Raising three and one half full-time children, one half weekend child a husband and myself, I have done tons and tons of wash. Included in those tons of wash were countless numbers of socks covering every color in the rainbow as well as stripes, checkers, little kittens, character puppies, you name it, I washed it. I believed that there was a conspiracy going on in my personal laundry room! Somehow, someway, someone was stealing socks. They never stole a pair, it was always one, and it was always one of a pair that couldn’t be re-matched with another. So, my poor kids would cry and sometimes even throw a temper tantrum if one of their favorite character socks were missing. In case you have never purchased character socks from the likes of Walmart, they don’t come in the package of ten for $6.99. Specialty or character socks generally cost $2.99 to $5.99 per pair. Ouch!!!

After much searching and discussing my plight with friends, family and random store shoppers, I came to realize that socks went to Heaven and nobody knew why they went, how they got there or how to retrieve them. I was stumped, dismayed, annoyed and mostly frustrated, four emotions I do not like to experience.

My mission was to find a way to STOP loosing the family’s socks! A great idea popped into my mind! I’ll pin them together, this way they won’t get lost and I won’t have to sort them. Wrong, bad idea! Not all of our children were old enough to use safety pins, so they couldn’t put them together with the pin nor open the pin to take them off. This became way more of a chore than I needed to add to my busy day. My husband suggested that we go to the hardware store and buy “O” rings. These are pliable rubber circles used in industrial settings. That sounded like a reasonable suggestion, so we tried that. Nobody in the household wanted to use them. The reaction of the kids varied from “I won’t put that black thing on my white socks” to “they’re ugly”. If the kids wouldn’t help by putting their socks in to the sock holder, then it just didn’t pay, it was still extra work. It was back to the drawing board!

It was my poor husband who suffered the most. He spent a lot of his morning dressing time in mourning for the socks that had gone to sock heaven. I basically resorted to buying him all of the same socks. If the socks were black they had a design with two ridges on them and if they were brown they had no ridges on them. Very rarely, if ever, did he get to wear beige, blue or grey socks. I was desperate!

I don’t think it was intentional, but somehow, during the course of conversation I found myself asking other women what they did to keep from loosing their socks in sock heaven. (By the way, everyone I asked, even people from the other side of the pond have and know about sock heaven.) The question always promoted an avid discussion about all the missing socks in the world and the question asked by all was always the same, “Where do they go?” I just don’t know!”

The logical thing to do became apparent to me. I had to brain storm, with my husband, to come up with a solution to this universal problem. I believe that, stimulating creative thinking in a spontaneous kind of discussion, generally leads to innovative ideas and solutions. It didn’t take long because we knew what the problem was, loosing socks to sock heaven, and we knew what the solution was, to formulate a gadget that everyone would use to keep their socks together in the wash.

Well, sitting down calmly with a purpose, with a pad and pencil in hand and a husband who seemed to roll his eyes at me in dismay that I was including him in this process was all I needed. The creative light bulb glowed brightly in my head, all of a sudden. I had to create a sock to keep socks together. It sounded cute, it looked doable, it resembled a toy so even the kids would want to use it for their socks and if I developed it properly with a reward for them for using the sock holder, then my job as chief cook and laundry person would be made easier, my time in the laundry room made shorter and second best reason for this sock shaped sock holder, NO MORE SORTING AND PAIRING SOCKS. I was on a roll. The question remaining was what would entice children, including small children (ages 4-5) to use a product that would help mommy? What do mommies and teachers use when we want to praise or reward our kids? STARS! They get stars on their homework, stars on progress reports, stars at home for good behavior and a job well done. My product, in essence, was designed. My sock holder would have a slot in the center shaped like a star! At that very moment I knew what to call my product, “Sock Slots”, never loose again with sock slots. Everyone will be a winner!

My belief in my product was immediate, but I had never designed, manufactured, packaged or marketed anything in my life.

I was going to finally develop Sock Slots. Over the years, I had even come up with a logo for my “undeveloped” product. I would design a Slot Machine with three socks on the center line. It would say “never lose again!” The lights would be red and appear to be flashing denoting WINNER. It was exciting, eye-catching, cute and funny.

I found a graphic designer, a manufacturer and obtained a Provisional Patent and trademarked “Sock Slots”.

Sock Slots are a great stocking stuffer for Christmas, wonderful bridal shower and baby gifts, novelty and business promotional items and an essential addition to your household laundry routine.

Thank you so much for taking to time to read my story of the Evolution of the Revolutionary Sock Slot. Just knowing that someone else can be excited about a product that can be used by everyone, in every country in the world, invented by a mother who works with frail seniors Monday-Friday as an Activities Director makes me smile and believe that if you have faith in your convictions and ideas, dreams do come true.

Click on the order form to get yours now!

Rachel M. Menton
The Chief Dizzy Dame