We received hundreds of entries for our John’s Crazy Socks Sock Design Contest and after thoroughly reviewing the entries and receiving feedback from our sock-loving community, we are pleased to announce that Alessandra Lee of Bellmore, New York has won this year’s contest with her “Koalas in Trees” design.
As the first-place winner, Alessandra will receive a $1,000 prize. Even better, we will produce her Koalas in Trees Socks and sell them in our store. In keeping with Alessandra’s inspiration to protect koalas and wildlife, we will donate 10 percent from the sale of those socks to our charity partner, the New York Restoration Project.
John Cronin said, “These are beautiful socks. I love her Koala bears and am so happy for Alessandra.”
Runner Up Winners of the Sock Design Contest
We received so many wonderful designs. Second place went to Max Polosky of Santa Clara, California and his design of Paralympic sports. Chris Miller of Rise Staffing in Tulsa, Oklahoma earned the third-place prize with her Handshakes socks. Both Max and Chris will receive gift certificates to John’s Crazy Socks.
Max is a freshman at Northwestern University looking to major in Environmental Science. His Paralympic Designs grew out of his commitment to interdisciplinary thinking. Chris is part of Rise Staffing program in Tulsa. She and her colleagues, Amanda Jackson and Maggie Bond, wanted to show, “We're better together and now more than ever we need to come together with love in all we do.”
We liked their drawings so much that we will also produce the socks designed by Max and Chris and send them a package of their socks.
“We received so many great designs,” said John Cronin. “I love socks and I am so happy that we have connected with so many other sock lovers.”
The Winning Design in the 2024 Sock Design Contest: Koalas in Trees
Alessandra loves creating artwork, particularly drawing and painting and hopes to pursue these interests when she heads off to college. On creating the winning design, she said,
“I'm very passionate about the environment and animals, which is why I decided to draw a family of koalas for my design. Koalas are one of my favorite animals, and I find it very disquieting that these beautiful creatures are on the brink of extinction. I believe there must be significantly more awareness on their preservation, as well as protecting all our Earth.”
John welcomed Alessandra and her mother, Lori Bruno-Lee, to our offices and surprised her with the announcement that she had won the Sock Design Contest. John gave his guests a tour of the warehouse, discussed designing socks and presented Alessandra with a symbolic $1,000 check for her winning design. (Don’t worry, she is getting a real check too!).
The John’s Crazy Socks Sock Design Contest
At John’s Crazy Socks, we’re constantly amazed by the creativity of our community! That’s why we love running our Sock Design Contest—an opportunity to see the incredible designs our fans dream up. This year, we were thrilled to receive over 300 fantastic entries! A dedicated team of 10 employees carefully reviewed each one, and from there, we selected 25 outstanding designs to share with our amazing community of sock lovers on social media. With their feedback, we narrowed it down to six finalists. Finally, John Cronin, our co-founder and Chief Happiness Officer, led the selection team in choosing the winning designs. We couldn’t be more excited to showcase the talent and creativity of our community!
About John’s Crazy Socks
John’s Crazy Socks was inspired by John Lee Cronin, a young man with Down syndrome, and his love of colorful and fun socks—what he calls his “crazy socks.” He and his father, Mark X. Cronin, started the company as a social enterprise with a mission of Spreading Happiness™. With more than 4,000 socks, John’s Crazy Socks is now the world’s largest sock store. More than half their employees have a differing ability, and their Giving Back program has raised over $800,000 for charity partners like the Special Olympics, the National Down Syndrome Society, and the Autism Society of America. Most of all, they are Spreading Happiness™.
For more information about John’s Crazy Socks, visit our webpage, Facebook page, Instagram account or YouTube channel. You can also contact us at 631-760-5625 or via email at service@johnscrazysocks.com.
