Compression socks with a doping effect: Founder and CEO of Stox talk about the road to success

Compression socks, whether used in sports, leisure or for medical purposes, aren't exactly considered a sexy accessory. Caspar Disselhoff agreed. So, almost 10 years ago, he founded Stox Energy Socks - the company making compression socks with medical technology fashionable.

Stox was born in 2015, and already started out with a medical background. Disselhoff's research revealed a high demand for compression socks, particularly among athletes, travellers, and people with standing professions. But a sock that truly delivered on its intended purpose? That was still missing. Disselhoff’s father, a seasoned vascular surgeon, is an expert on blood circulation. And that's precisely what a compression sock is all about: it improves blood circulation, promoting faster recovery and increased energy. The two joined forces, evolving the rather frumpy support stocking with graduated compression and transforming it into a (sports) fashion item with a seemingly performance-enhancing effect.

Stox launched online with its own webshop and quickly experienced rapid growth. The company then expanded further through wholesale. Currently, 50 percent of its turnover is generated in the Netherlands, with the remainder coming from abroad. The company now aims to further its international expansion. FashionUnited spoke virtually with Disselhoff and Stijn Nuijten, Stox’s CEO.

Stox started from a medical perspective. There are quite a few compression socks on the market. What makes Stox’ compression socks unique?

Disselhoff: The use of graduated compression. It's a special technique that has been around for a while, but is relatively underutilised. There are only a few machines capable of this technique. In addition, we only work with the highest quality materials. For example, we use Dryarn fabric for compression socks used in sports and running. This material wicks away moisture effectively while remaining comfortable and soft. This keeps feet as dry as possible. This is not only hygienically beneficial, but the material is also super stretchy, allowing it to move easily with the body. For everyday travel, we have a merino wool sock. This variant breathes well and adapts to changes in altitude. Merino wool is also essential for skiing and hiking.

We consider the specific requirements of each activity when designing our socks. It's crucial that a sock moves with the body and provides the right support. To give compression socks a more fashionable image, we pay close attention to design. Compression socks aren't inherently sexy, but we’re trying to change that, and I think we've been reasonably successful.

The graduated compression, the high-quality materials, and the modern signature make the socks unique.

Where does Stox stand now?

Nuijten: We experienced our most significant growth during the Covid-19 pandemic. Shops closed, people started running en masse, and invested in themselves. This led to explosive growth in 2020 and 2021. Two years later, in 2023, growth stabilised. We expect to close 2024 with growth of between 35 and 40 percent in terms of both turnover and profit.

The Netherlands remains an important market. We've also become a major player in Belgium. We're still growing rapidly there, as well as in Germany. In terms of volume, the German market is about the same size as Belgium, but we expect it to grow further. We also have a presence in Austria and are just starting up in the UK and France. We sell some products here and there in the US, but our main focus is on the Netherlands and surrounding countries.

Stox has a D2C strategy but wants to expand further through retailers. Is that correct?

Nuijten: Exactly. More than 90 percent of our turnover was generated through our own webshop. For the past two years, we've been investing heavily in expanding our wholesale footprint and increasing brand awareness. For instance, we've just partnered with Bever (the Netherlands) and Veritas (Belgium). Several specialist running and ski shops are now also selling our products.

We're noticing, particularly in Germany and France, that if you have an online presence, you also need an offline presence to become a major player. Consumers want to be able to touch and feel the product. It builds trust. In that sense, online and offline reinforce each other, but we only want to collaborate with the best specialist retailers. We're talking about hosiery shops or sports shops. That applies to all markets.

Who is your target audience?

Disselhoff: Initially, it was people between 35 and 65 years old. It's a relatively expensive product, and this was simply the age group where the products sold best.

Nuijten: Now we're seeing that people between 25 and 35 are increasingly wearing our products. We've grown enormously in that age group. That's mainly due to our marketing. For example, we engage brand ambassadors and collaborate with influencers. They demonstrate, for instance, what kind of material you need for running.

This works incredibly well for generating viral content. We're becoming increasingly adept at targeting our audience on social media. The trick is to get people talking about your product without you having to say a word. Once you’ve achieved that, you’ve struck gold.

What successes has Stox achieved in recent years?

Nuijten: We've become profitable, and we're transforming into an international company. In addition, over the past two years, we've launched new products, including sports leggings, which have been very well received. We haven't launched anything that hasn't performed well at the product level.

Disselhoff: We haven't lost our focus. We're a compression brand at heart, and we're sticking to that. We're not expanding into all sorts of other products, as there's a high chance that it will become confusing and we'll lose focus.

Nuijten: We try to stay as close to our core as possible, and that has led to the successes we're now achieving.

What challenges does Stox face?

Nuijten: Although our marketing strategy is very strong, we've also made some mistakes in recent years. That was down to our marketing investment. It's difficult to determine where to spend your money to invest as efficiently as possible.

We're also working hard on brand awareness in Germany and France, but we're finding that each country is more different than we anticipated. It takes much longer to secure a new retailer. The fact that retail is struggling plays a role. When you enter a new market with a new brand, retailers often say, 'We love the product, but we're not going to order just yet.’

How is Stox addressing these challenges?

Nuijten: We're going to work with local people. We are Dutch through and through. We simply don't know exactly how other markets work. We recently hired German staff who will focus on Germany. They have a better understanding of the German market. In the future, we'll also hire people for other target markets.

Stox is transforming into an international company. How is that affecting business operations?

Nuijten: At this stage, it's important to be clear about the strategy and focus. We also need to revise our financial structure. We're currently a functionally oriented organisation, but we need to become more of a ‘country-based organisation’. That will involve reporting, collaboration, and dashboarding - all of this needs to be done on a per-country basis. So, you'll have more ‘countries’ operating alongside each other rather than everything being integrated.

Can you share some information about the company's turnover and profit development?

Nuijten: We don't disclose specific figures, but we can say that we have over 650,000 customers who wear Stox. We also have a very high number of repeat customers.

What growth targets are you aiming for?

Nuijten: We want to grow by between 35 and 40 percent this year. We want to maintain the same trajectory next year.

What else is Stox working on, besides international expansion? Is there any news we should be aware of?

Nuijten: We want to expand our product range. We’ve experienced significant growth in the hiking sock category. We want to build on that. We’re also looking at cycling socks. These were considered performance-enhancing by the cycling federation due to the height of the sock. So, we need to come up with something different, but this segment definitely offers a lot of potential.

Disselhoff: Customer feedback indicates there’s also a high demand for low-rise leggings and shorter socks. Currently, everything has a high fit, so we’re currently exploring the possibilities of launching products with lower fits.

What other objectives are on the agenda?

Nuijten: Sustainability is high on the agenda. We’re working towards B Corp certification and recently completed our initial assessment. We’re well on our way. Stox works with manufacturers who are very committed to sustainability; they treat their employees well and, for example, they convert the heat they generate into energy they can use to wash the socks. In short, our manufacturers share the same goal as us: to become more sustainable, so it’s a very good partnership.

Furthermore, we want to be roughly three times our current size in three years’ time. I think we'll then be a serious player in Germany, France, Austria, and the UK. We're also keeping a close eye on Scandinavia – they do a lot of outdoor sports there. In other words, Stox is well-suited to the Nordic countries. I will say, however, that we're taking things one step at a time. We want to build a strong brand for the long term.

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.NL. It was translated to English using an AI tool called Genesis and edited by Rachel Douglass..

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