Mismatched Sock Company Puts Entrepreneurial Foot Forward: LittleMissMatched

If you have ever had a tween-age daughter, you realize what a lucrative consumer market tween girls are. You may also have noticed that the tween market's tastes are quite predictable – boy bands, Hannah Montana, and so on. That is what makes the success of LittleMissMatched so unique. LittleMissMatched launched in 2004 with a collection of mismatched girls socks sold in packs of three and marketed to tween girls under the mantra "nothing matches, but anything goes."

The idea for LittleMissMatched was hatched by three friends who were discussing the age-old problem of socks disappearing from the dryer. It was during this conversation that co-founders Arielle Eckstut (a literary agent and author of three books), Jason Dorf (an apparel industry expert), and Jonah Staw (marketing and innovation expert) joked that the next big thing could be selling socks that don't match on purpose.

At the time, Staw was working at frog design as director of corporate development, and thought about the idea for a year before doing anything about it. "The idea was not that we were going to be a hosiery company that sold socks that don't match in packs of three," says Staw, now CEO of LittleMissMatched. "The idea was to build a brand based on a break-away concept that would cause people to do the head scratch and virally tell their friends, families, and associates about this unbelievably creative company that's doing the unthinkable."

From day one, the founders expected the business to be bigger than socks. Instead of hosiery, their product is marketing. "Before I ever had a pack of socks in production," says Staw, "we had a brand built that would be socks today, and hats, gloves, PJs, and slippers tomorrow. From the start, we were planning on entering all these categories and have chipped away at those categories as quickly as we could to build out a brand that means a lot more than hosiery. All the apparel insiders would tell you to get your primary category done first before you expand. And the typical rule breakers that we are, we said, 'No, we're not just building a sock company.'"

Today, the company sells socks for all ages and genders, as well as sleepwear, flip flops, bedding, furniture, bags, accessories, and more. The business currently employs 65 people and had sales of $32 million in 2008. LittleMissMatched products are available in stores nationwide, including Macy's, FAO Schwarz, Bed Bath & Beyond and JCPenney. In June 2008, LittleMissMatched received $17.3 million of growth capital from Catterton Partners. The funding is being used to increase the company's distribution and expand the company's product offerings. In addition to having kiosks in a few shopping centers across the country, the company recently opened its first permanent retail location in Grand Central Station.

Staw credits the company's success with its emphasis on innovation. "Innovation can come from everywhere and often it's already being done as a workaround," says Staw. "It's about keeping your eyes and ears open, talking to your customers and your employees, and creating facilitated sessions for people to have an ability and a willingness to share." He cites one new product that came as a result of this organic approach to innovation. Some of his customer service reps were cutting the tops off of LittleMissMatched socks and using them to bind their hair. As a result, the company developed a line of headbands and wrist bands. "Look at your consumer or your end user and think about what would make their experience better, more unique, or more pleasurable, and then work backward."