FSU student startup combines chic socks with charity
Florida State University’s Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship recently held its annual InNOLEvation Challenge where student run businesses competed against one another in a Shark Tank style arena for a $5,000 first place prize. After six months of dedicated research, analysis, and evaluation of their businesses’ progression, the seven finalists pitched their business models to a panel of entrepreneurs. DivvyUp, a retail sock company that sells fashionable and vibrant socks to college students, business professionals, and fashion aficionados, was selected as the winner of the 2015 InNOLEvation Challenge.
Florida State University’s Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship recently held its annual InNOLEvation Challenge where student run businesses competed against one another in a Shark Tank style arena for a $5,000 first place prize. After six months of dedicated research, analysis, and evaluation of their businesses’ progression, the seven finalists pitched their business models to a panel of entrepreneurs. DivvyUp, a retail sock company that sells fashionable and vibrant socks to college students, business professionals, and fashion aficionados, was selected as the winner of the 2015 InNOLEvation Challenge.
A year before DivvyUp would win the largest student business competition at Florida State University (Cybernole's coverage of the InNOLEvation challenge can be found here), Jason McIntosh and Mitch Nelson were assigned to start a business in their sophomore entrepreneurship class.
DivvyUp: “We didn’t want to start a traditional business, we wanted to do something that gave back to the community. Not knowing what was needed, we decided to take a trip down to the local homeless shelter in Tallahassee, Florida to ask how we could help. They immediately expressed a huge need for clean socks. In order to give on a sustainable basis, we decided to capitalize on the trend of fun, vibrant socks worn on campus. Our professor provided us with a small loan to purchase designer socks with the mission to give a pair back to the shelter for every pair sold.”
DivvyUp: “We didn’t want to start a traditional business, we wanted to do something that gave back to the community. Not knowing what was needed, we decided to take a trip down to the local homeless shelter in Tallahassee, Florida to ask how we could help. They immediately expressed a huge need for clean socks. In order to give on a sustainable basis, we decided to capitalize on the trend of fun, vibrant socks worn on campus. Our professor provided us with a small loan to purchase designer socks with the mission to give a pair back to the shelter for every pair sold.”
Through DivvyUp’s one-for-one business model, a pair of clean, fresh socks is given to a person in need with each pair of designer socks sold. Socks are an undervalued component to a person’s quality of life, as they are important for proper hygiene, disease prevention, providing warmth and comfort throughout the day. Ultimately, clean socks can serve as a morale boost to somebody who has nothing other than the clothes on their back.
DU: “To ensure that the socks get distributed accordingly, we have partnered with the Tallahassee Shelter (North Florida), Metropolitan Ministries (Central Florida), and Homeless Partnership Inc. (South Florida). They have the collective capacity to distribute 3,000 socks per month and in the upcoming year, we plan to fulfill those needs. Right now, we are excited about creating amazing socks, but our vision is to expand our one-for-one model to enable the community to give more items to those in need. Moving forward, we plan on launching proprietary DivvyUp sock designs and expanding our giving partners. We are fortunate to be able to make an impact in our community while building a brand that we believe in. Our focus is to help as many people as we can in order to make this world a little bit brighter.”
In the past year, DivvyUp has expanded and evolved from a simple class project into a self-sustainable, socially conscious enterprise with a mission to better the community. DivvyUp’s unique and stylistic socks have swept through Florida State’s campus over the past year and there’s no sign of them slowing down. Every Wednesday, you can see DivvyUp’s tent crowded with people purchasing socks and listening to their story.
DU: “To ensure that the socks get distributed accordingly, we have partnered with the Tallahassee Shelter (North Florida), Metropolitan Ministries (Central Florida), and Homeless Partnership Inc. (South Florida). They have the collective capacity to distribute 3,000 socks per month and in the upcoming year, we plan to fulfill those needs. Right now, we are excited about creating amazing socks, but our vision is to expand our one-for-one model to enable the community to give more items to those in need. Moving forward, we plan on launching proprietary DivvyUp sock designs and expanding our giving partners. We are fortunate to be able to make an impact in our community while building a brand that we believe in. Our focus is to help as many people as we can in order to make this world a little bit brighter.”
In the past year, DivvyUp has expanded and evolved from a simple class project into a self-sustainable, socially conscious enterprise with a mission to better the community. DivvyUp’s unique and stylistic socks have swept through Florida State’s campus over the past year and there’s no sign of them slowing down. Every Wednesday, you can see DivvyUp’s tent crowded with people purchasing socks and listening to their story.
After the conclusion of the InNOLEvation challenge, there was an awards reception to commemorate the achievements and success of all of the finalists. Instead of attending the reception to celebrate winning the InNOLEvation Challenge, DivvyUp founders Jason and Mitch drove back to where it all started, to give socks to The Shelter. “Divvy” means to divide and share, and the name is fitting for a company that is focused on using their resources to help those who are less fortunate. It’s refreshing to see a local business that isn’t focused solely on profits and margins, but rather a brand that believes in the idea of sparking a change in the world… one sock at a time.
To learn more about DivvyUp and check out there line of socks, check out their website.
-Matthew Kenny, Contributing Writer
To learn more about DivvyUp and check out there line of socks, check out their website.
-Matthew Kenny, Contributing Writer