The Paul Bryan- Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Ribbon Socks Connection
You may or may not know that Paul Bryan is a 3rd generation sock company. The “Paul” of Paul Bryan, Inc. derives from a long line of sock/hosiery manufacturers that go back almost 100 years. The 2ndgeneration company was approached in late 1990’s about a breast cancer awareness pink ribbon sock for a grocery chain. As most people do, there were some connection to breast cancer, so, it was a perfect fit. The question this became, what more can we do to help people dealing with breast cancer? That’s when the idea came to donate some of the profits from the breast cancer awareness pink ribbon sock to charity.
The first white breast cancer awareness pink ribbon quarter sock launched to a tremendous opening, as consumers really enjoyed the socks and came back to purchase more until the initial October Breast Cancer Awareness Month promotional goods sold out. Some of the profits were then donated to a breast cancer charity, that will go unnamed. It was later discovered that this charity had use the money for its own organization, instead of being giving back to breast cancer patients or breast cancer research. This did not sit very well with anyone, so, the scramble began to try and locate a new place to donate the profits from the breast cancer awareness pink ribbon socks.
A few months later, while attending a fundraiser, a conversation took place that shed some light on a great place to donate some of the profits from the breast cancer awareness pink ribbon socks. That place, Duke University Medical Center for Breast Cancer Research. Duke is one of the top breast cancer medical research facilities in the United States and was a great fit for the company to donate the profits from the breast cancer awareness pink ribbon socks, considering everyone knew exactly where the donation was going and what it would be used for.
The Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Ribbon sock line grew from one style of socks, into 12 styles of socks with 17 different designs and patterns. They are still so popular they sell more than 1,000,000 pairs of breast cancer awareness pink ribbon socks annually in supermarkets and drug stores across the United States, still to this day. More than $250,000 has been donated to Duke University Medical Center for Breast Cancer Research since the breast cancer awareness pink ribbon socks lines inception.
In 2019, Paul teamed up with Bryan to form a luxury socks company that would focus on higher end yarns and higher needle counts (similar to bed sheet thread counts). This meant that they could open up the breast cancer awareness pink ribbon socks to a whole new market and consumer base, the luxury sock market. The crafting then began on the initial launch styles for the breast cancer awareness pink ribbon sock line, which features 4 designs and 3 different high yarns, Merino Wool, Acrylic, Combed Cotton.
In keeping with tradition, Paul Bryan, Inc. will continue to donate money annually to Duke University Medical Center to help fund research and find a cure for breast cancer. There are also plans to donate socks to breast cancer patients receiving treatment. As Paul Bryan, Inc. grows, so will the breast cancer awareness pink ribbon sock line, along with the dollar donation and product donation. It’s a cause worth fighting for and Paul Bryan, Inc. will do their part.