Less is More

While having a nice conversation with a couple of friends last fall, one of them brought up the topic of “less is more.”  The thought lingered with me as 2011 was winding down and I found myself revisiting it while shopping for gifts, packing for our holiday away with family, and it was a good reminder at Christmas parties as the dessert plates came my way!

With a week of 2012 under my belt now I’m still hearing that “less is more” voice inside my head, and instead of writing a long list of goals for this year I think I’ll just stick with this approach for the time being.   

That being said, how on earth could this apply to socks?  Well, for starters how about cleaning out that sock drawer and keeping only your few favorites and leaving some room for some fun, new custom socks that you and only you create?  No more big packages of mass-produced, bulky socks filling your drawer to the rim!  Instead, go online to sockprints and indulge in the creation of a few pairs of your very own personalized socks.    

Whether you’re a retail or wholesale customer, sockprints minimum orders are low.   And with prices unheard of for one-of-a-kind, personalized socks, you can’t beat what we do.  Using our design gallery, you can select artwork from a variety of themes or if you’re fluent in programs like Photoshop or Illustrator, you can upload your own images to be printed on our socks.  So, out with the old and in with the new!

If you haven’t tried creating your own custom socks before, give it a shot!  Here’s a special coupon code for 30% off good through the month of January 2012.  Enter JAN2012 at checkout to receive your discount.

Happy New Year Happy Soles!

 

P.S.  If you’re into jotting down your goals for the year, check out our New Year’s post from 2011.  You’ll find a creative way to do it on socks!

You had me at "Customize"

Perhaps my love for personalized products stems from my childhood when I couldn’t find products with my name on them. Growing up in the 70’s & 80’s the personalized product industry was limited. I envied my friends with names like Angie, Traci, and Judy who were able to get name plates for their bedroom doors, among other fun products. When our family went on road trips I would always check the various gas stations and souvenir shops just in case I found a mini-license plate from that state with my name on it. It wasn’t until college that my craving for something personalized was satisfied when I got a new car and ordered personalized license plates. At last, I could put my name on something!

Times have changed since then and now it’s common for me to meet young women and little girls with my same name. It’s also common now to find a wide variety of products to personalize. When my mompreneur partner and I started sockprints we did our research to see if custom printed socks were being offered. We searched high and low and found custom t-shirts, mouse pads, coffee mugs and more, but no personalized socks! We knew we were on to a unique and fresh idea by filling a new product category with custom printed socks. Our socks are so original that we even have a patent pending on the printing process.

Take a look at some recent custom sockprints orders from two of our customers. The first photo shows how our customer, Sandy selected a snowman design from the sockprints gallery and personalized a pair of socks for each gift recipient. What a great holiday gift idea!




This photo shows how our customer customized her own artwork before uploading it to sockprints. This pair of socks features an aspiring singer and showcases artwork for her first cd cover. Carolyn, you’re on your way to fame!



While custom printed socks are our favorite, we still love other personalized products. Some of our other favorite sites for custom products are http://www.zazzle.com/ and http://www.milkorsugar.com/. We like Zazzle so much that we’ve created a Zazzle store, Hearts And Soles, featuring some of our custom artwork. Check it out at www.zazzle.com/HeartsAndSoles. We’re also thrilled to be listed on http://www.milkorsugar.com/ as the only company to offer custom printed socks!

Just like my personalized license plates from long ago, custom printed socks, you complete me!

Express Yourself

One of my all-time favorite songs is Express Yourself by Madonna (yes, I went to high school and college in the 80’s) and whenever I hear it, I sing, dance and smile! I’ve even had a moment on an airplane when the song came on and I broke out in song and dance. I’m sure I made an impression that my girlfriends on the plane will never forget!

What on earth does the song, Express Yourself, have to do with sockprints and The Happy Sole?

The title, Express Yourself, is exactly what our customers get to do on socks. We have a design gallery where customers can select images and customize to their heart’s content. Customers can also upload their own images or simply write some fun text to have printed on their favorite style. Think, “express yourself" on a new blank canvas… socks.

