Historically, LGBT Pride month is at this time because of the beginning of the Stonewall Inn riots on June 28th, 1969. On that day in the early morning in Greenwich Village’s most fabulous street, Christopher Street, the homosexual community decided they’d had it with police raids and laws that made them a marginalized group. They began a series a violent protests that many mark as the beginning of the Gay Liberation movement, a movement that has continued and brought gay rights to the forefront.

Year after year, the anniversary of the Stonewall has been celebrated in an increasing number of cities across the US, and year after year, we come closer and closer to the goal of normalization and open mindedness that the people at Stonewall were fighting for.

We are proud to participate in this legacy by supporting Portland Pride, and we hope all of you will go out to your various cities’ Prides, or create a Pride of your own!

For the past couple years, we have supported the Llewellyn Carnival, which is put on by Llewellyn Elementary as a super fun kids event and a fundraiser for their school. Every year, they’ve asked us to do an event, and this year we are proud to present… Ring Around the Knee High!

This ring toss, presented Sock-Dreams-style, was conceived and created by our PR team, and we’re pretty proud of it. It will be doing double-duty this weekend, as it and our other handmade creation, the Sock’s in the Dryer Toss, entertain bike riders during the Hott Socks bike ride.

The Hott Sock Bike ride is part of an event called Pedalpalooza, which features several of the zaniest bike events Portland has to offer; we have been a stop on the ride since its conception. Each year the shop and its adjoining yard fill up with bicyclists in nutty costumes, hungry for snacks, prizes, and sales. This year, we’ll be creating a carnival atmosphere featuring our two main events, as well as a donut on a string and other games of skill and chance.

If you’re in the Portland area this weekend, take the trip to Sellwood and stop by these events. It’ll be more fun than a sock full of monkeys!

In the spirit of this article, we have decided that we would do a GIVEAWAY in conjunction. All you brides and grooms to be, get out your pens and your box o’ Kleenex, ’cause our giveaway will be an essay on “How I met and chose my bridal party.”

We want to know all the messy, hilarious, tear-jerking ways that you picked the folks who will stand up with you on your special day. Extra points if you have a cross-gendered wedding party, which I was a part of last summer, or something else totally nontraditional.

Our first place winner will receive a $150.00 gift card to Sock Dreams, which can be used to purchase bridal party socks or broken up in any way to use as gifts for your party… or you could just keep it all to yourself.

There is no minimum word count to enter and all entries will be judged by the folks here at Sock Dreams.

To enter, please send your essay to info@sock-dreams.com by May 23rd 2013, and be sure to include all the important information such as your name and email. The contest ends and will be judged by May 24th, 2013, so the prize will be awarded just in time for all those June weddings.

Good luck! And good life!

The Doggie Dash is the annual fundraiser for the Oregon Humane Society, whom every year rescues a variety of animals and places them in good homes. As some of our fans may know, we have several dogs in our offices here in Portland, and just as many folks in the office who love our furry pals. The Doggie Dash will take place on Saturday May 11th down at the Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland; those of you in the Portland area who might want to come down and join the dash. For those of you not in the Portland area, you can still help us meet our Sock Dreams team goal by clicking here and registering for the Sock Dreams team.

Additionally, on Saturday May 11th, the Luna Foundation will be holding Whiskey Fest NW to benefit CASA of Multnomah and Washington Counties. Whiskey Fest will be held at NW 11th and Northrup in the heart of Portland’s Pearl District, where several of the top whiskey makers will be sampling out their best to raise money for children’s advocacy in Portland. We have been asked to vend and represent Sock Dreams by bringing whiskey themed socks, as well as our Sock Dreams brands and our smiling faces. Tickets are going fast, but are still available for this event on the Whiskey Fest NW web site.

Have a great weekend, we hope the sun is shining where you are!!!

It’s that time again… for six years, and counting, on May 9th we give you a chance to replace your missing socks with new socks using a nice discount code in honor of Lost Socks Memorial Day. We’re offering you 20% off your entire order when you enter LostSocks2013 in your shopping cart. Please note that you must complete your order by 00:00 (midnight Pacific Daylight Time) Friday May 10.

