While living in London I was lucky to work with a company that really valued 'giving back'. They had some pretty powerful mottos they lived by Take Time To Kind, All Is One and Save The Planet. I always valued these mottos and loved how everything the company was involved in kept them in mind. I was always working on a fundraising event, a beach clean up, or an initiative to benefit a community in need going through some tough times. It's amazing how tying 'giving back' into your work can make your work more fulfilling. I felt like I was working for myself (the paycheck) but also working to help others. It was important to me.
One organization I had the opportunity to help was The Bombay Teen Challenge. Based in Mumbai, India, the charity helps rescue and rehabilitate victims of sex slavery and child trafficking. I went to India many times to see the charity on the ground and in action. I fell in love with them and what they do. The difference these guys make is overwhelming. The passion they have for helping women and children, sometimes as young as 18 months old is incredible. I always wanted to help them as much as I could. The guys at The Bombay Teen Challenge became my close friends.
After a couple of years, I made the decision to leave Europe for the USA. Leaving London, for the sunny coastline of Los Angeles also meant leaving the company that let me be so involved with great charitable organizations. It was very tough to step away from the causes I had become so passionate about. I promised myself, and my friends in India, I would try my best to continue to help them and, that I would stay in touch and help them fight their fight.
A huge part of my founding of Incredible Socks was to have the opportunity to give back and help others - like The Bombay Teen Challenge. Without this vision and mission, the company would simply not exist. I wanted to start something that matters. Something that, yes, gives my customers an 'incredible' product that they will love but also something that gives us (me, my employees, partners and customers) the opportunity to give back and help other humans and help the planet. I always wanted to start a company with a heart. A company, like the one I worked for in London, that really values 'giving back'.
For me Incredible Socks is not just about fun, colorful and incredibly comfortable socks - it's about the socks, the people who buy and wear them, and, the passion we all have together for helping others and helping our planet.
I want to share a quote that I love: 'To know that even one life has breathed easier because of what we do - that is to have succeeded!'
Success for Incredible Socks is obviously the sale of lots of socks but what for me, would make a much bigger success story, is to make as many people as we can breathe easier -- that is to have succeeded!
I have launched incredible Socks with three INCREDIBLE giving partners - The Bombay Teen Challenge, My Friends Place and Water For People - and I hope I can support them (and more) for a long time to come.
If you have 3 minutes head over to https://myincrediblesocks.com/pages/ourcommitment - and read more about these three amazing charities and my commitment to Incredible Socks.
Thanks so much,
Marc
