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Thinking Outside the Socks with Little Missmatched

Posted on October 02, 2011 - 08:38:51 by

Beth Feldman

Beth Feldman

Recently, my daughter and I got the chance to visit the showroom of one of her favorite stores for tweens, Little Missmatched. Located in New York City, the funky office space offers an expansive view of true creativity in motion. When we arrived, we were greeted by Kerry Brown, the brand's publicity director who instantly welcomed us while letting our daughters explore the cubicles and an office that sported a mobile of mismatched socks.

As the moms made their way around a conference table, we each introduced ourselves with a fun sock toss game and then our daughters were whisked away to the Little Missmatched closet while we got the chance to hear more about the brand. What we learned from the company's founder was that the brand literally started as a dare.

Jonah Staw, a former marketing whiz for Target, was challenged by a trend spotter to come up with an idea for the worst trend and he came up with mismatched socks. But when he thought more about his concept, he realized he might actually be on to something. From there, he began developing a line of socks that could be sold to adults and tweens. What he soon realized was that if he focused on a core group of consumers, tween girls, the brand could really strike a chord with a group continually facing self esteem issues on a regular basis. By empowering girls to explore their creative side, Little Missmatched first opened in New York City as a kiosk at Grand Central Terminal (I remember it well) and now, with a new CEO and a group of investors, the brand has now expanded to 11 stores nationwide.

 

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At the event, we also met Jose Solis, the company's creative director who is responsible for all the wacky fashions we see at the stores. In fact, as we sat around the conference table, adorning the walls were fashion boards filled with magazine clippings from the latest fashion shows. Each board was for a specific season and as you looked around the room, you could see his visions take flight. In fact, Jose even showed us a dress that was recently created from one of his drawings - he's an incredible artist and designer who has worked with everyone from Ralph Lauren to Bill Blass to Oscar de La Renta. So if you wonder why your tween looks so incredibly fashionable when they step out of Little Missmatched, Jose has a lot to do with it.