A Day in the Life of a Chief Socktologist

8:30 AM (Arrive at Office): I always read the newspaper and focus on the financial section.  Why?  Because companies that are active with growth or strategic moves also are more likely to need and appreciate custom socks. If you are a company that recently raised money for your startup – you’ll be hearing from me shortly because I know you’ll love the new custom sock swag for your employees, investors, and customers.

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9:00 AM: Transit times for our delivery from Italy to the United States or Canada is 1-2 business days. 1 day on the east coast (New York / New Jersey) and 2 everywhere else.  This means that on any given day, I am monitoring anywhere from 25 to 50 shipments that are currently in transit. I spend the early part of the morning keeping an eye on where each shipment is to ensure that there are no holdups en route to the customer’s door.

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Our business model is that the goods are priced to your door, with no headaches to you as the customer, so managing the shipping process is part of the job. If an order is stuck somewhere, I’ll be in touch with the Preferred Accounts desk (we ship a lot so we get excellent service from UPS/DHL) and we’ll figure out how to clear the delay. I also ensure that all the shipments clear customs properly so that when they arrive at your door receiving the socks is as frictionless as possible for everyone. We work really hard so the entire customer experience is the best it can be, from the first time they reach out to the very moment an order is delivered.

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10:00 AM:  In 2020 our design team crafted and designed over 50,000 styles of socks.   With numbers like that, a Socktologist spends a lot of the time with the design team ensuring that the designs that we are producing for the clients are a good fit for their brand, the event, or use of the custom socks in their overall brand story. When we send the first design board, our goal is to wow the client. Most companies just slap on a logo and apply the color but we really want to make sure that the sock represents the brand in a creative, classy, and unique way.

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11:00 AM:  Factory calls, factory calls, factory calls. Talking and liaising with the factory to ensure production is running smoothly is a major part of the job. We need to make sure that we are on pace to keep the deadlines our customers have and that we set for ourselves. My team goes through all the jobs in production to ensure that all the socks are being made according to the specs of the design work that was approved by our clients.   Quality control is a big part of my day and being detail-oriented is one of the most important parts of the work we do here at Sockrates. We like to get the jobs out early so there is no stress when meeting the clients. During these calls, I also do a lot of information searching; finding out new types of socks that we can present to our clients.

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NOON:  Socktologists need to eat!  You can find me eating a PBJ sandwich in my office going over some of the day’s sock design boards.   I am always amazed how each company’s sock design comes out so different and unique to them, even after many thousands of projects.

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12:30 PM:  It is time to meet with other Socktologists! I spend the time speaking with the team about where they are as it relates to clients and their goals. We all share ideas about how to make the process better for clients and the design team. Taking pressure off the designers is great, but hard when you are as busy as Sockrates is. Making sure the Socktologists are happy and driven is a part of the job I really enjoy.

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1:30 PM:  It is time to send out the day’s designs. Sending out the latest designs is fun because we get such great feedback on the first go around. Clients are excited to see their brand come alive with their custom socks and it starts off the conversation to get to their final sock(s) on a good note. I love this part of my day!

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2:00 PM – 4:00 PM:  This is the crux of the day where I am making sure all the design revisions/feedback sent in from clients is being updated and sent back to the client for more feedback/approvals. On any given day we are working on 30-40 live deals and we pride ourselves on how fast and accurately we communicate with the clients. Our goal is to make the custom sock ordering process as smooth as possible from start to finish.

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4:00 PM – 5:00 PM: I review with our marketing team some of the trends we are seeing the customers gravitate to so they can push it on social media and our marketing efforts.   While our dress socks are a big hit all year, we notice in the fall and winter our wool socks are popular and that in the summer athletic socks gain huge traction. Ankle socks in the summer are also a client favourite.

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5:00 PM – 6:00 PM & Beyond:  I spend this time wrapping up the day.   From closing orders and sending them to our designers to prepare for production, to managing the current order flow, monitoring deadlines, to checking on current shipments, and responding to new inbound customer inquiries.  I also use this time to plan out the day ahead. When I leave the office, I have a to-do list of around 10-12 items for the next morning which seems to stretch out to 15 by the time I get back in the morning!

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So there you have it. A typical day-in-the-life for me as a Chief Socktologist. It’s fun and exciting and at the same time rewarding when we get feedback from our clients about how quick and easy it was to create amazing custom sock designs and receive them only 7 days later.  

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If you have any questions on the job, want to join our team as a Socktologist, or are looking for your own custom socks email me anytime at sam@sockratescustom.com – I’d be happy to connect and speak more about custom socks with you.