Dave Hutchinson
Dave Hutchinson (London, March 2013) is the founder of Sexy Socks, a social enterprise sock company that reached a milestone eleven years into its journey, donating it’s 1,000,000th pair of school socks to a child in need in South Africa.
Dave set up Sexy Socks after returning to his native South Africa, just 6 months after completing the London Program.
“I went to London hoping for an incredible experience before I settled down and started my career as a corporate lawyer. What I came home from London with was a whole new perspective on what I wanted out of life, and a completely different career trajectory.”
Describe your business and your role with it:
Sexy Socks is a social enterprise sock company where your ankles meet your social conscience. We sell design-led bamboo socks, and for every pair that we sell, we give a pair of school socks to a child in need in South Africa. I founded Sexy Socks in November 2014, about 6 months after returning home to Cape Town after my Mountbatten year in London. I went to London hoping for an incredible experience before I settled down and started my career as a corporate lawyer. What I came home from London with was a whole new perspective on what I wanted out of life, and a completely different career trajectory. Today, 11 years on, I am the managing director of Sexy Socks in Cape Town, South Africa, and run an organization of 48 incredible, passionate team members. In November 2024, we launched in the US, and we have just launched in both Canada and the Netherlands. Together, we have donated more than 1 million pairs of school socks. That is testament to our belief that small actions can lead to big change.
How did you get into this line of business:
At university, I studied a degree in business and then a law degree. My plan had been to join a large attorney firm and work my way up. I landed a role at one of South Africa’s biggest law firms, and then decided to defer my placement for a year, and came instead to London to do the Mountbatten program. It was here that I realized that law wasn’t what interested me; starting a business is what got me really excited! It was also during my year in London that I was introduced to the concept of social enterprise: that business can be used as a force for change in communities, and that it is possible to build a sustainable, profitable business while still delivering real impact to communities. I loved this concept. I was not aware of anything like this in South Africa at the time, and I decided that I was going to start something that mattered when I got home.
I came back to South Africa and started my articles (a two-year trainee lawyer process in becoming an attorney). It took about three days to realize that my suspicion in London was true: I wasn’t going to be a lawyer for my whole life. So I started looking around at what I could start. At the time, funky, design-led socks were just taking off in South Africa. There were two or three brands on the scene in 2014, and I felt that there was definitely room for one more. More importantly, socks are one of the last items to be purchased for school uniforms, and when there is not enough money available to buy the whole uniform, socks are one of the first items to go. Many kids in South Africa only have one or two pairs that they have to make do with for the week at school. Socks are a dignity item. Not having socks makes you stand out. It is also hard to learn when you have cold feet. This is what we are trying to change. We see our school sock donations as our small contribution towards improving education in South Africa.
I ran Sexy Socks as a side hustle for 18 months while I completed my articles, and the day I finished, I left law and went full time into Sexy Socks. I have never looked back.
How did you go about setting up and getting established:
The first few years were a grind. The first 18 months, while still working full time as a lawyer, I worked every night and over every weekend. All of the stores that I sold into were within walking distance of our law office – and that is what I spent my lunch breaks doing! My mother would help with packing socks and orders while I was at work, and I would do what I could to find more stores, and sell in person at markets over the weekend. A few months after I went full time, I hired our first employee. Slowly but surely, we built out the team, and now here we are – one million pairs later.
What else is in the pipeline:
Our focus at the moment is on international expansion. Our US business is growing steadily (if anyone in the US or Canada is looking for great socks that give back, find them at shopsexysock.com), and our focus now is on finding distribution partners in Europe and the UK (and elsewhere in the world).
My proudest moment:
My proudest moment was definitely the donation of our 1,000,000th pair of school socks. It is such a huge milestone for us, and one that we were chasing down for a long time. To finally reach it was a surreal moment. And it also felt like it was just the beginning. My next proudest moments come when I look around and see a whole office full of passionate people working hard to make the Sexy Socks dream into a reality. To see an idea that had the seeds sown in my year in London embraced so widely – and operating and available on three continents – is an incredible feeling.
Biggest mistake or learning experience:
I don’t like to think of things in terms of mistakes, but rather in the lessons that you can take away from them. I think that my biggest learnings are in managing a team. You don’t always get it right in the hiring process, and the faster that you can find the courage to rectify it, the better for everyone involved. If someone isn’t the right fit, they will never reach their potential. And neither will the business. The fairest way to move forward is to be open and candid, but that is really hard.
Role models:
This is a hard question! As cliche as it sounds, Richard Branson has been a bottomless source of inspiration. I have read most of his books numerous times, and when I was in London during my Mountbatten time, I even tried to email him and ask him to lunch! (Needless to say, he didn’t reply). Blake Mycoskie (the founder of TOMS Shoes) is another – it was his book that got me started on this journey.
In general, I admire people who have had the courage to get out and do things – especially if the path they have followed is not the conventional path. I read (or rather, I listen to) a lot of books, and draw inspiration from all of them: biographies, self help books, leadership books, business books, anything that can take me forward as an individual.
Words of advice:
Don’t overthink it. If you are serious about starting something, just start. You will figure out the rest as it comes. Also, the road is tough. But perseverance and dogged (and sometimes stubborn) determination will get you through 90% of it. The rest is up to luck.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-hutchison-b2077582/
https://buysexysocks.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorh04Xq_vBC7m73chQsPZKjj_D1R0dUEr19AERn1wS57lRGtGsx