
Show HN: I love weird socks and I'm finally launching my lifestyle business - wolfparade
http://www.sotmclub.com
======
samdk
Design feedback: Your 'buy now' and 'learn more' buttons on the homepage are
very hard to see. They need to stand out. Make them bigger and bolder, or
change the color (red would stand out much more and still fit into your
overall theme), or fade out the background slightly. Or, ideally, do more than
one of those things. You _really_ don't want those buttons to be hard to see.

Cost and details of what you get should be listed prominently on the signup
page. I see the cost on the homepage, but only after looking really hard. You
need details on what kinds of socks you're going to be sending out. Pictures
seem essential for something like this. (Don't make me go looking for them.
Make them bigger.) Your 'learn more' page desperately needs actual information
as well.

~~~
desigooner
How easy is it to cancel? Whats the quality of the socks like? Where are they
made? Where are large pictures that depict some sort of detail about the
socks?

None of this was evident in the minute I spent looking around the site and I
ended up closing it.

~~~
jrkelly
I didn't ask any of these questions, understood the larger concept, and signed
up. it sounds like you just don't like socks.

~~~
desigooner
I don't like socks? If it's sarcasm, I'm missing it. I've got socks that cost
3$ a pair through ones that cost 30-35$ a pair and quite a few of them all at
that. While you might choose to blindly dive in, I like to ascertain the
quality of the product that I'm getting.

And why spend 12$ a month on these when I can buy something from Happy Socks
or Richer Poorer socks for 12$ a pair from a multitude of patterns and designs
whenever I want to and be assured of good quality every time?!

------
blhack
__MAKE IT MORE OBVIOUS TO BUY THIS __

Put a gigantic button under that sock graphic that says:

"Sign up now for $11/mo"

I want to sign up for your service, but I almost closed the page thinking that
you hadn't launched yet. The only thing that kept me looking was the gallery.
Since it looks like you've been doing this, I /kept/ looking for the sign up
link.

You need ot change this immediately!

Also put a price on this thing!

~~~
sp332
I thought the large Buy Now button was not that hard to see :)

~~~
codeodor
To me it really blends in with the picture on the front page. It took me a
long time to find it.

------
taneem
This feels more like a blog than a quirky site that sells socks. You need a
couple of things fixed:

1\. Front page needs to be clearer about what you are offering. The socks
themselves are not directly described, the cost sort of shows up in the wall
of text below, and the call to action buttons are small. The option to
actually view the socks is hard to find at the top bar

2\. The sock gallery page needs a lot more work. I can't seem to click to
actually see more images. Why are the images themselves so completely boring?
Take some filtery pictures, take pictures of you wearing your socks, I don't
know, SOMETHING. You're only selling a small range, this really shouldn't be a
problem. Remove whatever php 2002 gallery code you're using and build
something more image friendly that's less about lists. We live in the age of
pinterest.

3\. When you fix your gallery, replace your front page with it.

4\. I think your actual product has a lot of potential, although I don't think
your socks are particularly quirky enough. For example I don't see what's so
special about the May pair (maybe because I can't click to actually look at it
in detail). I want a pair of socks that has Captain Picard and Darth Vader
having a fist fight.

~~~
rabidonrails
I disagree with most of this post and here's why: this site needs to connect
with the type of people that are looking for socks of the month. I'd assume
those people are more the whimsical type and that's exactly what this front
page is.

Still, I would agree that something cooler should happen when you click on a
particular sock -- maybe a funny video?

Keep it up, it looks great!

------
tseabrooks
I love this idea. I love the site. I hate that 3 minutes of searching didn't
reveal to me the price. I'm going back to search a bit more.

~~~
unwind
Huh? Front page, under the first headline, it's the second paragraph of text
on the landing page. $11/month.

~~~
tseabrooks
Oh wow. That's bad. It's in small font buried in a pargraph of text. The price
really needs to be in big letters somewhere. Clicking buy doesn't even point
out the price.

(Subscribe page has no price anywhere that I see :
<http://www.sotmclub.com/subscribe>)

------
aqme28
I absolutely love this and was about to sign up when I noticed that you don't
specify sizes.

I have large (size 15) feet. Are your socks going to fit me? You should
mention sizing or let people choose.

