“I set up Stand4socks at the age of 24 with the ethos that every business can have a positive impact on the world” (Josh Turner).
When Josh, a Business graduate of Birmingham University, set up Stand4Socks in 2015 he was unemployed, in receipt of unemployment benefit and receiving careers counselling. The idea that socks could change the world came to him while relaxing with friends in a pub. It was and is a simple concept. As he says, ‘we all wear socks, yet they are dull, poorly made and an after thought. I wanted to create something with an impact”. However, it was only when he mentioned it to his counsellor that he began to believe it might be possible. She liked the idea and enrolled him on a New Enterprise Allowance support programme which gave him the support and funding to get started. Initially he moved into his mother’s garden shed where he began designing and creating his collection. “We spent years” he observes, “crafting the most comfortable sock on the market. Not only this we made sure the quality was unmatched and that the designs were original and stylish”. He toured the globe searching for the right suppliers who he sees as members of his “family” business and with £18,000 of pre-sales crowd funding he opened a shop on e-bay and moved into his own apartment, which doubled as his warehouse, two walls of his bedroom being stacked with 8,000 pairs of socks.
The business really took off and by 2020 its turnover had exceeded £1million. The core concept is “buy one give one”. For every pair of socks bought, Stand4Socks makes a donation to a charity that is aligned to one of the 17 United Nation’s SDGs, including reducing poverty, providing education and tackling gender inequality. However, of particular significance is Stand4Socks’ help for the homeless. “Socks are the most requested item of clothing from homeless people, yet no one donates them” says Josh. So, for every pair of “Homeless” socks bought, the company donates another pair of thick, specially designed anti-bacterial socks to the homeless. As of April 2025, they had donated 650,000 pairs of socks to homeless people in the UK, Europe and Ukraine and Josh estimated that by the end of 2025 they would have reached 1 million donations.
Since its foundation, the company has won numerous awards including the Great British Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2015, the High Street Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2018, the Entrepreneur for Good Award in 2020 and the Innovative Product of the Year Award in 2024. Meanwhile, in 2023, Stand4Socks was awarded BCorp status with a score of 115.3, the highest score globally in the sector. Such achievements, Josh contends, are a result of his dyslexic thinking which probably accounts for why he started his first venture at the age of seven and has had several ventures since then. He found studying difficult and was once told by a teacher that dyslexia does not exist, he was just lazy! In contrast Josh sees his dyslexia as his superpower as does his role model and mentor fellow dyslexic Sir Richard Branson.
Stand4Socks is a Harmonious Enterprise. It only engages ethical suppliers, only uses eco friendly materials and only requires profits that do not harm either people or the planet. It addresses SDGs 1 (No Poverty), 4 (Quality Education), 5 (Gender Equality), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), 10 (Reduced inequalities), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
© Harmonious-Entrepreneurship.org (2020-2025)
HES 2020-2026 