. Now, three months into the shelter-in-place order, for many, everyday workwear has moved from business casual to casual from head to toe.
A recent article from the Washington Post reported a trend in comfort footwear, noting that slipper sales doubled in April, according to research from The NPD Group. For some suppliers, this has been good for business. For suppliers whose main revenue is not in comfort footwear, however, it’s meant reviewing and renewing their business model.
Slippers (SLP-100) from Suntex Industries can feature an embroidered company logo.
“Socks have kind of taken a downturn as a whole, and the fuzzy socks have been one of our saving graces,” says Santana Fulp, director of sales and marketing at Sports Solutions Inc. (asi/88876), an athletic wear supplier based in Pilot Mountain, NC. “It’s definitely been a time of adjustment.”
As employees make their way around the house, fuzzy socks with gripper treads on the bottom ensure a secure footing, preventing any unwanted spills. Slippers and business-casual footwear keep feet cozy and stylish, especially when customized with a business logo.
Crew or low-rise fuzzy socks like these (SockFuzzCrewEM) from Sports Solutions Inc. are great for company promotions and working from home.
“I think people just really like the comfort of it,” Fulp says.
Suntex Industries (asi/90160) has supplied socks and slippers for years to hospitals, in-home healthcare companies and even college sororities. Now, more orders are coming in, with an embroidered or printed logo.
“More and more of our customers are requiring USA-made products and decoration,” says Gwendolyn Kelly, customer relations manager for Suntex Industries, located in the Winston-Salem, NC area. Suntex Industries uses Digiprint technology to apply a full-color printed appliqué to its products, offering quick delivery for customers that are sending customized socks in work-from-home kits.
“The Digiprint is a method we do completely in house and offers a quick delivery – which our customers are going with more,” said Kelly.
These fuzzy socks (fuzz-100) from Suntex Industries feature grips dotted on the bottom to create tread on hardwood floors.
Unfortunately, some ASI sock distributors are not faring so well. While the pandemic has not decreased promotional product sales for Wilson Brown Sock Company (asi/79707), it has had a very negative impact on its main source of revenue, athletic socks, says Jack Harrison, director of sales. In fact, the Burlington, NC company intends to redirect its business model.
“COVID has forced us to reevaluate all of our business,” Harrison says. As athletic teams have stopped competing, their need for socks has disappeared. “I think this is here to stay,” he adds.
Wilson Brown Sock Company’s Brown Dog Hosiery line supplies custom- and American-made products.
The company has, however, seen an increase in sales for business-casual socks and its Brown Dog Hosiery line, which features thicker cotton socks for outdoor adventures.
How long the trend will last is unclear, but it doesn’t look like comfort footwear is going away anytime soon.
Fulp thinks the work-from-home transition will permanently change the settings of many companies and employees, providing new opportunities for the promotional products industry.
“Because they’re not spending the money on the overhead for them to sit in the office,” she says, “they’re sending them some swag so they can show off the company they work for.”