How did brothers Christian and Justin Arquilla become “ex-finance guys” in the sock business?
The co-founders of Pacas started their entrepreneurial trip back to 2013 – facing an all too common problem. “I was walking around New York in loafers, like boat shoes or whatever, all day,” Justin recalls, “and (my wife) was like, ‘Your feet smell horrible, your shoes smell horrible, you gotta start wearing them. little invisible socks.'”
Justin decided to get these no-show socks, but he wasn’t impressed with the options, most of which showed up or slipped off. Why not create a better product to fill the void? Justin called Christian to suggest starting his own no-show sock business, and he was all for it. The duo launched Gekksan invisible sock knitted with silver antimicrobial thread that slips into the shoe (instead of on the foot), in 2015.
After a few years and an increasing demand for women’s products, Gekks expanded its range by introducing a women’s invisible sock for ballerinas. The new design was a major success, notes Arquillas: in 2019, 90% of Gekks’ revenue came from its women’s products, with 45% coming from ballet flats alone.
Then March 2020 arrived. With pandemic lockdowns in effect and fewer professionals heading into the office, people had less incentive to try Gekks. The brothers had to find another way to generate income.
Fortunately, they had already begun experimenting with another promising sock: a sock made from alpaca fiber.
Image credit: Courtesy of Pacas
“It’s super soft and I’ve never felt anything like it before.” »
Several years earlier, Christian was visiting a hosiery factory in North Carolina for Gekks when he first discovered the fiber. “I went into the sales manager’s room,” Christian says, “and he had this cone of wool on his desk that I was smelling, and I was like, ‘What is that? It’s super soft, and I never felt anything. I like it before.’ And he said, ‘Oh, well, it’s alpaca.'”
The soft, warm alpaca made Christian think back to the time he visited his 9-year-old cousin in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and heard him talk about how cold and uncomfortable it was. the environment. “The light bulb went off,” Christian recalls. He decided to learn all about alpaca fiber in order to develop a high-quality, everyday product that could also help make children’s hospital stays a little more comfortable.
So, in 2017, the Arquillas began the product development process. The brothers purchased yarn samples – most of which came from the highlands of Peru, where alpaca coats have adapted to extreme daily temperature fluctuations – and tried on a range of sock designs: Everyday, hiking, low cut. The offerings were similar to many merino wool companies at the time, but with the benefits unique to alpaca, the brothers say.
Image credit: Courtesy of Pacas
“It’s like the Ferrari of fibers: it’s the most incredible fiber there is.”
“Everyone talks about merino wool as this performance fiber, (and) it is,” Justin says. “At the other end, you have cashmere, which is known for its softness and luxurious appeal. Alpaca is this fiber that literally has everything that merino wool and cashmere have, all in one. It’s so like the Ferrari of fiber – it’s the most incredible fiber there is.
During the pandemic, the co-founders wanted to explore a baby alpaca offering (which refers to the length of the coat, not the age of the animal), and their investors were supportive of the pivot. There were already proven examples of direct-to-consumer brands selling high-quality socks through charitable initiatives – like Bombas, Shark tankIt is most successful brand of all time. The brothers realized they could produce alpaca socks at a reasonable price and fill “a huge white space.” They therefore launched their Pacas brand under the aegis of Gekks.
At $52 for a pack of three, Pacas remain luxury socks, but their price is not as high as other products with this status, such as cashmere socks, which can cost $30 a pair, say Arquillas.
Image credit: Courtesy of Pacas
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The brothers’ pivot paid off. Pacas officially launched in October 2020 and generated around $400,000 in revenue in its first month. Then the five-star reviews flooded in and many of those October buyers became regular customers in November and December. The Arquillas and their investors knew it was time to separate the Pacas from the Gekks.
Pacas held its own funding round and generated over $45 million in revenue in just three years. The brand has sold 3.2 million pairs of socks and has more than 360,000 customers in the United States. give back: Pacas has partnerships with around twenty local children’s hospitals to provide children with alpaca socks during their stay.
These days, Pacas is the Arquillas’ main focus as they continue to ladder the company, but Gekks continues to generate $500,000 to $600,000 in annual revenue despite limited advertising efforts.
“As you scale, the problems get bigger and more complex.”
The consumer space has changed dramatically over the past two decades, with success no longer determined by building relationships with department store shoppers but by the work done on social media, direct to consumer chains and others. Now, anyone willing to put in the effort can become an entrepreneur — making the space more competitive, the co-founders say.
Image credit: Courtesy of Pacas
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The Arquilla brothers continue to stand out, along with Pacas, by taking a smart approach rotates and rising to face difficult challenges – again and again.
“There are no right answers,” says Justin, “and you really have to find solutions for yourself. And then it turns into a daily life (full of) problem solving. You think it’s going to get easier, but as you scale, the problems get bigger and more complex. It never ends. You wake up, solve the problems of the day, then you go to bed and start all over again. »