Mobile-Device Socks, or Mocks, from Down Under June 11, 2009 Made of stretchable fabric, they can store phones, iPods, jewelry, gift cards
By William Ng
Since portable electronic devices, small merchandise items like jewelry, and gift cards make up a significant share of corporate awards, LaRoo’s “mobile socks,” or Mocks, make the perfect companion piece for packaging such awards for employees. Made of a stretchable fabric, unstretched Mocks are perfectly sized to store gift cards and jewerly, but when stretched they cover and protect BlackBerrys, iPhones, digital cameras, and iPods and other MP3 players from bumps and scratching.
Mocks were created by Lara Solomon, CEO of Mosman, Australia-based LaRoo. “Mocks can be customized with corporate colors and patterns, and logos can be applied,” says Solomon, during a visit to Incentive’s New York editorial office. LaRoo can even customize the socks by imprinting digital photos on both sides. The company requires a minimum 2,000-quantity order for custom corporate Mocks.
Solomon says Mocks have proved to be popular in Australia and, more recently, in the U.K., since their launch about a half-year ago. Down Under, charity organization Redkite and sportswear and equipment maker Billabong have used them as internal promotional items. Some 70 house designs, though, are sold on www.mymocks.com and at the retail level.
In addition, entrepreneur Solomon created the Twister, a soft-rubber device, shaped almost like a contact-lens case, that covers earbud headphones and keeps cords untangled when not in use. LaRoo also can customize Twisters with corporate color and logo specs.
Mocks and Twisters follow upon Zippy Purses—another product Solomon developed when she started LaRoo in 2004. Since then, she has won the Australian Businesswomen’s Network’s New Business Award (in 2005). She has written a book chronicling her startup, called Brand New Day, the Highs and Lows of Starting a Small Business. “It’s about all the ups—and downs—I went through in creating LaRoo, in a diary format,” she says.
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