Transforming Footwear: Shannon Kehrer’s Journey to Create the Perfect No-Show Sock

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women In Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women In Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women In Motion, we have Shannon Kehrer and she is with Hidey Style. Welcome.

Shannon Kehrer: Thank you. So happy to be here, Lee, and share Hidey Socks with the world.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn what you’re up to, so tell us about Hidey Style.

Shannon Kehrer: I redesigned liner no-show socks when I was 19, because I soon realized those little annoying no-show socks whenever I would wear them, they would slide off of my feet and get bunched underneath them, and I’d walk around and it was so frustrating. So, I designed Hidey Socks with a comfortable anklet, so myself as well as millions of other people around the world don’t have to worry about their socks sliding off their feet when they’re walking around anymore.

Lee Kantor: So, when you were that age and you had this problem, what was your problem solving strategy? Like, had you ever sewn anything before? Have you ever tried to do anything? Were you, like, crafty? Is that how you’re like, “Oh, sure. This is just another thing I can do”? So, how did it happen?

Shannon Kehrer: Not at all. And I’m laughing because I was not crafty at all. I don’t know how to sew. I never went to college. And how I solved this problem for myself was, after a long day at the office being frustrated that the other no-show socks kept sliding off my feet, I went home and I sat down on my kitchen floor. I don’t know why I chose my kitchen floor, but this is what I did. And I grabbed a pair of my flat shoes and I put on a regular sock, and I literally just cut out the Hidey Sock design that you see now with the comfortable anklet, because I knew if the sock had an anklet, then it wouldn’t slip off of my feet anymore when I would walk around.

Shannon Kehrer: And that was just the first protocol. I mean, I was 19 years old, again never gone to college, didn’t think I would start a business. And then, here I was wearing this sock that actually worked. And I said, “Oh, my goodness. I have an actual business idea here, how do I do this? How do I take it to market?” And it took a couple of years, and then by the time I was 21 or 22, that’s when I officially launched Hidey Socks and have been doing it ever since, and have shared Hidey Socks with tons and tons of people and just sharing it globally now.

Lee Kantor: Now, when it was kind of at the early stages of this, because at first it was your problem, when did you realize like, “Oh, I’m not the only one who has this problem. This is something that a lot of people are suffering from, but nobody ever spent any time to try to figure this out.”

Shannon Kehrer: I realized it when I started wearing my first Hidey Sock prototype, and other people would ask me about it. And I said, “Oh. Well, you know, the other no-show socks, whenever I walk around, they just slide off my feet and it’s super frustrating. I don’t have time for this. Nobody has time for this socks slipping off.” And then, they would also tell me they had the same problem.

Shannon Kehrer: And after hearing so many different people telling me that I basically solved the solution for them as well, I knew I had to save up money and build my credit, and Google everything about a business and how to start it, and that’s how I rocked and rolled with it.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned the first kind of version 1.0 was you just kind of cutting out the anklet part of the sock. I mean for folks who aren’t familiar with this, please go to the website, hideystyle, H-I-D-E-Y-S-T-Y-L-E,.com so you can see this. But you kind of reinvented what a sock is, because it isn’t a traditional sock that covers the entire foot. It has an anklet and then it covers the bottom of the foot pretty well, but the top of your foot isn’t covered.

Shannon Kehrer: Exactly. Just the toe area, the top of the toe area is covered so people can wear them with flats. And the whole reason why I chose this specific design and also made it low cut on the sides, is so my customers can wear Hidey Socks with pretty much any shoe that they want to wear Hidey Socks with. I mean, I have customers who wear them with flats, tennis shoes, Vans, even high heels and they look so cute with high heels.

Shannon Kehrer: And then, of course, the anklet, I designed it with Swarovski Crystals to add style to any shoe that you wear Hidey Socks with. So, you can literally transform your whole shoe wardrobe with Hidey Socks with the beautiful Swarovski Crystals and different color Swarovski as well.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you went from this kind of the prototype into kind of the early designs, how did you sell these? Were you selling them online or were you trying to get them into retail? Like, what was the selling process like?

