2013
This year, it all began: Anna joined her favorite aunt Marlene's agency business to support her in the sock industry. At that time, the two exclusively served private label customers and importers, who had them produce very commercial, plain socks to sell under their own name.
Even as a 3-year-old girl, Anna first visited her aunt Marlene in Portugal and was already allowed to go with her to the factories. She remembers Marlene bringing her and her sister heaps of socks as gifts back then – the beginning of a great love?
2015 – The Idea
Over a Vinho Verde (green wine) on a beautiful evening, the idea arose to offer socks as fashionable accessories, made from special yarns, of the highest quality, designed by women for women with great passion and attention to detail. The two wanted to create unusual It-Pieces with which a woman could complete her entire outfit.
We are proud that all DAILYSOCKS collections to this day are "PROUDLY PRODUCED in PORTUGAL" and that we produce where the idea was born: in the beautiful pilgrimage town of Barcelos, 60km north of Porto. In small to medium-sized family businesses, everyone knows the blonde aunt-niece duo, known for their unusual ideas, creativity, and decisiveness and pragmatism.
2016
After the birth of her first daughter Lina, Anna and her aunt Marlene joined a company, Texolution GmbH. As a trio, the third founding member Svenja was responsible for design, Marlene managed production, and Anna took care of marketing and sales. With full female power, the three ladies put their heart and soul into it. During this time, the name "DAILYSOCKS.berlin" also emerged during brainstorming:
How did we come up with DAILYSOCKS.berlin?
DAILY = DAILYSOCKS should adorn the feet of customers every day.
SOCKS = English for socks. With great ambitions, we immediately chose an international name.
".berlin": we wanted to give our label a hip additional name that stands for creativity and street style. Although we are based in Münsterland and not in Berlin, ".berlin" is not far-fetched. Svenja had studied design in Berlin and always found inspiration in the capital.
Living room startup
One of our credos was to start "small but exquisite." Without investing a lot of money, it was important to find out if there was a market for socks as fashionable accessories. So everything started with our own resources and the existing infrastructure in Anna's living room. To this day, we present ourselves as a true "living room startup," where we sometimes worked with up to six employees.
How our sock events came about
What happens when the first 2,000 pairs of socks arrive at the Wettringen warehouse, but the online shop doesn't work? As often happens, the family council is convened, and through a simple but wonderful idea from Anna's little cousin Clara, our now very successful "sock events" were born: personal evenings with nice customers, where we bring our collection for them to feel and touch. During these entertaining evenings, customers also learn about our history, and we share anecdotes.
An intense year
This year, Anna and her daughter Lina traveled to Porto 14 times, and Lina was always by her mom's side.
2017
From the very beginning, social commitment has been important to us. That's why it made sense to have DAILYSOCKS packaged by people with disabilities. With the St. Antoniushaus in Schöppingen, we have found a reliable and loyal partner. The people with disabilities there work with great dedication and love processing the colorful and glittering socks. During regular visits, we exchange ideas with the employees, motivate them with praise and occasionally with sock gifts.
It was particularly nice for us when the workshop employees visited us as part of a summer outing. In addition to the ice cream and cake buffet, it was, of course, super exciting for the people with disabilities to get to know our office, showroom, and warehouse.
With the highest quality standards, we regularly visit the factories and carry out close-knit quality controls. Even little Lina already knows quite well what makes a good sock.
This year, Anna and Marlene separated from Svenja due to differing objectives.
Additionally, Anna's younger daughter Lotti was born, another DAILYSOCKS family member 😉.
2018 – The Year of Highlights
We live social commitment - €1 project
In January 2018, we launched the €1 project, where €1 from every sock sold through the online shop goes to a social project. The project to be collected for and donated to is decided by the team of now 10 dedicated female employees, all of whom are passionate about and support the team.
Donations in kind are also an integral part of our social commitment, such as Germany socks for the World Cup, which benefited the pediatric oncology department of the UKM Münster.
Sock donation for the pediatric oncology department of UKM
Office inauguration
By the end of 2017, Anna and Sven's living room became too small for the team, so they promptly converted part of their garage into a showroom and office space. How fortunate they were to have so much space available on their old farm.
This "Work@home" setup allows Anna to always combine family and work. Her daughters and dog Enne are always directly/indirectly around her. Short cuddle sessions, freshly cooked meals, and shared mealtimes are an integral part of the challenging family/work life.
DAILYSOCKS highlight your feet - Fashion show
This year, DAILYSOCKS invited its loyal customers to its first fashion show at Feinbrennerei Sasse. The event thrilled the customers and was a complete success. From now on, we always invite our customers to this special event at the start of each collection, for which we always come up with an extraordinary location and an attractive supporting program.
Another major highlight this year was the request from Lokalzeit Münsterland on WDR television to feature us as a hip, trendy startup. After a 9-hour shoot, the report was finally finished, and even today, we still get chills when we watch the film, as it shows very well how much love and passion we put into our business idea.
2019
Anna and Marlene are always on the lookout for new trends, and for this, they also fly to London and Paris. They experiment with embellishments, adding applications such as rhinestones and sequins to DAILYSOCKS. In the winter collection, they also work on socks made of velvet and tulle. On this journey from Wettringen to London, the two make a stop at the Waldbühne in Berlin to attend the concert of "Sing meinen Song – das Tauschkonzert," a birthday present from Anna to her aunt. Combining business with pleasure can be so much fun.
Celebrities such as Astrid Rudolph, Annika Zimmermann, Anna-Maria Zimmermann, Anna Kraft, Ingrid Klimke and Tanja Bülter have discovered DAILYSOCKS.
We are stable on three distribution channels: the sock events, the online shop and now also with over 150 listed retailers.
In September, our online shop was re-launched. With a new look, it is user-friendly and clear for sock shopping. With many great outfit pictures, customers also get beautiful inspirations.
In the same month, Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn also visited us. He took the time to learn about the work of the St. Antonius workshop for people with disabilities for DAILYSOCKS. By September 4, 2019, the employees there had already packaged over 35,000 pairs of socks for DAILYSOCKS.
2020 – The Year of Challenges
This year, everything turned out differently than we had planned. The goals changed, and instead of achieving increased sales, it was now about survival in the market. The crisis hit the label hard because sales channels such as retail and sock events were shut down for months. Nevertheless, both founders are optimistic and are fighting against the downturn: in addition to fashionable, ultra-light face masks, they broadcast their traditional fashion show as an online event. They also offer customized socks for companies, clubs, etc., starting from an order of 50 pieces.
Under the #womensupportwomen, the entrepreneurs teamed up with several other female-led labels, launched sales cooperations and joint shootings.
We believe in ourselves and hope to defy the crisis.
