Customized sock company owners hope name change reflects future product line expansion

From finding an old printer on Craigslist to using socks their friends already owned, Kyle Peterson and Zach Stensland have turned a high school venture into a full-time business.

Select Threads, formally known as OK Socks, is an online customized sock company specializing in small bulk orders for companies, teams and fundraising efforts.

Part of the inspiration behind their recent rebranding to Select Threads is the hope to expand into products other than socks.

Peterson said the most challenging part of running a business has been getting its name out, “especially that local presence.”

“There is a lot going on here,” he said, “So to grow our footprint would expand our business a lot.”

The Spokane natives graduated from Mt. Spokane High School, where they got the idea to start their business in a DECA class. The company originally started by taking Nike Elite socks their classmates already had and printing custom designs and logos on them – the cost being only what it took to complete the printing.

The duo started a website and Instagram account and things “kind of took off from there,” said Peterson, now 23. He said they started with a lot of single, small orders but over the years have taken on a bigger focus on teams, and “now we strictly create socks through wholesale.”

As the demand for the Nike Elite socks faded, Peterson said they stopped using the brand name and have maintained a competitive edge by keeping their minimum bulk-order size smaller than many other custom sock companies.

Peterson said Spokane has been a very supportive community to work in, including the support Select Threads has received from Startup Spokane, a coworking space for startups and small businesses.

“We wouldn’t be here without them,” he said. “They helped with this whole rebrand and looking at where we want to go. The amount of resources they give I can’t even put a dollar amount on.”

Another major aspect of their growing business is to give back to the community. So far, the best way to do that is by helping schools and other organizations with fundraising efforts. In the past, Peterson said, groups would collect order information on their own for fundraisers then place their bulk-stock order with the company.

But Select Threads has begun providing a service to team up with these groups to organize their fundraising efforts through the company website, he said. Now, the groups direct buyers to a specified link on the Select Threads website, where the order can be filled and the group still receives the profits.

Peterson said he and Stensland also hope to someday be able to grow their company enough to donate a certain percentage of their profits to a local nonprofit, such as the Teen and Kid Closet, a clothing store that provides new and gently used clothes to children in need who are referred to the store by individuals such as social workers or school counselors.

“Socks is one of the most under-donated items because people don’t think about it, and because used socks can’t be donated, it isn’t the easiest item to round up for a donation drop,” Peterson said.