DEAL: If you’re looking for custom socks for your company, event, or sports team, go to hippyfeet.com, fill out the custom inquiry form, and mention the LABEL KING podcast. Michael will give you 15% OFF your first custom order! www.hippyfeet.com
🎙️ From a Traumatic Brain Injury to a Brand That Changes Lives: The Hippy Feet Story with Michael Mader
I am SO fired up for this episode. This is why I do this podcast.
I’m talking to Michael Mader, the founder of Hippy Feet. I first connected with Michael when I needed custom socks for the Label King grand opening, and his team absolutely crushed it. He, the founder, jumped on a call with me personally to make it happen.
But the story behind why this company exists... man, it’s on another level.
This isn’t just some slick marketing. Michael’s “why” is 100% real. We get into the whole thing, from his life-changing accident to the sourcing struggles of finding American-made manufacturers, and why a “buy one, give one” model wasn’t enough.
Find the Brand:
Website: hippyfeet.com
The Custom Sock Form: hippyfeet.com/pages/custom-socks-and-knitwear
💥 The “Why”: A Support System in Sock Form
This is the core of the whole conversation. This is not a brand built to just sell socks; it’s a brand built to be the support system that so many people lack.
The Accident: During his senior year of college, Michael suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) after a skateboarding accident. He fractured his orbital bone and his skull, leaving him bedridden for a month.
The Support System: His friends and family rallied. They paid his rent, bought his groceries, and literally got him back on his feet.
The “Aha!” Moment: Michael realized that without that support system, homelessness would have been his “most likely outcome”. He felt this was incredibly unfair and wanted to build a business that could act as that support system for others.
📈 The Mission & The Pivot (This is so smart)
I love this part. Michael didn’t just stick with an easy, marketable mission. He listened and adapted to make a real-world difference.
Phase 1 (2016): The company launched with a “buy one, give one” sock donation model, similar to Toms or Bombas.
The Problem: While doing street outreach, Michael realized he was giving socks to the same people every week. He was treating a symptom, not the underlying cause. As he says, “You can give somebody... millions of pairs of socks, and unfortunately, they are not going to be able to use that as a tool to get out of homelessness.”
Phase 2 (2018): They pivoted to an employment program. They hired homeless youth (ages 16-24) to run their entire warehouse—fulfillment, packaging, screen printing, embroidery, all of it.
Phase 3 (2022): They analyzed the program and found that less than 7% of the youth were finding self-sufficiency. Why? Because they were bouncing between 5-6 different nonprofits to get all their needs met (a job here, housing there, mental health counseling somewhere else).
The Current Mission: Today, Hippy Feet donates 50% of its profits to “one-stop-shop” charities that provide all those services—housing, healthcare, education, and employment—under one roof.
The Impact: They’ve generated over $200,000 in total impact (through wages and donations) since 2016. Let’s go!
📦 The Product & Packaging Angle
We get into the fact that you can have the greatest mission in the world, but if your product sucks, you’re not going to be in business long.
“Buy Once, Cry Once”: Michael lives by this. He’s passionate about making high-quality products that are meant to last, not cheap junk that ends up in a landfill.
Real Sustainability: It’s not just about the process; it’s about the lifespan. A product that falls apart in a year isn’t sustainable, no matter what it’s made of.
American-Made Sourcing: This was a non-negotiable. Michael tells a wild story about trying to find a US manufacturer. The industry is built for massive accounts (think Walmart or the US Military) that don’t want to stop production for a college kid with a startup.
The Banging-on-the-Door Strategy: After getting hung up on 30+ times, he bought a plane ticket, flew to North Carolina, showed up at a mill, and basically said, “I am not leaving until you make my socks.” And it worked. That’s passion.
🔥 DON’T MISS THIS!
Michael is incredibly stoked about their new line of 100% ultrafine Merino wool sweaters sourced from Italy, dropping in November. He’s also (rightfully) obsessed with his Merino wool hiking socks.
And he gave us a deal. This is unreal.
DEAL: If you’re looking for custom socks for your company, event, or sports team, go to hippyfeet.com, fill out the custom inquiry form, and mention the LABEL KING podcast. Michael will give you 15% OFF your first custom order!
Seriously, go support this brand. This is what it’s all about.
