London Sock Company

Idea

Introduction

Hi, I'm Dave, co-founder of London Sock Company. In 2013 my co-founder Ryan and I left our city jobs to launch a new, direct to consumer sock brand, serving the modern professional.

Why?

Socks are one of the fastest growing apparel categories, forecast to be worth £34Bn-£45Bn by 2027. For men in particular, they are the new tie.

With technology skills at our core and by leveraging data and AI, we are aiming to deliver a new experience of socks, direct to our modern consumer – in the UK, the US and now parts of Asia too.

With minimal investment we achieved £2.2m revenue in 2018, up from £1.2m in 2017. Our backers include British supermodel David Gandy, Venrex (VC), and a series of experienced angel investors from the retail and technology industries.

We're riding a huge growth curve and are excited to welcome new Seedrs investors to join us and help us on our journey.

Intended impact

Socks are one of the first things we put on each day, yet often the last thing we have time to think about buying in a traditional store.

Yet with fewer and fewer people wearing ties and men's fashion trends visibly relaxing in the workplace, what better opportunity to express your personality than with your socks?

In 2013, we were inspired by the simple idea of delivering a better quality, more stylish sock, to time-poor professionals everywhere. We recognised an opportunity to provide a truly convenient e-commerce and subscription service, paired with a superior customer experience.

And so in late 2013, London Sock Company was born. A quality, direct to consumer British sock brand, serving the modern, ambitious professional in a convenient way – online and direct to their letterbox.

Our opportunity is to be the go-to British sock brand for men and women (already 50% of customers buying gifts), delivering the perfect socks for all occasions, to customers worldwide.

Substantial accomplishments to date

We've come a long way since packing socks in Ryan's living room back in December 2013. Our greatest achievement by far is that today, London Sock Co. is home to an energetic and talented team of 20, all based in Clerkenwell, London.

Together we're building a truly exciting experience for our customers, embracing new technology such as an AI sock style recommender, innovating with new materials and sock designs as well as expanding our ongoing commitment to supporting charities and good causes through our 'Pull Your Socks Up' campaign.

However, when it comes to our sock story so far, here's the quick fire bullet list:

- 2018 Revenue: £2.165m (up from £1.2m in 2017).
- Pairs sold to date: 520,000+.
- Primary customer locations: UK, US and Europe.
- Sock categories (so far): Primary luxury cotton dress socks.

We're stocked in two of the finest luxury retailers, and we are delighted with sales performance in both.Despite being online first, we believe this business channel has huge scope for growth. Highlights so far:

- Fortnum & Mason: Our No.1 stockist

We're also on the feet of some dapper celebrities, and have some exciting collaborations launching in the next year:

- David Gandy (1st Investor and brand ambassador).
- The Rock.
- Daniel Craig.
- Armie Hammer.
- Rami Malek.
- Tom Hiddleston...

Our list of successful style icons as fans continues to grow.

Monetisation strategy

We are primarily a direct to consumer business, so most of our sales come simply from customers purchasing our socks and gifts directly from our website.

Almost 90% of our sales are online, direct to consumer, while 10% are B2B, via our luxury retailers such as Fortnum & Mason and Mr Porter online.

Our online sales also include recurring subscription orders, through our monthly Sock Club membership, where customers can enjoy the convenience of new, stylish socks delivered each month or quarter.

Use of proceeds

We will invest in several exciting projects to fuel growth.

Technology Investment: (30% of capital raised).
- Improve CRM.
- Launch our AI sock recommender app.
- Automate several operational processes.

Digital Marketing & Content Investment: (30% of capital raised).
- Hire 1-2 more talented resources.
- Accelerate customer acquisition and improve retention.
- Improve brand communications, with improved and increased content.

USA Marketing Investment: (30% of capital raised).
- Accelerate US customer acquisition online.
- Deploy strategic US communications and PR campaigns, with local support.
- Invest in strategic retail partner relationships.

Product Innovation: (10% of capital raised).
- Accelerate new product development and R&D capabilities.
- Testing and designing new materials, technologies and categories.

Please note the business has a 12 month £100k working capital loan taken at the end of March 2019, from an existing investor, for a 12 month period with 5% APR. Funds raised from the campaign will not be used to repay this loan.