behind the scenes: how we defined our mission & values
Ready for a little peek inside The Sock Drawer? Our sock fairies recently spent some time defining our company mission statement and values. It was a challenging but inspiring process for us, so we thought we’d share some details with all you extended members of our big sock family!
What We Did
A core team of six of our long-term sock fairies got together over the course of several hours-long sessions to brainstorm, spill some laughs and some tears, and ultimately come up with a refined mission and set of values that lay out who we are at The Sock Drawer.
We got invaluable help and guidance — thank goodness! — from a fabulous duo of consultants from a local company called Unlock-Potential. They led us through a process of “distilling” all of our overflowing thoughts about The Sock Drawer down into potent, powerful phrases. We started with thousands of words of detailed survey answers from every member of our team and worked through draft after draft over many weeks, all with the goal of getting to the root of who we are and why we do what we do.
Once we came up with our finished work, we rolled it out to our entire team with a big party at our warehouse. There were emotional presentations and lots of tacos and a sock piñata. It was great.
Why We Did It
Our company has been around since 2007, and in that time as sock fairies, we’ve developed what we felt like was a pretty clear company culture. We know who we are. But we never put words to it.
Meanwhile, this year has brought a lot of change to The Sock Drawer. Our founder and queen sock fairy Brooke English put it this way:
“I took a significant risk earlier this year restructuring my business to bring more responsibilities in house and prioritizing a company culture based on inclusivity, trust and respect. I’ve also started opening up more about my approach, fully committing to leading my team with my heart and compassion.”
So we felt like it was about time to articulate who we are and why we do the awesome, joyful work of selling fun socks. We’ve been walking the walk in fantastic footwear for a long time, and now it’s time to talk the talk, too.
Internally at our company, our clearly defined mission and values are a deep and important resource for us as employees. For every choice make, we now have a set of principles guiding our way.
Externally, we believe sharing our mission and values helps all you sock lovers out there get to know us a little better. We know you can buy socks from lots of sources, so why should you choose us? Aside from our incredible selection of great socks and top-notch customer service, we hope it’s because you like who we are and you believe in our mission:
To weave us a little closer together through the unique, colorful socks we all love.
There’s so much value in being intentional. We have been intentionally opening up more and more, sharing who we are through behind-the-scenes peeks like this one. We know that you as shoppers are intentional with your purchases, and we hope that glimpses into The Sock Drawer help you feel happy to welcome us into your lives!
OK, we’re done gushing now! It was such a wonderful, inspiring process for our team that we just had to share. But let’s get back to socks!
Fall has officially arrived, and the holidays are coming soon! We’ve just added some fantastic new styles to our lineup, and you can look forward to lots of gift guides and special promotions ahead. Thanks, as always, for helping us spread the sock love!