Recently, John came to me and said, “I need some more drawers to fit all my socks.”
That’s what happens when you love wearing different socks every day and you own a sock company. Every day at the office, John Cronin goes into the warehouse of John’s Crazy Socks and can see more than 2,000 different sock designs. That’s a lot of choices for the budding sock tycoon.
What’s John’s favorite pair of socks? John would rather tell you why he likes crazy socks than pick any one pair of socks. Why crazy socks? “They’re fun, comfortable and creative. They always let me be me.”
Why socks? Is an easy question for John to answer. Asking what is his favorite pair of socks is more challenging. The answer might depend on what’s happening on any given day. When he’s working on a project to support his colleagues with autism, John likes to wear his Autism Awareness Socks. He often wears the Ability Revolution Socks because “I like the way they show everybody coming together.”
John often wears his Special Olympic Shark Socks because “I play basketball and track and field for Coach Joe and the Commack Sharks. I designed the Shark Socks for my team.”
Lately, John has been watching a lot of Friends reruns and wearing Friends garb like the sweatshirt he got for Christmas. He likes to wear the Friends Socks that we carry.
On the weekend, John will often wear his Poop Emoji Socks. “I don’t wear them to work,” he says, “but they are good to wear on the weekend.” They make him smile. They make me think that you can take the boy out of junior high, but you cannot take the junior high out of the boy.
You can start to understand that John loves so many socks, that it is hard to choose one favorite pair of socks. It is like picking a favorite song, well it depends on the day and how I am feeling. John doesn’t like picking any favorites. Visit an amusement park and ask him his favorite ride and he’ll say, “I like them all.”
Ask John what he likes to do the most at work and he starts listing everything he does. “I make videos. I make home deliveries. I pick orders. I wrap orders. I host my dance party. I do speaking engagements. I do interviews. I write thank you notes. I design socks. I pick out socks. I talk to customers.”
Not surprisingly, many people ask John to pick his favorite pair of socks. It comes up when he meets with school groups and interviewers. In the beginning, he was stumped by the question. There were so many socks. But the question kept coming up.
John has thought long and hard about the question. Now, when asked, he answers quickly and with conviction, “My favorite socks are my Down Syndrome Superhero Socks.”
John explains why he likes the Down Syndrome Superhero Socks so much. “I designed these socks. I used a crayon to draw a superhero. Then, our design team finished the design, and you know whose face they put on the socks? Mine. That’s my face on the socks. And now we make some with a superhero cape.”
“I like these socks because I have Down syndrome and I am a superhero. And I loved hit when my friend, President George H.W. Bush wore my Down Syndrome Superhero Socks and shared a picture with everyone. That made me so happy.”
While those might be John’s favorite socks now, you never know what the future holds. Lately, you can find him wearing the Firefighter Tribute Socks that he designed and the Pet Rescue Socks that he made for the North Shore Animal League America.
With a selection of over 2,000 pairs of socks, we hope you can find your favorite socks at John’s Crazy Socks. Always remember, when you buy socks form us, you enable us to hire people with differing abilities, you enable us to give back to our charity partners and you help us spread happiness. It is easy to love socks that make a difference.
And here comes John wearing another pair of socks. Today, it’s the Dragon Socks designed by Brandon Cheng, winner of our most recent Autism Can Do Scholarship. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? John sure does love his socks.
