Rihanna lends her name to hot sock brand Stance

Rihanna designs them, Jay Z sings about them and the rest of the world can’t seem to get enough of Stance socks.

The company’s comfortable, colorful and well-made take on humble hosiery is turning the sock into the next pocket square and becoming a pop-culture status symbol along the way. In just five years since the first Stance socks hit retail, they’ve earned a shout-out in Jay Z lyrics (“This ain’t gray sweatsuits and white tube socks / This is black leather pants and a pair of Stance”), attracted a constellation of celebrity investors (including Jay Z and Will Smith), brand ambassadors (including the bands Santigold and Haim), and now its first celebrity creative director in Rihanna, tapped to collaborate on a line of socks and help shape the fall 2015 advertising campaign.

At the same time that Stance’s fashion-brand approach of employing seasonal inspirations and designer collaborations has made the label a hit in the lifestyle arena, its line of performance socks for runners, golfers and the like has attracted the attention of the sporting crowd, leading to a deal with the National Basketball Association, which makes Stance the league’s official on-court sock starting this season.

This all started when Jeff Kearl, one of five founders, was itching for another project. He remembers walking the aisles of Target in San Clemente, and coming to the sock aisle. “It was literally black, white, gray and brown. The crazy argyle patterns were on the bottom rack and most of the socks were in these big value-packed plastic baggies.” Over the next few months, Kearl dove deep on socks, paying attention to how they were displayed and priced. He says he bought hundreds of pairs on his way to the realization that this was exactly the sleepy, overlooked, undervalued category that had serious potential.

Stance was officially founded by the end of 2009, and the socks are now sold in more than 40 countries and at major retailers, including Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s. Although the privately held company doesn’t disclose specific sales figures, Kearl and company say they sold 15 million pairs between the late 2010 launch and the end of 2014 and estimate they’ll sell more than 12 million pairs in 2015. Prices range from $10 for near-invisible socklets to $40 for premium pairs, with most in the $12 to $16 range.

The brand has a reputation for designs that are quirky, cheeky and fun. Some of the current best-sellers on the men’s side include patterns inspired by paisley bandannas, woven Baja hoodies and several versions of a bold Art Deco style called Gatsby (from basketball star Dwyane Wade’s signature series). Women’s best-sellers include trippy kaleidoscope prints, a pastiche of roses and polka dots in black and white, and several styles from the Rihanna X Stance collection, including dollar bill designs, B-movie motifs and knuckle-tattooed toe socks.

“The appeal is the quality,” says Caleb Lin of retailer American Rag. “The weave is tighter, it feels more comfortable around your foot, the fabric doesn’t wear through as quickly, the fabric doesn’t get all fuzzy and old after you wash them a couple of times.”