'Sock Rocket:' Trump's mispronunciation leads to sales boost for Calgary company
Family business tweeted at the U.S president encouraging him to buy their socks
A verbal slip by the U.S. president is paying big rewards for a Calgary sock company and the city's less fortunate.
Earlier this week, Donald Trump stumbled on the words "stock market" and Twitter users said it sounded like "sock rocket."
The only good thing <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> did was bring my attention to you guys. I need new socks and want to support a good cause... I’m not going to vote for him though.
—@HopeMoskalThe mispronunciation resulted in the hashtag "SockRocket" going viral. Soon, users realized it was actually the name of a Calgary-based sock company.
Tommy Zizian, the company's co-founder, says the hashtag existed before Donald Trump said it; however, it was not nearly as popular as it is now.
"I think we've probably had more publicity in the last day than we've had in the three years that we have been doing business," he said.
What’s a sock rocket? <a href="https://t.co/q8enw9uPgP">pic.twitter.com/q8enw9uPgP</a>
—@shannonrwattsThe free publicity has also generated new customers for the family-run company.
"We made sure we were able to ship out orders to the States because we were making a bunch of sales overnight," said Zizian. "It's been a very unique 24 hours here."
The company also works with local charities, and Zizian says for every pair they sell, three pairs of socks are donated.
"I mean, ultimately, the real winner is is going to be the agencies and initiatives that are going to benefit from donations. We're making a bunch of sales that we weren't going to make had this not happened."
We’ve been getting a lot of questions like this, and we don’t blame you for asking. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SockRocket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SockRocket</a> is a Canadian social enterprise. We design and sell awesome socks, and we donate three pairs for every pair we sell. We are not affiliated with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/theDonald?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#theDonald</a>. <a href="https://t.co/BCo2TFi9lq">https://t.co/BCo2TFi9lq</a>
—@TheSockRocket