How the ‘flywheel of success’ helped social enterprise Sydney Sock Project reach $1 million in revenue

“The most requested item in homeless shelters is socks.” 

This was the fact Sydney-born social entrepreneur Andres Herrero came across in 2018 that would eventually spark an idea to launch an enterprise to combat social issues — one pair of socks at a time.

The Sydney Sock Project sells trendy, fun and colourful socks with 10% of the costs donated to charitable organisations. Since it was formed, the social enterprise has partnered with numerous businesses and organisations, including the RSPCA, Thread Together, Children’s Cancer Institute, Sendle and more to develop a retail model that gives back.

This year, Sydney Sock Project is on track to turn over more than $1 million in revenue. It is run by a small team, which includes two employees and several contractors that specialise in particular areas from marketing, design and content creation. It’s an efficient model, according to Herrero, who says it allows him to put the tasks he’s generally not great at into the hands of skilled professionals.