If you haven’t yet encountered Bombas Socks, it’s time that you did. Inspired by a quote they say in 2010 by Major George Hood, the Chief Communications Officer for the Salvation Army, Randy Goldberg and David Heath founded Bombas Socks. The quote said, “Through our work with those in need, we know that socks are oftentimes the most requested clothing item at homeless shelters.
Realizing the need, they created a company that donates a pair of socks to a homeless shelter for every pair of socks purchased. They have partnered with Hannah’s Socks, which is a non-profit that gets socks to those in need. Their goal is to distribute 225,000 socks this year and Bombas is committed to helping. They’ve already donated 26,000 pairs of socks in 2013.
In a recent interview on Reuters, founder Randy Goldberg was asked how they managed to raise over $140,000 with their crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. As Goldberg explained,
“I think we were able to raise over $140,000 because we treated the campaign like the beginning of a business, not just a one time campaign. Customer service is at the center of our company, and it was a big part of the campaign from the beginning. We responded to every comment and inquiry on Indiegogo, and we created new ways to keep our supporters and early evangelists involved on a week by week basis. We waited to launch the campaign until we felt we had our voice and story fine tuned. And then we kept things interesting by adding new goals, images, art, and mini campaigns along the way. For us, the key was keeping the energy up, attention to detail, and the support we got from our friends, Indiegogo, and our early supporters.”
Offering lessons to other entrepreneurs, he said, “I think the biggest lesson is that there’s not really room for compromise if you believe in your product. We wanted to make an athletic sock that felt like it cost upwards of twenty dollars, we wanted to give away a pair of socks for every pair we produced, and we wanted to keep the price under ten dollars. So we had to look at dozens of factories to find the right fit. We had to talk to multiple fulfillment partners. We had to test over and over again. It took a lot of R&D, a few left turns, and some tough decisions, but we’re proud of the end product.”