The song, Express Yourself, is about female empowerment and never going for “second best.” At sockprints we’re thrilled that we’re “the one, the only” online custom sock printing company doing what we do. We know we’re not “second best” because we’re the “only best.”

Like Madonna, I believe at sockprints we’re trendsetters. It started with a conversation I had with another mom on the sideline of our daughter’s soccer game. I’ve been in the t-shirt printing business and she’s been in the hosiery business for a number of years. She asked if I thought I could print on socks. After printing some test socks for the team and receiving a great response from the players, we knew we were onto something new and exciting.

Our company is always looking for new ways to make sockprints better and our latest enhancement will be launched in the next couple of weeks. We’ll be introducing a new website where customers can preview their custom socks prior to purchasing them. We’re very excited about this improvement!

Just like having a favorite pair of jeans or sweatshirt, I have a favorite pair of custom printed socks. I’ll have to put them on and dance to my favorite song! The joy I feel when I hear Express Yourself and the great memories I have associated with it makes this Happy Sole a very happy soul!

-Hayley Mullin (Madonna wannabe)

photo taken at my husband's retro b-day party 2003

Summer of Color

Over the past few months we have been watching the lifeguard stations along our beaches transform into a  large public art project called "Summer of Color", installed by Portraits of Hope.  We love the ideas behind this project, and for the complete story be sure to go to their link.

There are 156 LA County lifeguard stations from Malibu to Palos Verdes that have been "customized" with 52,000 hand painted, brightly colored panels for the walls and rooftops of the towers with over 8,000 volunteers participating in this project.  The exhibit will be on display through October, and when it is over, many of the panels will be shipped to Haiti for temporary shelters.

We are inspired to share this very cool project.  Here are some pictures we took:

This is the ultimate way of customizing and we thank artist Ed Massey for his incredible vision.  Also, if you want to see an exhibit of Ed's fine art, you should check out the lobby at the Casa del Mar hotel in Santa Monica through July 31st.  Happened to be there last week for a meeting, and it was a pleasant surprise!

Why Personalize Clothing??

Have you ever wanted to give someone special something really unique? Personalized gifts are the growing trend to make your next occasion – whether it is an elaborate event such as a wedding or graduation, or your child’s end of the year soccer party – that much more special. Technology has allowed companies to make personalizing gifts and clothing easier and less expensive than ever!

The new entrant into this expanding world, Sockprints, is sure to start its own trend by further customizing personalized customized gifts. Sockprints is a new web-based sock printing business that allows anyone to upload a design or photo and have it printed on a variety of sock styles. It’s personal, fun and easy!

So, the question is: why would people personalize gifts and more specifically, socks? First off, you can give someone you care about a gift that is truly unique and will be like nothing they have ever, or will ever, receive from anyone else. You can let your creative juices flow and show this person you are thinking about what he or she would appreciate. It comes from the heart. You and the recipient of your gift are both attached to this gift! Second, personalized products are great for mass producing presents for a sports team or company apparel. You can combine everyone’s ideas and create a design that looks awesome and enhances unity.

Now, onto socks. People love socks: comfy ones, knee high ones, athletic ones, and the more colorful and unique the socks are, the more fun they are to wear. Printing your own image onto socks is something completely new to the clothing world; thus, Sockprints is sure to bust into the market with more than a kickstart.

Another thing, some people may not put a picture of their dog on their t-shirt for the whole world to see, but maybe if it was slightly concealed on a sock, they would do it in a heartbeat! Then, when he or she removes their shoes at home, the dog’s smiling face pops up and puts a smile on his owner’s face! Or would a soccer or baseball mom wear a shirt that necessarily reads this “branding” (ok, to be nice, it’s a “title”)? That depends. But maybe on socks, she’d be happy to!

Visit www.sockprints.com and see how Sockprints can add your graphics, logos, and photos to high quality socks and bring happiness to your life and your feet.