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| Riley Goodman '13 and Jake Director '13 |
These founders of Strideline were a couple of ambitious Issaquah high school
lacrosse players who spotted the trend away from ankle socks back to the higher
calf height socks. Plotting their entry to business, they used their high
school graduation money to pay for their first sock order featuring the skyline
of Seattle.
Their story at the luncheon
was engaging, humorous, and inspiring. From storing their first big order in the boiler room (until the Fire Department inspectors discovered the 1,500 pairs of socks) to trying to temporarily store their first big shipment (10,000 pair) at the UPS store while they scrambled to meet the purchaser's requirement to palletize their orders, their anecdotes were entertaining.
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| Jerry Thornton '55 (UW Baseball Hall of Famer) and Riley Goodman '13 |
When Jake traveled to Chicago to meet with Champs, he discovered that he was too young and lacking a credit card to rent a car. Creatively, he went down the street and rented a truck, and drove to his meeting in the "best available" set of wheels. Today they have progressed from selling their socks from a table at
lacrosse tournaments to a spring line that will include socks featuring 24
different skylines for 24 different markets. After the luncheon, Jerry Thornton '55 (our team member of a UW Baseball Hall of Fame team) revealed the versatility of the old tube socks to Riley. One size fit all, and all you did is rotate the sock on your foot to spread the wear.
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| Strideline's new line - in Nordstroms this Fall |
Strideline is expanding its market by giong beyond the market-limiting skyline designs. In order to offer a single product line anywhere in the USA, they have developed a non-skyline product that is being delivered into several national
retail chains this Fall – Nordstrom and Champs.
See photo on the left to see several of their new designs. You can reach
these guys at: jake@strideline.com
and riley@strideline.com
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