How we distribute the socks to the homeless

Behind the scenes with our distribution partners

Because we wanted to help the homeless community for which socks are the most requested clothing item, we decided to build a business on the mission of giving the homeless access to socks. In  order to do this, we have partnered with non-profits to better be able to distribute the donation socks.

Influence!

On our side, things are rather simple. At the end of each month, we asses the amount of socks we sold. This number determines the number of pairs we can donate to our distributions partners.

We split the volume of socks between our partners based on their needs for that month. Then we just pack and deliver them to our non-profit partners !

Our goal is to create a sustainable flow of socks so that non-profits do not need worry about whether or not they will be able to give socks each time they are asked by a homeless person (they get asked for sock a lot!). That way, they can focus that much more on their true mission: supporting the homeless.

What are partners have to say

Cathy, from our partner Pierre d’Angle.

“The help influence! brings us is amazing. We no longer need to run after donations nor do we need to worry about being able to satisfy, each month, all the requests for socks we get. We just need to receive them and dispatch them to our different centers based on demand. This really allows us to focus our energy on what we do best: help the homeless community.

As a social enterprise, influence! is also very involved in its approach to developing its business. It has a commercial approach that we sometimes lack.”

Laurent, from our partner l’ilot.

“Before, the donations of socks we received were irregular, and most of the time, the socks were not designed for walking. Some were already used, but we had to make it work because its still better than nothing. Since the beginning of our collaboration with influence!, things have changed. First of all, we get regular donations. Each month, we know socks will be delivered to our centers. Furthermore, the socks we get are of high quality and adapted to the needs of the homeless community. When you are walking many kilometers each day, quality is, indeed, very important. The socks provided by influence! are made from coton and are breathable. They are also strengthened  to avoid wear and tear and limit irritation. The feedback we have been getting from the ones benefiting from the socks has been very positive.

At influence! we are very proud to be able to help our partners, knowing that a pair of socks put a big smile on the face of those who receive them. We know the path is still long, and that the demand is far from being met. But we are confident that together, we can get there.