Hedgy's growing sock range
Sustainable sock firm Hedgy is increasing its animal-inspired range with 23 new exotic designs prompted by customers’ requests.
The company, founded in Stroud, Gloucestershire, by Tom Haines four years ago, sells environmentally friendly, chemical-free bamboo socks that spread awareness of British wildlife and the countryside and donates 10 per cent of its profits to The Vale wildlife hospital in Tewkesbury.
He said: “We decided we want to have more of a push with our online sales and as we get orders from all over Europe and across the world I thought it would be good if we included more exotic animals that we are often asked about.
“Now we’ve added designs including sharks, dolphins, elephants, flamingos, guinea pigs, koalas, octopus, penguins, sloths and tuna. There’s even a non-animal design, mushrooms, in response to a request.”
In total Hedgy produces 90 different designs, including a children’s range, but Tom said the new additions will help ensure customers can find what they want. “Alongside the current range I’m confident that nine times out of ten our customers will find the animal they want,” he said.
“I want to become the number one company for novelty bamboo socks and the way to do it is to give customers what they are looking for.”
He started the company after seeing a TV news item about a species of hedgehog being threatened with extinction. “I’m not necessarily a wildlife enthusiast but I started to think what I could do to create more awareness about wildlife,” he said.
“I was looking for a business idea anyway and I thought about a product that was low risk and colourful, something where I could be creative, and came up with socks.”
Over five years the range has evolved to capitalise on customers’ liking for the sustainable product and wildlife theme. The business has thrived on providing good value presents, particularly at Christmas, with the Highland Cow, pigeon and chicken designs being his best-sellers.
“The animal theme means the socks sell all year round,” he said. “People are often identified with animals because of a nickname so we find that their friends, family and colleagues enjoy buying our socks as fun presents.”
He is adamant the company will continue to support the wildlife hospital and in addition he has supported a children’s nature club at Coaley Recreation Action Group in Gloucestershire and also donated hundreds of socks to New Horizon, a young adults’ homeless centre in London.
“It was a really good way of supporting a cause close to my heart and it was reassuring to know that the socks were helping people straight away,” he said. “It’s really important to me that we stay true to the ethos of the business so we’ll continue our support for charities.”
Alongside the online sales drive, Hedgy is still supplying retail outlets and Tom will be getting out to selected markets across the Gloucestershire area. “I like the markets because you get the feedback,” he said. “We get a lot of returning customers who are turning up wearing the socks and telling us how well they wash and how much they like them.
“I love the business because it’s a really happy brand and I’ve got a great community of customers that is growing all the time. We’ve grown so much I’ve needed to get premises to store and sort the stock and taken on some help so it’s all positive.”
