Medina-based EcoSox answers when Walmart calls - cleveland.com

MEDINA, Ohio -- Since acquiring the EcoSox brand in 2017, Medina-based husband-and-wife business partners Nathan and Leslie Cook have managed to place the company’s unique eco-friendly footwear on store shelves across the country.

Now, they have a chance to increase their footprint.

On Oct. 1, EcoSox was among more than 800 hopeful entrepreneurs from throughout the United States selected to pitch their products to one of the world’s largest retailers, as part of Walmart’s Open Call program.

“I didn’t expect to go in and sell a million dollars' worth of products,” Nathan Cook said of the Open Call experience, held in a virtual environment this year due to COVID-19 precautions.

“Walmart has 4,000 stores. I don’t even have the capacity to fill all those stores. But (the thought was) could we put them in 200 regional stores?”

Nathan said his role in the company falls more into the business planning realm, while Leslie’s IT background finds her more in charge of day-to-day operations. The company currently has five full-time workers and one part-time employee, as well as a warehouse facility in West Carrollton, Ohio.

EcoSox offers a wide range of products, from running and biking socks to eco-friendly hiking socks and socks for work or active sports use.

“Our key customers are factory workers, first responders, teachers -- those who are on their feet a lot,” Nathan Cook said. “Even our dress socks, (since) dress shoes are the most uncomfortable things ever made. Our customers tell us that they can wear a pair five days in a row.”

Another natural byproduct of the “bamboo-viscose” makeup of the socks, he added, is odor control.

Company founding and the future

The EcoSox brand was created in 2012 by Alabama-based BBS Hosiery as a high-end product manufactured from bamboo-viscose -- bamboo being one of the most sustainable resources on the planet and viscose yarn having natural properties that enable EcoSox products “to be comfortable, performance-oriented and eco-friendly,” according to the EcoSox website.

When the Cooks acquired the company in 2017, they continued the EcoSox commitment to reducing the environmental footprint of products and operations while offering quality products.

EcoSox soon partnered with the One Tree Planted, a non-profit dedicated to fighting global deforestation. EcoSox donates a portion of proceeds from every pair of EcoSox sold to plant a tree.

“You hear about ‘carbon neutral,’ but we are actually carbon negative -- even if it (the maturation of a tree) takes a while to see it,” Nathan Cook said. “And our products are entirely biodegradable.”

This was also one of the qualities that drew Walmart’s attention to the company when EcoSox applied to the Open Call program this summer, he said, as it dovetailed with the retailer’s own carbon-neutral efforts.

Unique opportunity

Walmart Senior Manager of Corporate Communications Charles Crowson said Open Call is part of the retail giant’s $250 billion commitment to investing in U.S. job creation, an initiative that kicked off in 2013.

“We are able to reach out to entrepreneurs and they are able to pitch their products to buyers in a quick, 30-minute session,” Crowson said of Open Call, which received more than 4,800 applicants this year.

The event, typically held at Walmart’s corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., also includes a variety of workshops for the product-pitching companies so that they can hone their presentation to exactly what the buyers want to know.

The number of companies that see their products placed on the shelves and online storefronts of Walmart, Sam’s Club, Walmart.com and Walmart Marketplace varies from year to year, Crowson said. A product’s route to those shelves can also vary greatly.

“If a company, for instance, has a product that is very specific to Arizona culture, buyers understand this and can (position the company) in stores in Arizona, New Mexico and California, perhaps,” he said.

And, of course, there also are straight-to-the-national-market success stories like Texas-based organic, gluten-free Meli’s Monster Cookies, and an engineer from Michigan whose reusable plastic zip-tie concept was discovered during an Open Call interview after being in development since 1983.

Where EcoSox goes from here

EcoSox products are already available online and at regional retailers including Dunham’s Sports; Texas-based H-E-B; Big 5 Sporting Goods, based in California with locations in several Western states; and closer to home at Fin Feather and Fur Outfitters, Cleveland Metroparks gift shops and Firestorm Gear in Medina.

So Nathan Cook was not exactly a novice at making the EcoSox pitch to a national buyer.

To that end, he said, he feels that EcoSox could ultimately be a fit for Walmart -- albeit with a bit more negotiation.

“The real reason is cost; my product may not be the best fit for a mass-produced Walmart shelf,” he said. "So I left it at ‘if you like the concept but the price is a concern, tell me what your price point is and we can develop a product with that in mind.’

“I feel pretty good about (the meeting). The head buyer asked a lot of questions. They say if they ask more than one question after your presentation, that is good. She asked us three or four and was confident enough to give me her email.”

Proving that patience is perhaps the most important virtue of any entrepreneur, he added with a chuckle: “But she probably heard 170 pitches that day, so I might wait a few weeks to follow up.”

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