Shannon Kehrer: All of it, Lee. I originally launched with just my website, and then I hired a sales rep to help me sell Hidey Socks wholesale to different boutiques and shoe stores. And now we do both, I have my website and then I also sell wholesale to different shoe stores. We’re trying to get them into larger retail stores right now, like Neiman Marcus, exactly how Sarah Blakely did it with Spanx. I mean, maybe even Target, we’re really looking into expanding into that. But as of right now, we’re selling on the website and then tons of different boutiques around the U.S., we also sell to Canada and Australia as well.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you were coming up with the idea, how much time did you spend thinking about how am I going to price this? Is this like a super high end thing? Is this for everybody? How did you kind of come up with the pricing?

Shannon Kehrer: Great question. I wanted to make Hidey Socks affordable for really anybody who wanted a sock to solve the problem as well as add style. And so, originally our price used to be a little bit higher, and what I did was I actually interviewed with Swarovski Crystals to have a partnership with them, so that way I could buy the crystals directly from Swarovski Crystals as opposed to a third party. And once I aced that interview and got a partnership with Swarovski Crystals, I basically gave that savings to my customers instead of making more of a profit margin.

Shannon Kehrer: I wanted the Hidey Socks with the genuine Swarovski Crystals, which you can put in the washer and the dryer. I wanted that retail price to be a good 1999 impulse buy, so we can sell to pretty much anyone everywhere. And then, the Hidey Socks without the Swarovski Crystals are, of course, less expensive, and I really worked hard to get that 1999 price. And, you know, it wasn’t the easiest in order to do that, but I feel like it is a good price, especially because they do last for a very long time made out of breathable bamboo.

Lee Kantor: Now, how did you kind of land on that as a material?

Shannon Kehrer: When I was researching the different materials, there’s so many different materials out there, and I discovered that bamboo fiber is naturally breathable. And I said, why don’t all sock companies make their socks out of bamboo? I mean, it makes sense for socks to be naturally breathable. And I found out that the reason why they don’t is because bamboo is actually a lot more expensive than cotton. And it’s more expensive because bamboo, if you think about that material, it’s a very hard material, like very hard. And in order to break that hard material down into something as soft as Hidey Socks, it takes a lot more work than breaking down the cotton.

Shannon Kehrer: But I decided I wanted to make my socks the best possible quality. They’re going to last for a long time and keep my customers happy. And to make sure also that I didn’t get returns. I mean, knock on wood, I’ve hardly had any returns and I’ve sold tons and tons and tons of Hidey Socks.

Lee Kantor: Now, there’s also another unique aspect, the spring. How does that work, kind of the element of having a spring as part of the sock?

Shannon Kehrer: The gel section in the heel area?

Lee Kantor: The spring from the socks, is that just the bamboo? Like, what causes that kind of spring to occur?

Shannon Kehrer: You mean the breathable of the bamboo? I’m not exactly sure what the spring is, I’m so sorry.

Lee Kantor: I thought in the actual sock itself at least it feels like there’s a spring to your step, there’s some element that the sock is kind of springing.

Shannon Kehrer: No, no. I think it’s just the breathable bamboo and just keeping the customer’s feet and shoe way more feels than cotton socks or not even wearing socks at all.

Lee Kantor: But it feels different the bamboo? Most people, I guess, aren’t used to wearing bamboo.

Shannon Kehrer: Correct, they’re not.

Lee Kantor: And then, when you landed on that and you worked through the issue of getting it soft enough, it gives you that kind of durability, but also it feels nice for the user.

Shannon Kehrer: Yes, it does. I mean, my customer is full of huge difference of wearing my Hidey bamboo socks as opposed to cotton socks or even not wearing socks at all. And once they feel that bamboo, they don’t want to wear anything else.

Lee Kantor: So, what is kind of on the roadmap for this? You mentioned hopefully getting into the Targets of the world, but do you have a team that’s kind of going out and actively pursuing those kind of relationships or maybe that’s one of the benefits of being partners with WBEC-West?

