An Animator Turned Into Entrepreneur to Make Everyday Essential Look Good

We are publishing an interview of Mr. Abhijit Desai – Founder & CEO,
SocksoholiC.

Please tell us about the founders of SocksoholiC
I am the founder and the only staff of the SocksoholiC. Being a bootstrapped brand, I am the only member who took care of the designing, coordinating with manufacturer, web-designer and even handling all social media platforms and marketing of SocksoholiC. In June-July 2018 the initial work started with the random line came out of my daughter’s mouth about her plain boring school socks. Since then it took almost 6 months to find a good vendor, designing and then testing a product and the manufacturing. Side by side the website development was happening which took around a months time.

Give us a brief background of what founders were doing before starting the venture.
I am an artist by heart since my childhood and also chose to work as a visual effects artist for films. I worked on many Bollywood and Hollywood projects for 11 years including 7 long years on Disney animated movie projects. Then wanted to start something of my own and got introduced to this hosiery products manufacturing industry in 2016.

List all the names of the core team members, along with their skill-sets, specific domain expertise & designated roles. How do you see them evolving over time?
Besides me, my wife Shruti, plays an important role. She being a commercial artist by profession, helps me a lot in developing designs and keeping good aesthetic sense of a brand. She is the one who designed the logo, packaging and other look for the brand.

What is the problem you are trying to solve?
Socks were invented for a simple purpose – to cover our feet, just like shoes! And for generations this has stayed the same. But the said shoes evolved a lot in all this time and the socks remained plain and boring. There are many well known brands outside India who manufacturers not only good quality socks but designer ones, in India there are very few. And I thought of taking this as a challenge and make exceptional quality socks with trendy designs for men and women, for all occasions.

What challenges did you face when you were starting out?
MOQ (minimum order quantity) was the biggest hurdle when I thought of going ahead with this idea for ScosksoholiC. Being a bootstrapped venture it was essential for me to manufacture less quantity per design so that I can showcase more designs with less inventory resulting less initial investment. It was very difficult to find a manufacturer who would be ready to make only 100 pairs per designs with reasonably low manufacturing cost.

How did you get the initial capital?
The venture is totally self funded.

Please tell us about the Product / Solution. Explain how you went about the Product-Market Fit Process.
SocksoholiC socks are made with fine combed cotton for smoothness and comfort and Elastane for the stretch-ability. The designs of the socks are very eye catchy and trendy. And not to forget the packaging too. I have put in equal amount of thought process and quality for the packaging of the socks also. Our customers just love it the moment they see the parcel.

What is the insight that you have about this market, which no one else has? Uniqueness about your Startup.
The SocksoholiC socks are really cool fashion accessories which can be used by any man or a woman. The brand showcase a myriad variety of designs that suit all your moods and activities – from cozying at home for a movie night to strutting that walk of confidence at a board meeting, Socksoholic gives you a pair of socks fit for every occasion.

What is the strength of the startup and the scale of operations? Who do You Perceive as Your Competition?
I want to make SocksoholiC a well known brand in a designer socks category not only in India but outside of India too. I don’t want to compete with any other socks brand but yes, I aspire to see the brand grow like “Happy Socks”

What is the revenue model? Explain your thought process.
I am trying to make exceptional quality socks and sell them at ethical pricing.

Who are the consumers that you are targeting? How is this going to affect them?
My main consumer fall in the age group of 25 to 45. May it be a CEO of the company, an IT professional or a college going student. Whoever loves funky and colorful socks, SocksoholiC is for them.

How did you get your first customer?
I was kind of spreading awareness about the brand through its social media pages before I launched the actual website. People were kind of curious and excited about the designer socks after looking the samples designs shared on SocksoholiC’s Instagram and Twitter accounts. So the day I launched my website I got my first couple of orders.

What is the big picture of your startup?
As of now I am focusing only on the online sells though the website.

Since inception, give us a sense of the value of business done by your venture?
The brand was launched as an online store on 11th December 2018. It’s been just a month now so it is too early to share commercial statistics. But within these 30-35 days more than 35000 visitors have gone through the website and more than 200 pairs of sock have been sold across India. We feel this response is overwhelming.

What would be your goal to accomplish in the next six months?
I am already in process to start world wide shipping and I am looking out for international stockists.

What message do you want to convey to fellow entrepreneurs?
Think big. Believe in your ideas. But patience is THE key.