Behold, The Sockstrocity, by Andy Hopp!

Andy Hopp is a game designer and illustrator who happens to be married to a sock enthusiast, Heather. She saw our Domestic Shipping Manager Ryan’s work on Pinterest and thought this was right up our ally! Boy was she right!

The Sockstrocity appears in Andy’s RPG book The Whole Hole – A Gadabout’s Guide to Mutha Oith – Vol.01: Keister Island, and may soon be available as a metal miniature to backers of the Low Life miniatures kickstarter campaign!

Many thanks to Andy and Heather for allowing us to share this with our fans!

Then, the October after the store’s first birthday, we had our grand opening at the new shop site! Instead of a little lobby at HQ, the shop graduated to a whole building, an adorable little historic house in the heart of Sellwood. Though our primary business is selling online, our storefront lets folks from Portland (and all around—we’re always touched to hear that people have us on their see-while-in-Portland vacation to-dos!) check out a selection of our top-selling styles in person.

There’s no way we can fit everything we have have online in our shop, but we do make sure that everybody’s favourites are well-stocked, like Tabbisocks, Leg Avenue, Sock It To Me and our Extraordinary and DreaM Stocking styles.

What’s especially special about the store is that we’re able to offer boutique styles and special brands that we can’t order in the amounts we need to sell online, or that we’re testing out in the shop before we bring them to the website. So, there may be socks that you see online that you can’t get in the store, but there are lots of styles at the store that you can’t get online. It’s a pretty good trade-off.

A few of the things we have just at the storefront are a wide range of wee baby and kid socks and tights, gorgeous Swan Clothing Garters and a giant selection of SmartWool.

I love going to visit and seeing how our shop-folks have transformed the lovely pieces of antique furniture into vibrant rainbow sock displays.

The fun banner there is by another lovely vendor whose work we’re able to offer at the store (though these ribbon banners are all ours!). You can also get a peek of the coat hanger draped with socks for folks to test the stretch of.

More things special to the store and some panoramas of the inside after the jump!

You can follow the shop on Twitter @SockDreamsShop, to keep an eye on what’s been restocked and what awesome new display they’ve worked up. There’s even a sale suitcase, with great deals on opened items, lightly defectives, and clearance items. For locals, we take several promo and discounts:

• Rose City Roller Derby •

• Chinook Book coupons (including iPhone coupons) •
• PGE Green Power coupons •
• Choose Local program •

The whole Sellwood/Westmoreland area is fun to walk around in (even on drizzly days!), so of course we even have walking maps, to help guide visitors around the other fun shops and restaurants in the area.

When I stopped by this week to grab some snaps for this post, I made some panoramas, so folks who haven’t been to the store yet can get a hint of what it’s like. All the pictures in the world can’t describe how fun and sock-filled the shop is, or how happy our shop-folks are to share their “sockspertise” and help with any questions.

In the three years since we dipped our toes into the world of selling offline, we’ve been heartened and amazed by the enthusiasm and joy we’ve received through our little shop that is not so little anymore. Thank you so much all you wonderful sock people that have made this possible!

Have you been to our shop? Did you make a special trip out or is it local enough we see you as often as your barista does?

Dreamer Name: Trina and Brigid

Current favourite style: Harajuku Super Loose Socks (they both agreed on a favourite, and I have to say this is one of my faves too!)

Did you like this sock when we first started carrying it, or did you hate it and grow to love it?

Trina: I was not so sure about these when they first came in. At that point I still associated slouchy socks with some particularly unfortunate outfits I wore in elementary school. But they asked me to model a pair and one I had them on I was sold!