Also the blog isn't working.

~~~
freiheit
Have to agree with this. Fun socks for $11/month is cool, but only if there's
an option to get socks that fit my 14EEEE feet.

------
kareemsabri
Love the idea, as I too love and have many weird socks.

Feedback:

Obviously, as others mentioned the call to action is incredibly weak and I
also thought you may not have launched yet when looking for the Sign Up link.

Copy is hilarious on the front page.

Learn More actually gives you no new information, which is quite annoying.
That section needs more. Can I cancel anytime? Am I charged monthly or
annually? Maybe something about the socks, "we source top quality socks from
brands like X, Y, Z using whatever fancy cotton". Do you ship internationally?
I'm in Canada.

Your blog entries other than January don't exist, sloppy. How can I see the
brand of the sock in the gallery?

I will likely sign up when I get some more info. Best of luck.

------
Jun8
There was an article about this recently, rise of weird socks in the Valley,
hah found it: [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/fashion/in-silicon-
valley-...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/fashion/in-silicon-valley-socks-
make-the-tech-entrepreneur.html)

I think it would be good to put a link to this and similar news items on your
home page. Fashion trends are mostly stampedes, many people would buy your
socks if they know people from FB and Twitter are wearing them, i.e. it's a
new trend.

It has links to your competitors but I think the trend validation is worth it.

------
droithomme
This is a great idea.

Popup photos of socks need to be larger with more detail.

Consider annual subscription at $99 or less and see if that helps. 11*12=$132
is a lot for socks, especially since some of them are going to be duds.

Need more photos to jump start this than the first 4 months of selections so
one can more accurately judge your taste.

Consider a birthday or holiday bonus sock - annual subs get 13 socks.

Bug report: I see 5 blog titles listed but the urls to all but the first one
lead to a 'not found'.

~~~
tseabrooks
Not sure what their margins are. But I'd give them 99$ today to send my wife
13 pairs of socks. :-)

------
ageektrapped
Cool! Great socks that will get me laid. $11/month? Doable. I'm not in the US
(Canada, which is close but oh so far when shopping online), so I look all
over for an FAQ or Shipping policy. Can't find it. Now I won't get laid.
Bummer.

You're getting lots of feedback it seems and it's the early days yet. The
messaging is there, I think. People are motivated by two things: Will it get
me laid or get me paid? You've got that down.

Now it is just details.

------
revelation
Great idea. The gallery could use some work however. Hovering over an entry
creates all sorts of nervous animations that left me wondering if its just
broken for my browser. Then clicking an image centers the image at the very
same resolution, when I was hoping for something bigger.

Finally, the blog links seem to be entirely place holders.

~~~
DanielStraight
Same here. Having a click-to-enlarge option and serving the same picture is
bad design.

------
tomgallard
I love the humour in the copy 'Don't worry. Hike up your pant leg and show
some October sock. "Wow those are good looking socks" says the attractive
human being'

------
sbecker
I think it's an awesome idea, much like <http://www.dollarshaveclub.com/>. And
just like that site, you should A) make a funny video that will make people
laugh. I almost signed up to DSC because of that video and know friends who
did. And B) make a big ass button next to it with the price that leads you to
the subscription page.

It's almost there. The design is compelling and made me consider it and click
all over the site to see what else there was to see.

Also like DSC, consider adding a couple pricing tiers. A $1 a month?! I almost
can't say no and would just sign up for the hell of it. Maybe $1 a month just
gets you fresh pair of white socks. $11 gets you the amazing mustache socks.

------
jurre
Looks really cool. As other commenters pointed out I also couldn't find the
price and I think you might be missing part of your target audience when you
say:

You're at a party talking to an attractive member of the _opposite sex_.

~~~
mmcnickle
>>> You're at a party talking to an attractive member of the opposite sex.

You're at a party talking to a member of the attractive sex.

