Keeping Warm Feet & Light Hearts

Brothers and cofounders, Vahan and Vahagn Hovhannisyan, both left the world of finance to launch their luxury sock company, Look Mate. The brand releases new sock designs each month by collaborating with different people every month. Having seen the fun designs at London Fashion Week Men’s back in January I caught up with Vahan to learn more about why he’d rather pull on a pair of new socks than crunch numbers. And a special thank you to Zheng Sun Photography for the awesome photos! 

What was your earliest entrepreneurial adventure and what did you learn from it?

I think the earliest was when I was a student in Armenia studying to become an engineer. I came back from a summer job in 2001 the US and started an online marketplace where you could sell your car, or have flowers delivered. One of the things I learned was to pick a cofounder wisely. My cofounder who was a friend of mine, was great at coding but was more focused on his personal career as a developer so we ended up selling the business. After this I moved to the UK. 

The Hey Flake in navy with white, bright blue, maroon, and red spots.

So you didn’t always work with your brother?

We first started working together in Armenia. I remember getting an email from my brother saying that he was quitting his job as an accountant so I said okay, we'll start something together. We started a hairdressing salon for kids. In our salons we have a huge wall to wall fish tank; the kids sit in toy cars; there are lots of distractions for them. In the first month we literally had ten customers. People were saying we should quit but we held on and things improved. When I was ready to quit my own job as an accountant we decided to open a second location. Today we have three hairdressing salons in Armenia and we're the leader in the market for kids haircuts. We had about 20,000 clients last year.

Did your experience with your brother inspire you to find other ways to work together?

Look Mate started because we really wanted to do something we were both passionate about. Fashion is moving so fast and we're very against that. Sustainability is important, the materials are important, and especially the time spent on the collaboration. If there is a great design why not continue making it? Sometimes when you don't know the rules it's easier to break them.

With your monthly subscription model I imagine it’s easier to continue offering a product because it’s not tied to a season. 

Absolutely. We don't follow trends. We get inspired by people. Be it an architect, designer, or illustrator, it doesn't matter. Next we're hoping to work with a Michelin Star Chef on a sock design and maybe we’ll include a recipe inside the box. I think cooking is a very creative process. Especially here in London there are so many trendy restaurants and the desserts are like a piece of art.

I read that you and your brother have these two lists: "We fucking did it!" and "We fucking failed it."

My belief is that small things are big things. One of those small things that made me really happy, and Vahagn as well, was our first subscription customer. I wanted to hold onto that because it's a small achievement. However sometimes the “cake will not rise.” So we have our second list with examples of our mistakes. For example, I remember ordering the first 2,000 gift boxes for our packaging, which we wanted to be letterbox friendly. The post office classifies 2.5cm as a large letter, and above that it's small parcel. The price comparison is £1 if it's classified as a large letter, and to £3.50 if it's classified as small parcel. So in our first month of business we took our packaged products to the post office only to learn that our boxes wouldn't fit through the 2.5cm letterbox. We call this our 1mm mistake. We had to reduce the size the boxes by 1mm. When we make a mistake we put it on the list and we read it over again to make sure that we don't repeat it.

How often do you review these lists?

We hold weekly meetings, which last 1-2 hours, and we have daily 10-15 minute meeting in the morning to catch up on all we need to do. During our long meeting we go to the lists and add to them.

What is the biggest marketing challenge that you as an emerging brand faces?

One thing I've noticed is that one Instagram post or one tweet can sell socks. But you need to be careful with this because there's a danger. If there's no synergy between your brand values and the digital influencer it can take your brand in a different direction. As an emerging brand I'm sort of a control freak when it comes to our brand. Another challenge is that big brands have big budgets, and the only way to compete is by creating original content. 

What do you wish more people knew about Look Mate?

We're not following trends; we don't present seasonal collections; we just calibrate with inspiring people and we put our hearts into it. We're not just another sock brand as we have no control whatsoever over our collaborations. That excitement from not knowing what design the collaborator will produce makes us tick.

I find it interesting that you don’t have an in-house designer. 

I'm still holding off holding off on an in-house designer because there are so many other collaborations I’d like to explore. Like someone who's been in space.

The Tiger Socks in black with green, yellow, and pink accents. Look Mate donates 20% of proceeds to help support the WWF's Tiger Conservation goal of doubling the population of wild tigers by 2022.

If you could collaborate with someone from the past who would that be?

I have always liked imagining myself in the same studio as Picasso when he's creating a painting. I think we could come up with an iconic design that will live forever. Or maybe someone very clever like Einstein. You know these guys are not just creatives but geniuses. It would be interesting to put socks in front of them and see what they would come up with.

Have you designed your own socks?

No. Maybe one day just for fun; like for our anniversary or something.

When you need to focus where do you go to do your best work?

The best time for me to focus is the morning. I'm a morning person so I wake up between 5:30 and 6:00. I like to work for two hours before coming to the office; usually from a coffee shop. So these two hours are the time when I'm totally focused. I can put my music on, I don't do emails, I just think about work from a bird's eye view. Another time I'm very focused is after my run. It's really important to take time to focus because sometimes we just get carried away.

How do you prioritize your thoughts during those two hours?

I do a small mind map and that tells me where I am. I have also a focus mind map with long term goals. These maps help guide my thoughts. During my morning I don't react to new ideas, I just write them down so I can keep thinking. Afterwards I'll jump to my day to day list.

Do you give yourself rewards when you achieve certain goals?

Yes, I think that's very important. 

What was your last reward?

I don't usually buy myself things as a reward but I went and bought a quite expensive cover for my passport. I had been waiting for that passport for 10 years!

As a last question, how do you balance work and personal life?

I think when you do what you like to do – when you're chopping your own wood – there's no need for balance. I still personally like to shake every single hand. If I need to write an email at 3:00am I'll do that if it makes a customer happy. So maybe the best balance is no balance? Warriors just disappear when you really like what you do!

Many thanks to Vahan for his time. I wish you continued success! Additional info about Look Mate may be found on their website and on their Instagram.