Father-son business shatters stereotypes

Like most people, John Cronin wondered what he would do after graduation from secondary school. He approached his father, Mark Cronin, about going into business together. Mark has a history of helping niche business start-ups and was delighted to entertain John's ideas. He made it clear that the passion for the business product or service had to come from John; he would provide the business know-how.

John's first idea was a food truck. This was scrapped quickly, as neither of them can cook. John's second idea was a 'fun store,' and Mark encouraged John to define what product he thought would be fun to sell and fun for people to buy. That's when John hit on the idea: we should sell socks.

John loves socks, the crazier the better. He has a long history of wearing holiday socks, character socks, socks with sports images, etc. Mark agreed to the business idea and John's Crazy Socks was born.

The business launched locally on Long Island in December 2016, with John delivering orders in person. That same month, their fledgling online store shipped over 400 pairs of socks.

Their company's mission, spreading happiness through socks, extends further. They donate 5% of their profits to Special Olympics. They have also partnered with Down Syndrome Awareness, Autism Speaks, and William Syndrome Awareness to donate a portion of the sales of socks with each organization's special designs.

Over a year later, John's Crazy Socks offers over 1200 styles and sizes of socks, each of which come shipped with a handwritten thank you note and some candy. To date, the company profits are over one million dollars.

In writing this post, I did not mention something you might think important. John has Down Syndrome.