I had the great pleasure of speaking with Tom Minter, Founder of Socks For Happy People. Having spent just over half an hour with Tom, it was evident that this is a business that has the potential to effect positive transformation on a global scale.

Their motto is "Buy Socks - Give Love - Be Happy". Read the interview below and discover for yourself how buying socks will bring joy and happiness to the world.

Let's talk about your role as Founding Chief and how Socks For Happy People started.

It started because I love socks and it's hard to find really cool and funky socks. The sock consciousness of the world is fairly low right now. Most people buy a pack of ten black socks. I thought, "If I can't find socks that I really enjoy to wear, then I'll just make some instead".

Have you always had a passion for socks?

No, not always; it started when a friend bought me a great pair of socks for Christmas and it gave me the opportunity to express myself. Socks is a good business as any other and when you go into business, I'm a firm believer that you do something you're passionate about. I'm certainly passionate about socks!

Socks clearly make you very happy..!?

Even the nicest socks in the world can't make you happy because genuine happiness comes from within. But they can certainly put a smile on your face, uplift and inspire you.

It seems like you have a great team at Socks For Happy People. How did you come together?

We've got such a high calibre phenomenal team. We've attracted one another because we're driven by the same values. They want to be part of the business because its part of their own personal mission.

It's clear that your passion is much deeper and wider than socks, so what can you tell me about your vision for the future, and the passion that is driving Socks For Happy People?

We have a timeline of infinity, of bringing heaven to earth, and achieving utopia. At its simplest and most basic level, our vision is for people to be happier, to have fun, to enjoy life and to appreciate what they have.

You seem to be a company with a social conscience. Tell me more about the steps you are taking to create socks in the ‘right' way:

We believe in socks for happy everyone. We believe in socks for happy workers, socks for happy people who pack and sell, and socks for happy people who make our bamboo. Our environmental vision is to become a definitive example of how a global business can be inherently sustainable and restorative where all waste is eradicated. It's a vision where the world, mankind and nature work in harmony, and the true environmental cost of the products we create is known.

We are also looking to educate ourselves, and the people who buy our socks on the environmental cost. This includes the waste, pollution dyes, and chemicals. And also the social cost -  the emotional cost of the people who are working in the factories. Our goal is to have those processes sustainable and restorative where we are giving back into the system.

Tom tells us more about how they plan to effect change and the reason why they can't yet create a 100% sustainable sock:

We have to take into account the consciousness of where people are right now - it's really important to meet people in their own world and work with them and encourage change through osmosis rather than go in and tell people how it must be done.

We are working with a great organisation called Impact and their motto is "Progress not Perfection". We aren't perfect, our socks are only about 60% sustainable - yet if we were to aim for a 100% sustainable sock then we might be out of business in six months and then we couldn't effect the massive change on the global scale that we are wanting to. We are in the education business, happiness business and consciousness-raising business. This is what we really want to do, and education is a really big part of it.

Haven't you been out to Mongolia researching Camel Hair?

Yes, I was out in Mongolia a couple of months ago. One of our first projects with Buy1GIVE1™ is every time you buy a pair of Socks For Happy People you would also be buying a pair of socks for a street child in Mongolia. In Mongolia it gets very cold, down to minus forty degrees, and the street kids who have no home or shelter lose a lot of their fingers and toes through frostbite. It's very difficult to get really good quality socks out there.

When I was out there, I met with the only sock manufacturer in Mongolia. They do really cool camel hair socks that we thought would be nice to give to the kids. We partnered with The Christina Noble Children's Foundation and will be distributing the socks to the children through them. Camels can survive temperatures to up to -80 degrees so -40 degrees will be no problem.

How did you connect with Buy1GIVE1™?

I first connected with Buy1GIVE1™ when I attended Roger Hamilton's Entrepreneurial Business School in Bali last year. There I met Paul Dunn and Masami (Sato). As soon as I heard about Buy1GIVE1™ I knew it was a winner. It resonated very much with Socks For Happy People and what we want to do. I thought the whole concept was awesome and it was an immediate marriage of vision and heart.

Why is it important to you to align making a difference with your business activity?

It's who I am. Our business is a reflection of who we are as individuals. Socks For Happy People brings together the world of consumerism and the world of contribution. I'm a firm believer that if you aren't doing something that you are really passionate about and doing what you are really enjoying then why do it?

Contribution is very important to me, education is very important to me, happiness is very important to me, running a business is very important to me, and socks is something very important to me. I'm bringing it all together. How could I not, because that's who I am? The reason why we have such a strong team is because that's who everyone else is as well. We see Socks For Happy People as a way to magnify our own personal missions because together we are greater than the sum of our parts.

When I look around the world and see the sadness and depression I think it's because of the disintegration of different aspects of our self (for example being one person at home, one person at work). Socks For Happy People enables us to reintegrate those parts. If you are going to experience joy and happiness at the deepest level and you have to be who you are.

What can Buy1GIVE1™ do to support you in your vision?

Everyone involved with Buy1GIVE1™ can buy a lot of socks for themselves and buy a lot of socks for their friends and families! And when it comes to Christmas, they can buy a lot of socks as Christmas presents. At the basic level it comes down to buy socks, buy socks, buy socks! The more you buy, the more you contribute and no-one will ever be disappointed about receiving socks for Christmas ever again! Getting socks for Christmas will be one of the most inspiring things that could ever happen. So Buy Socks - Give Love - Be Happy. Everything else is mere commentary.

Socks For Happy People is in the final stages of happily sampling their socks and will soon be ready to launch their amazing new business. Tom invites you to visit their website and enter your details to be in to win their full range of Happy Socks.