PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kan. — A small company from Prairie Village is creating feel-good footwear. They’re marketing a line of sport socks that carry daily affirmations.
It’s a business that sells socks meant to make people smile. Notes To Self is a Prairie Village based company owned by sales professional Laura Schmidt, who puts positive slogans on her socks meant to fortify the person wearing them.
In three years’ worth of marketing socks the business has moved from a side endeavor into a Mission, Kansas warehouse with nine employees.
Schmidt says she’s always been a fan of positive affirmations, and her plan is to share that encouragement twice per day.
“If I put them on the toes of socks, the person wearing them would be thinking positive thoughts at least twice per day without even trying,” said Schmidt.
And it’s working, according to Schmidt. She said Notes To Self sold its first sock in 2011. Three years later you can find her footwear in more than one thousand stores nationally, including Naomi’s Hallmark store in Shawnee, where Caye Crosswhite is the general manager. She thinks of the socks and their messages as a predictor of positive behaviors.
“A grandmother bought her grandson a pair of I am awesome socks because he was nervous about taking a test at school. So, you know how he did on his test? Awesome,” said Crosswhite.
It’s not uncommon to see Notes To Self walking around Dr. Michelle Robin’s chiropractic office in Shawnee. The doctor says she owns 20 pair of her own.
“The socks just affirm that you’re being kind to yourself. You’re being loving. You’re being generous. The socks are another way to implant the energy and vibration of being well,” said Dr. Robin’s.
“The more people who are focusing on those positive words, the better their lives will be,” said Schmidt.
Schmidt says she’s gaining on the goal of putting her socks on one million people. In 2013 alone, she says her company quadrupled in size, and in 2014 could be even bigger.
Her socks are available for purchase at about 30 local boutiques, as well as via her website. They cost about 10 dollars a pair.
