Societal Socks knits stash socks for students' unions, sports clubs, societies, JCRs, snowsports clubs, alumni offices and OTC units. One design, minimum 100 pairs, one adult size covering UK foot sizes 5 to 13, 7-8 weeks from payment of your invoice. Nobody collects shoe sizes, which is the part of a stash order that normally falls apart.
Why socks instead of another hoodie?
Get the hoodie. Everyone does, and it's fine. Then get something that isn't a hoodie, because by second year most students own one and wear it at home when everything is in the wash and never buy another.
A hoodie has three problems as stash. People have enough hoodies. You have to guess how many of each size to order. And it's the most expensive thing on the list so visitors are unlikely to pick up a pair to remember the visit.
Socks solve all three. One size, so there's nothing to collect and no mix to get wrong, and a pair sits at the cheap end of the stash range making them accessible for parents and visitors to pick up. And nobody has enough socks.
A branded pair replaces something they'd have bought anyway, so it stays in the rotation for years. It also posts at letter rate to the student on a year abroad and packs flat into a kitbag for tour. Try that with a mug.
How many do we need, and what's the minimum?
Our minimum is 100 pairs per design. One design per run, so two designs means two runs of 100. For most university clubs that's roughly a membership list.
- Freshers' week in late September. Deadline to sign off the design: Mid-August, so start in July.
- A varsity fixture in the spring. Deadline to sign off the design: Christmas.
- An Easter ski trip or spring tour. Deadline to sign off the design: Mid-January.
- A summer ball or a graduation. Deadline to sign off the design: Mid-April.
Can we put our club crest or society logo on it?
Yes, and it's knitted into the fabric rather than printed on top, so it doesn't crack, peel or wash off. That matters for something students will put through a shared machine at 60 degrees.
A design can use six colours in total, and the base colour is one of the six. Two or three usually read better on a sock than six do. Club initials work best around the cuff or up the leg, a crest sits on the calf, and the sole is where a lot of clubs put a founding year or a motto only members will get.
Send us a picture of your current kit (a tie, a scarf or a spare shirt). We go through that in how a crest becomes a sock. We handle all the design work from there with unlimited revisions.
We recommend most stashes order crew socks, because it is what people actually wear and so sell best as day to day merch. But sports socks for football, rugby, hockey and rowing want something taller that meets a playing kit and comes in a different material. Our sports build is 53% polypropylene, 33% polyamide and 14% elastane. The build is different as polypropylene doesn't soak up sweat the way cotton does. It moves it out through the fabric and lets air back in, so the foot stays dry while it's still working, and it's cushioned underfoot. The heights and builds are compared in which custom sock do you need.