A small change to make. I feel a bit conflicted suggesting a change to be
inclusive of gays when the idea to do so was triggered by the stereotype in my
head "What about all the well-dressed gay guys?". Odd...

~~~
arb
> You're at a party talking to a member of the attractive sex.

For some, there can be more than one attractive sex.

------
tuhin
Hey, Really nice initiative. Some quick feedback.

\- I would really improve the quality of socks. Especially design wise. I
would have subscribed in an instant but then looked at the lineup and was
dissapointed.

\- Lifestyle business is as much about the experience as it is about the
product. Make me feel happy. Everlane is one of the best online experiences I
have seen. Especially since you have a simple proposition and only one product
to sell you can do a lot in the experience factor without making things
unusable.

\- Use better product photography

-I love the "How it Works" part

\- I think you are already doing but use your blog as the bandwagon for
raising awareness and interests in socks. Maybe even push content from other
sites about socks? Like this one?
[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/fashion/in-silicon-
valley-...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/fashion/in-silicon-valley-socks-
make-the-tech-entrepreneur.html)

Feel free to ping me @tuhin for more design related and experience feedback

------
okamiueru
Your website is pretty, but you you need to inform the user of three things.

1\. How to pay for the service. (I looked around the page for "buy" then I
looked at the source page for "buy", I didn't find it. It wasn't before I came
to the comments that I knew where to look).

2\. How much it costs. It should be bigger and easier to read.

3\. Details on the service. Monthly cost, one pair sent each month, only
available for US residents.

\---

I suggest making a short summary in the graphic that stands a bit out with a
summary of the service, as well as putting the "buy" or "subscribe" alongside
the home/now/view/read/write.

Also, if the rest of the world is excluded because of too high shipping-costs,
how about offering a collection? Say every half a year, for an additional
shipping. No reason to not take money from those willing to pay :)

------
frankdenbow
Congrats on launching! I also started a lifestyle business (Startup Threads
and the monthly part StartupThreadsMonthly) and my advice would be to think
deeply on how you will acquire users: thats the hard part. There are basic
changes to the site you should think of, many of them in this thread, but
finding people who care about this kind of thing should be the main thing you
should be concentrating on. Would love to trade thoughts on this if you need
some help in thinking about this frank at startupthreads dot com.

------
bmelton
Just showed this to my wife, a major sock whore, and while she LOVES the idea,
she complained that she can't use it because it doesn't spell out how you
intend to bill her and when.

Is it upfront for the year? Pro-rata? Subscription billing of $11 a month?
etc.

Aside from that, we both love the idea and the copy. I probably should echo
the other sentiments expressed here - call to action is hard to find, price
should be easier to find, etc.

Also, my wife just lamented that she can't go back and buy April's sock. Is
there anything she can do about that?

------
bambax
I don't wear weird socks but I would enjoy a surprise "gift" sent to me every
month. A weird gadget, a cool piece of art, something nice. I would gladly pay
for this.

"thesurpriseclub.com" is available...

~~~
cheez
How much would you pay? You'd need to pay close to $3-400 a year to get a
weird gadget or a piece of art. Plus shipping. It's a non-starter for most
people, unless you make it exclusively for the rich.

~~~
bambax
$30 per month is not "exclusively for the rich", is it? Not in the Western
world at least.)

~~~
cheez
No, but now it's in "I really gotta think about it" territory.

------
iharris
This is a great idea and your descriptions and illustrations are hilarious.

A couple things - on the subscription form you might need to provide some
details about what countries you can ship to (The "State", "Zipcode", and lack
of a "Country" input box implies that it's only for U.S. addresses but it
should be explicit).

I was also unclear on whether subscribers would be charged for shipping costs
(is it included? or extra? If it's in addition to the $11/mo, can you provide
rates?).

------
svolinsky
\- Like other commenters said -- make "Buy Now" and "Learn more" more
prominent on the homepage.

\- I'd also feature the price right there -- "We deliver a pair of socks once
a month for $11."

\- Feature pricing on "About" and "Subscribe" pages.

\- On Subscribe pages, where do I enter payment info? Why page doesn't have
SSL? (I assume payment info is submitted on the next page, but it is not clear
-- maybe change "Submit" to "Next: enter payment info")

\- I'd change "Write/Contact Us" at the top to "Buy Now".

Edit: formatting

------
masukomi
i have to agree with all the other comments about buy now buttons (get them
out of that image. Add some down by the text, make them FREAKING OBVIOUS ) and
making pricing more obvious.

Personally I like my socks to be white and come in bags with other socks,
which probably explains why I think spending $11 a month for a single pair of
socks is insane, but I'm obviously not the target market.

------
bhickey
Please don't artificially limit the e-mail addresses that you'll accept. My
address, before adding in a + tag is 27 characters.