Brigid: I loved them from the very first moment I saw them.  No kidding!  The Olive, Dark Khaki, and Ruby are gorgeous, perfect colors.  They definitely elicit that ‘is it weird that I am SO ridiculously excited about a pair of socks’ feeling from me.  They’re like the perfect hoodie sweatshirt that makes you excited for fall, for coziness on a crisp day, drinking coffee on the front stoop feeling perfectly bundled to enjoy being outside and watching the slanted Fall light that’s soon going to be electrified by cold breath and long walks, cider, and whatever else those unavoidable expectations are that come along with autumn mornings.  It’s just that season change stirs everything up and refreshes our outlook, right? …season change and these socks apparently.  Carried away?  Maybe, but that’s why these are my hands down, all-time favourite socks.

What is the best thing about this particular style?

Trina: These are stupidly, ridiculously soft. So soft you put them on and instantly feel cozy, calm, and the overwhelming desire to be on an overstuffed sofa, with a fireplace crackling away and a cup of coffee or tea, during a storm. They are sort of magic. Oh and look great with tall boots.

Brigid: They’re versatile.  They are surprisingly warm and so can be slouched over clogs for just a bit more warmth on bare legs (see Olive) or layered over wool tights and crammed into winter boots (please refer to the picture of the ruby pair and my favourite snow boots) for super warmth.  I even wore a pair folded down over the top of my rain boots one day and was surprised by how well it worked!

How’s the fit? (shoe size, calf stretch, height, etc.)

Trina: So here’s my specs—Calf is 18-19 inches, 24 inches at 5 inches above my knee and 28 inches around at 10 inches above my knee. I wear a women’s US shoe size 8.5 (Euro 39) and am generally size 16. These fit really terrific. More than enough room for my calves and even go OTK. Because of their loose slouchy design there is no way they will stay there without sock glue or garters or something but I usually wear them under my tall boots anyway so that does the trick. The foot is not bulky at all so these are perfect for my boots which are a little narrow.

Brigid: Perfect.  They fit well on almost anyone’s leg!  They should fit women’s shoe sizes six to ten-ish.  I’m an 81/2 and they fit me perfectly.  The thing to know is that they don’t necessarily stay up well, that’s why I love them though.  They slouch down on themselves when they’re on particularly thin or bare legs but will also sit knee high or over the knee on a wider leg or when layered over tights.  You just have to be okay with (and appreciate!) their perfect slouch.

Who would you recommend this style for?

Trina: I would highly recommend these to anyone who normally has a hard time finding Knee socks and OTK’s large enough to fit them, those who love soft cozy leg wear, for those in love with the aesthetic in Japanese Sewing books…

Brigid: Everyone and anyone!  They’re so easy to love.

Anything else?

Trina: Now I have visions of cozy stormy winter days sipping tea, crisp autumn morning bike rides to the farmers market, and all the new socks I most definitely need to add to my currently overflowing sock drawer…. Well there goes my concentration for work today! I’ll be here if you need me, sitting at my desk all wistful and dreamy and distracted.

Sustainable options are very important to us.  To help us define and update our environmental policy, we asked the City of Portland’s Department of Sustainability to evaluate our operations and then help us address areas for improvement.  Among other things, they recognized our use of biodegradable mailing materials, bi-annual pick up of items not accepted at curbside recycling, and our use of US mills and recycled cotton since we began production in 2004.  They made fantastic suggestions, which we quickly adopted, such as the adjustment of lighting levels in our warehouse.

And our dedication extends to our socks!  Our DreaM Stockings use recycled cotton and our Dreamer Socks are made from regenerated fibers.  In our Eco Friendly collection are more styles and suppliers we’ve found to support our vision, from RocknSocks‘ use of regenerated fibers to ToeSox’s organic cotton.  We also carry EG Smith’s ECO line, which donates portions of the profits to environmental organizations that support an end to global warming.

In celebration of the oncoming change of season, here are a few of my favourite eco-friendly styles, in autumnal oranges, perfect for kicking around the changing leaves:

• EG ECO Scallop Top Crew •
• Giraffe Over the Knee •
• Prairie Fairisle Crews •

If you’re in the area, come to the Muddy Boot Organic Festival and check out the music, local food and workshops on sustainable living.  We like to think it starts with your socks.