Custom sock supplier Sock Fancy (asi/88073) was originally founded as a sock subscription service more than a decade ago. It’s undergone a variety of transformations since then – including, most recently, a pivot to concentrate more on the promotional products sector.

Adam Haileyesus has been there through it all. He first helped with packages in the warehouse back when he was still in college, and he’s had his hands in most aspects of the business in the years since, watching both the company and the team grow.

“The product itself is such a fun product that it almost forces itself to be a fun environment,” Haileyesus says. “The amount of positive responses we get when we fulfill these orders, work with these customers – there really isn’t room for a negative impact here.”

The Sock Fancy (asi/88073) team came together at ASI Show Chicago 2025 to show off their booth and custom socks.

The team, now helmed by CEO Victoria Simmons, is still small, but that just means everyone has the opportunity to make their opinions heard. Ideas don’t get stuck in the corporate ladder, Simmons says, and that’s something she prides herself on cultivating.

It was one of the first things Sam Houpt noticed when he started as a sales executive at Sock Fancy a year and a half ago.

“Everybody has a voice in the company,” he says. “It doesn’t matter what level you’re at or how small the issues – if there’s a way to streamline or a way to make the processes better, you’re always going to be heard, and we’re always going to give it a shot.”

“Your voice is never stifled. It’s never muted,” he adds, “no matter the level.”

Conversations and connections outside of work tasks are approached the same way. Houpt declared Fridays as Hawaiian Shirt Fridays early on in his time at the company, and the team embraced it. Simmons kicks off each of the team’s three weekly check-in calls by asking employees for a word that encapsulates how they’re feeling that day so she knows how to approach that day’s leadership.

The Sock Fancy team toured Allegiant Stadium in Vegas together.

Sarah Jones, a senior account executive, says she appreciates having such easy access to senior leaders for day-to-day concerns. It’s the independent but consistent and collaborative nature of the Sock Fancy team as a whole that makes the group work so well together.

“We have hardly any turnover,” Jones says, “so it’s easier to build those relationships within the team.”

That was particularly important for Simmons during 2025’s tariff and economic challenges. At a time when uncertainty reigned, her top priority was ensuring the team felt stable and safe in their positions. She kept a wide-open line of communication that the company was still growing and profitable to build a true sense of workplace security.

In turn, she says, that attitude helped to create even more of a sense of ownership among the team, particularly as the company continues to shift and expand.

“Even moving from warehouse to warehouse throughout the years as we outgrew the current space,” Haileyesus says, “it was awesome just seeing how all of this came from socks.”