On a rainy Sunday in April 2008, two guys from Stockholm came up with a promising brand idea. Mikael Söderlindh and Viktor Tell decided the time was right to start spreading happiness by means of high quality footwear in quirky patterns at a low price. Happy Socks was born. Only four months after the initial idea, the brand was launched during Stockholm Fashion Week in August 2008. Mikael Söderlindh and Viktor Tell mobilized their business contacts, jump-started the PR machine and quickly became a buzz within their style-conscious Scandinavian base market. Virtually overnight, blogs, magazines and social networks were all rooting for their multicolored socks. The goal was to build a strong brand around a single, distinct product whilst simultaneously defining the market for fashion socks. Not contenting themselves with their Scandinavian base market, Mikael Söderlindh and Viktor Tell aimed for a global distribution of high volumes at low prices and immediately started exporting. Coinciding with the 2008 economic downturn, the idea to market colorful and high quality, yet relatively inexpensive socks as the perfect recession chic accessory could not have been more timely.
