Thread by @knoopsok

We are finally allowed to tell you guys that we will be Launching via #Kickstarter soon!

We will soon update you on our journey through this thread, if you want to follow our journey make sure to follow our Twitter page as this will be updated daily!😍

#TieitWashitDone

Our journey started as we figured that SOCKS went missing all the time. This is a problem that we recognized and shared with our friends and family.

They all seemed to have the same vision on the lifespan of their socks...

In our second year of school we decided to do research on this topic and where granted permission from school to undertake this research.

This was like a dream come true, we could research our idea while also receiving the credits needed to pass the year. (S/O to Avans Breda)

After discussing several solutions we got to the Button sock idea and we needed an appropriate name.

We eventually settled on: Knoopsok

We chose this name because it easily explains our product in Dutch🇱🇺

Knoop = Button
Sok = Sock

Here the Knoopsok brand was born👶

After figuring out our name it was time to see if this product would actually work.

We decided to buy some pairs of socks and start knitting by ourselves.

We would have never thought that we learned how to use a sewing machine but we definitely know our way around now😂

We then starting giving out our home made samples to family and friends for them to test, see if there were any issues and if they would start to Tie it before putting it in the washing machine.

And so they did

(These where the first knoopsok's EVER!)

After finding out that our idea was solid and there were little issues we decided to take one step back, so we could set two steps forward and ask ourselves:

How to improve regular socks besides our button-loop connection?

What else can we do to revolutionize the sock industry?

We therefore went on a quest to find out everything we could about socks and regular clothing manufacturing.

We found out that almost all socks are made from cotton material and found out that cotton requires a lot of water to produce which makes the footwear not sustainable.

We wanted to improve the material and by talking to several business men we found out that you can also produce fabric using Bamboo material and that Bamboo material (overall) is more sustainable than cotton!

Bamboo (if produced sustainably) is better in several ways:
- Less water consumption
- Better heat regulation so less sweaty foot
- Softer material and therefore more comfortable to wear
- Sustains bacteria less so less chance for smelly feet

- Natural anti bacterial material which makes it better for people with skin conditions
- Bamboo does not need insecticides, pesticides or fertilizer to grow
- Bamboo is a fast growing crop that can grow up to 1M per day!

- Bamboo is a High yielding crop and uses less hectares for the same result
- No need for replanting because it lives on a root system
- The root system prevents erosion

All together we believe that Bamboo material is a material that is great for our sock production and could ensure for footwear to become more sustainable.

Now that we had that covered we needed to find a supplier that could actually produce organic bamboo fiber sustainably

After talking to several suppliers that could meet our needs it was now time to find a designer that could design the socks in a high quality fashion.

Here you can see our first socks design:

We had some feedback as shown in the other image, these things should be changed

This is the second version of the Knoopsok

And this was the last version from which we continued our business research:

We now had designed our socks and found several suppliers for the socks

The only thing that was left was for us to find a button supplier which could deliver us the best buttons as possible.

We came to the conclusion that we did not wanted to use plastic as it is VERY BAD for the environment and we want to build our product as sustainable as possible.

We started to look at our options:
- Plastic buttons
- Recycled plastic buttons
- Wood buttons

and found out that all of these where not really suited for the way that we were working/thinking.

Then all of a sudden WE FOUND IT, we found THE solution to our problems and it was from a material we never expected.

We found out about a material called: COROZO

Corozo is a material that is often referred to as: "vegetable Ivory" and has several benefits over plastic or wood

Corozo is made from the seeds of a palm like tree.

Corozo is made from 100% organic material and does not need excessive processing.

Corozo also does not hold water (like wood does) so it will be good for regular washed buttons.

This is the exact mix that we were looking for!

Now all of the pieces of the puzzle where coming together as we have a: Sock supplier, Button supplier and a design of which we could be proud!

Now all of the pieces of the puzzle where coming together as we have a: Sock supplier, Button supplier and a design of which we could be proud!

The next step was receiving samples from our beloved suppliers and see if they could live up to our high expectations and THEY DID!

After stating some improvements/changes to the way the socks where designed and put together we could get ready for the second sampling session from this supplier!

And now we want to show the sam[ples we received from the second supplier, which stated that they had already done work like this before!

These samples showed some issues after several weeks of wearing them and two buttons got lose from the socks, besides that there where other things we wanted to improve as you can see in these pictures the result is way different from supplier 1.

Unfortunately our supplier could not change everything we asked them to and because of this we are still on with our search for a good sock supplier and are open for suggestions so if you know a good manufacturer of Socks be sure to send us a DM!

Our focus then was solely on supplier number one which was really supportive of our vision and helps us at every step of the way.

We requested revisions and the latest samples where in the makings, we got some cool videos from the production process!😍

While waiting for the new samples we decided to take a look at other products that could fit in our company and be sold complementary to the socks.

We found an interesting idea, a box which would fit in your drawer to store all of your socks. This idea immediately caught our eye

Especially because some of us lived in a manly dominated house where socks where spread all over the house and the "sock drawers" simply became underwear/rubbish drawers.
Not to speak about the amount of lonely socks in these drawers.😂

After searching the internet for several wholesalers we ended up with 2 different suppliers and asked for a sample from both of them.

Weeks have gone by en we started to receive the 24-grid boxes and they where simply amazing!

Following up with a video of the 24 grid box in action, would you use this to tidy uo your sock drawer?👇

But then we got another idea, one of our dads was taking a shower and came up to us and said: How about a smaller box (5-grid) for you to put your socks in. (for travels)
That sounded like an amazing idea, however there where no examples to be found. So we contacted our suppliers

Our suppliers where happy to see what they could do for us and we decided to order 2 samples from each company to see if they would work as well as the 24-grid boxes would.

So while we are waiting for the samples of the 5 Grid box we got the latest version of the (sock) prototypes!

These were as good as perfect and indicated that we would be about ready to go on and start ordering in bulk.

But before starting to order in Bulk we ofcourse had to setup our company and make sure that the legal sides where covered so since 21-02-2021 the Knoopsok company was officially registered at the Dutch chamber of Commerce and ready to begin operations!

The last but definitely not the least important step for us was to come up with a launch strategy.

We had several ideas and some of them will be implemented after our initial launch but the first way we want to share our GREAT idea into the world is via the Kickstarter platform

The reasons for starting a Kickstarter campaign:

- Reaching a diverse group of people which could indicate if our business idea is valid
- Being an innovative product we believe we can revolutionize the Sock industry and what better way to start then by crowdfunding the idea

- Reach a GLOBAL audience
- Low inventory to ensure a low risk
- We have more time to setup everything exactly as we want
- This is a Test to see if we can manage everything
- We can overshoot our starting budget to start BIG and start working on the next levels of our company

We are now in the Pre-Kickstarter phase and have therefore designed our website to receive an interested audience.

This is our website: knoopsok.nl

Please let us know if you have any feedback on our page, our goal is to collect email adresses!

Our goal to get as much people to register for the email list is so we can ensure that the EARLIEST backers receive HUGE early bird DISCOUNTS and be the first to know about our product.❤️

We are trying to make sure that we reach the goal of our #kickstarter within the first 48 hours so we can get a chance to become listed on the featured project page of Kickstarter and reach as many people as possible to revolutionize the Sock industry and REALLY make a difference