Bare Kind - How Socks Became a Force for Good

The Story of a Brand

Ramon Vela

Business, Entrepreneurship

5 • 145 Ratings

🗓️ 11 July 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, I sit down with Andrew Kemp, the passionate owner of Bare Kind, a brand of bamboo socks that’s on a mission to save endangered animals one step at a time.

What began with a desire to create a feel-good product has grown into a purpose-driven business that partners with over 30 animal charities, donates 10% of profits, and makes every sock design count.

What I love about this conversation is how grounded Andrew is in the belief that consumer products can—and should—do good. We talk about sustainability, giving back, building a business in the UK and beyond, and why even something as simple as socks can become a platform for impact and joy. If you’re building a brand or just want to shop more consciously, this one’s for you.

Here are a few highlights from our conversation:

* How animal welfare and e-commerce collided to spark Bare Kind

* The surprising power of giving 10% to charity and doing it transparently

* Why bamboo is better for people, the planet, and your feet

* How Bare Kind designs socks that start conversations and build community

* Lessons on scaling a mission-driven brand without losing its soul

Join me, Ramon Vela, in listening to the episode and discover how a pair of socks can help save the planet—one animal and one customer at a time. Whether you’re an animal lover, sustainability enthusiast, or brand builder, Andrew’s story will leave you inspired.

For more on Bare Kind, visit: https://barekind.com/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	But when you're making hundreds of thousands of socks a year, five cents is a lot of money.
0:05.2	But, you know, that difference between of an extra five cents on each individual sock is a world apart.
0:10.9	And it boggles my mind to this day that people don't choose the best socks.
0:16.5	So we knit our socks on a 168 needle or a 200 needle machine.
0:22.3	But private equity got in there and they saw that and they thought, why do we need 168
0:26.6	needles?
0:26.9	Why do we need 200 needles?
0:28.3	And the sock technician responds politely, well, this is the best quality sock.
0:32.8	This is what's going to last the longest.
0:34.6	But then private equity sees it and they go, well, all I see is that
0:37.5	we could do, could we do the same thing at 144 needles and save 10% 20%. And that's what they do. And they
0:44.4	go in and they strip the cost out and then you get these socks that are terrible. They feel awful and
0:49.9	you know, that don't last anywhere in the air as long, which might be good because then people
0:53.9	just think you need to buy more socks, which isn't what you want to do to kind of save the planet.
0:59.7	It's best to buy great socks that last for a long time.
1:02.9	So that's kind of how we design them. Hey everyone. This is Ramon Vela. And this is another episode of the story of a brand. Like always, we have an amazing guest in brand that we're going to feature on today's show. But before we do, scaling an e-com brand is brutal, especially when you're doing it alone.
1:33.2	While you're stuck figuring out your next move, other brands are sharing what works and hitting
1:38.2	milestones.
1:40.1	Workspace 6 is a private community where over 950 of 7, 8, and 9 figure brand operators
1:48.5	trade insights, solve problems, and shortcut growth. It's the anti-fluff operators room, and for your
1:57.2	first 30 days, it's just $1. That's it. Join the dark courses of ecom at
2:04.4	workspace6.io, get real answers, and skip the trial and error. Welcome back, everyone. This is
	...

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