Shannon Kehrer: All of it. I have an awesome sales team who’s going out. I do have WBEC-West as a partner as well, and they have great connections and great networking. They’re so supportive. And the last event that I did with them was just absolutely phenomenal. I met with so many big corporations and was able to have meetings with them one-on-one, which was phenomenal. So, I’m just so happy that I joined WBEC-West, and I’ve had these opportunities to meet these large retailers, as well as meet other woman-owned businesses, and then also make lifelong friends with a lot of these women.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you have any advice for other entrepreneurs that are pursuing kind of a product like you have, but they’re trying to build a sales team? Are there some do’s and don’ts when it comes to building a sales team to sell something that you came up with and it’s your baby, like how do you kind of transfer that passion and knowledge to a salesperson person?

Shannon Kehrer: You know, nobody’s going to sell it like you. That’s the number one thing you definitely have to learn. And it’s better to hire out people who can do the job at least 90 percent as good as you would do it. And as long as you can do that and build a team, that’s going to continue to help you to grow.

Shannon Kehrer: In the beginning, when you first start a small business, the owner is wearing all of the hats. You know, we kind of have to before you make enough money to actually hire a team. And that’s great because then you get to understand all of those different roles. But then once you start building the momentum, just do your best to hire out as many jobs as you possibly can, and be okay with knowing that nobody’s going to sell it like you. It’s only really your main job to have the passion, train them to also have the passion, but also be able to let your baby grow.

Lee Kantor: And then, for you, has it been kind of just a trajectory of growth or have you gone through some rough patches?

Shannon Kehrer: Definite rough patches. Any business, unless if it’s like a unicorn, is going to have rough patches. It is a long term game. You can’t give up when you get knocked down. It is absolutely inevitable. I mean, I always say it’s like you’re running hurdles, you’re jumping over the hurdles, you’re going to go over some, you might fall on some. When you fall, you get right back up and continue the race.

Lee Kantor: Now, the Hidey Style, Hidey Socks, are they for children as well as adults? Like, what are the sizes?

Shannon Kehrer: Yes, I do also have kids sizes because I had so many mamas and aunties and grandmas asking me if I could do the youth sizes for Hidey Socks, and those are on our website, and they are less expensive than our adult Hidey Socks. They are just so cute and people are loving them. I mean, I have grandmas matching with their granddaughters. I have moms matching with their daughters, aunties matching with their nieces. It’s absolutely perfect.

Shannon Kehrer: And, also, their great stocking stuffers. Christmas is right around the corner. Holidays are right around the corner. Birthdays are year long. So, definitely think about getting Hideys as your next gifts as well.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned it’s usable in a variety of shoes. Is it usable for people doing yoga or things like that where you need some traction?

Shannon Kehrer: Great question. I actually did do a yoga edition Hidey/Pilates edition as well because I had so many awesome customers say, “Hey Shannon. I love doing yoga, I love doing Pilates, and I would love it if your Hidey Socks had the grips on the bottom so I could use them.” So, I actually did launch those this year and they are live on our website, so you can get Heidi socks with the grippers on the bottom. It’s a different product category when you go on our website, but you will see them there.

Lee Kantor: And one more time before we wrap, what is the website or the socials to connect with you and to kind of see what’s going on over there?

Shannon Kehrer: hideystyle.com is our website, and Hidey is spelled H-I-D-E-Y. And the whole reason why I named Hidey Socks and spelled it that way is because when you wear these Hidey Socks with your shoes, you can’t tell it’s a sock. And my goal was I wanted a functional sock that was beautiful that people couldn’t tell you were wearing a sock. It just added to your shoe, which is why they’re called Hidey and spelled H-I-D-E-Y.

Lee Kantor: Well, Shannon, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Shannon Kehrer: Thank you so much, Lee. Appreciate you having me on. And thank you so much for everybody listening. We truly appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor, we will see you all next time on Women In Motion.