------
sh1mmer
Quick bit of design feedback, in general I love the cute quirky illustrated
nature of the site. However examples like the "?" for the upcoming socks just
don't work. The thinness of the line just make it seem amateurish. When doing
this kind of style make sure you use a thick enough line so it feels like a
cartoon.

------
wittjeff
Where are the standard social buttons? You launched without a FB page?! When I
post a link to your page (copy/paste) to FB the two graphics that are
available for thumbnails are "learn more" and "buy now". Those thumbnail
graphics may be as useful in pulling in customers as the copy text, but are
wasted here.

------
kaiwetzel
I love the artwork :)

A way to sign up to get informed by e-mail when shipment outside the US
becomes available would be awesome.

------
mitchty
Looks cool, but too hard to find pricing.

And for anyone that loves odd socks, this is an awesome site (not affiliated,
i just love their sock selections and used them for years):
<http://www.sockdreams.com/_pages/index.php>

------
DannyPage
If you can get Robert Griffin III to endorse, you're set! His socks are very
weird and very awesome.

~~~
mikelbring
Ha you beat me to mentioning RG3

------
MicahWedemeyer
I'd recommend reaching out to (or just researching) <http://manpacks.com> and
see how they're doing. It seems like a similar business model and you may get
some insight on what does/doesn't work for them.

------
norova
30 characters or less for the email field? Why? :( My current work email
domain is lakeview-museum.org, with the @ that's 20 characters, leaving only
10 for someone's identifier. Luckily mine is only 5, but still, 30 seems way
too small.

------
Groxx
Toe socks any time soon? And, 2 pairs at a time? My wife loves wearing
mismatched crazy socks, and is hooked on Vibram Five Finger shoes. Myself, I
can't wear toe socks unless they have really-long toes (and almost none of
them do).

------
Aloisius
Most of the blog links are broken. I wanted to see where/what kind of socks
each was to check quality.

All I know is the first pair of socks were cashmere and had hand stitched
seems so I know at least you were serious about that one.

------
jeremyarussell
I'm signing up, I'm getting my friends to sign up. I haven't seen any
responses from wolfparade yet but I find it amazing how much constructive
criticism is coming out of this.

------
tundra
Do you only get one pair of socks? A months worth?

Edit: Just found it, I would make it more clear that it is one pair. I easily
overlooked the splash image, maybe make it stand out more.

------
tomgallard
I think there's a big opportunity here on the gift front too- everyone gets
socks from a relative at some point!

Let relatives buy subscriptions (the socky gift that keeps giving).

~~~
slouch
I had this thought, as well. Let me buy someone a year of SOTM as a gift.

------
will_work4tears
The footer blog links don't work, looks like they got deleted from the blog
itself (or were placeholders and thus never existed in the first place).

------
tedmiston
Can't find the price. But I love the artwork.

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rpwverheij
been scanning the site. looks cool, love the concept. I got slightly annoyed
that I couldn't find the price. Came back here, cntr+f price, ah seccond
paragraph... ah yes it's there... oh I now see it's also on the subscribe
page, yet I somehow still missed it .. I guess the colored images took my
attention!

------
hef19898
That's one cool idea! And I like the not so serious aproach. Thumbs Up!

unfortunately it's not working in europe... Or am i wrong?

------
floydprice
I'd love to see the socks right on the home page, with a better call to action
"Buy Now for just $x"...

------
swah
The socks are cool, I'm just not sure if the suggested pickup line "I'm in
this sock club" works.

------
ZanderEarth32
Ha good stuff. I just emailed this to a couple of friends of mine who love
interesting socks.

------
reilly3000
A more recent blog post wouldn't hurt. I bought. Make an affiliate program!!

------
cheez
Excellent idea, needs more info. Pictures, at the least!

------
chinmoy
How do I sign up? Where is the signup button?

------
petervandijck
This is AWESOME. I don't know why, but it is.

------
tnorthcutt
Blog links are broken in the footer.

------
chudi
the buy now learn more is really hard to read, thats why I also didnt find the
price

------
sparknlaunch
I can't disrespect those that go to the effort of setting up a business. So
congrats on the venture. There are a few variations of this business, so maybe
it works. However can someone explain if this business model is profitable?
Socks and underwear feel like the last thing I would subscribe to on a monthly
basis?

