John Cronin, co-founder with his Dad, Mark, of John’s Crazy Socks, has a mission to spread happiness. Upset by the arguing and fighting he witnessed over political issues, John wanted to do something to bring people together. “We are all Americans,” John said, “and we should come together and not fight so much.”
John created his Unity Socks to remind us all that we have more in common than we do differences. John designed the Unity Socks with American flags spread across a field of blue to symbolize the unity and inclusion that binds all Americans. As John said, “Let’s do something to bring people together and make them happy.”
John is donating 10 percent from the sale of these socks to the National Down Syndrome Society.
John is giving a pair to every member of Congress. Here is the letter that he wrote to the members of Congress to accompany the Unity Socks:
Letter to Members of Congress from John with his Unity Socks
Dear Member of Congress,
We are pleased to present you with this special pair of our Unity Socks. Designed by John with American flags spread across a field of blue, we created these socks to symbolize the unity and inclusion that binds all Americans. As John said, “Let’s do something to bring people together and make them happy.”
We may come from different backgrounds and we may have different political views, but we share a common belief in the promise of the United States of America. On March 30, 2021, we met your colleagues Congressmen Andrew Garbarino (R-NY2) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY3) to introduce our new Unity Socks and to announce our intention to share these socks with each member of Congress. Congressmen Garbarino and Suozzi encouraged our efforts to unite all Americans and spread happiness, which is part of our core mission at John’s Crazy Socks.
Why give a pair of Unity Socks to every member of Congress? As our elected leaders, we want to encourage you to build upon our common bonds, to find the paths that bring us together, to celebrate our unity in purpose and belief in the ideal of the United States of America. We hope that when you wear these socks, they inspire you and make you smile.
We are the father-son team (Mark and John) that founded John’s Crazy Socks, a social enterprise with a mission to spread happiness. We pursue our mission by showing what people with differing abilities can achieve, by giving back to our charity partners and by making a personal connection with our customers. At our company, we created 30 jobs and 21 are held by people with differing abilities. To date, our efforts have raised over $425,000 for our charity partners, including $100,000 for the Special Olympics, which is particularly dear to us because John is a Special Olympics athlete.
John is not only an entrepreneur, but he also happens to have Down Syndrome. He was the first person with Down syndrome to win the EY Entrepreneur of the Year. John often says, “Down Syndrome never holds me back.” Every day, we strive to demonstrate what people with differing abilities can achieve.
We thank Congressmen Andrew Garbarino and Tom Suozzi for their encouragement. We only wish we could hand you these Unity Socks to you in person.
Regards,
John and Mark
