Main Squeeze
Maximum comfort, maximum style
This blog is about three businesses: wuruwuru — an arts studio in search of a business model, Helloworld, a technology studio for cultural production, and Main Squeeze — a compression socks brand.
Moonlight is a venture studio in development, and Main Squeeze our first portfolio company. Our goal is to eventually build a $1m consumer business. Practically, this means selling ~3,000 units of a $30 product every month.
After a decade of making digital products, this is an interesting challenge for me. It’s also a practice run for Blank Body, Princess’ flagship project.
Idea
Main Squeeze was inspired by Princess.
I was dancing in my room with friends (for research purposes), and the topic of compression socks came up. I think Jade brought it up? I’m usually never bothered to buy because I’m uninspired by the options available. But Jade is easily one of the coolest people I know so finding out she wore compression socks was pretty interesting to me. Her mum buys them in neutral colours & she often wears them during or after long work days. So really, MainSqueeze was about making the kind of socks that Jade would wear.
In my mind, compression socks were for the elderly, pregnant, or for medical use. And they are. 1 in 3 adults experience foot or leg pain, and 60% of people experience some form of leg swelling. For many people, compression socks are a prescribed solution.
But also, compression socks are generally useful for anyone who moves or sits for long periods of time. They help to reduce swelling in your feet, improve blood circulation, support muscle recovery and increase comfort.
I’ve worn our Main Squeeze samples at the office, at home, on flights, and come to the same conclusion as Princess: everyone should own a pair.
Market
We’re not the only ones who know how great compression socks are.
In the UK there’s brands like Not Your Grandma’s. And in the US, there’s Comrad, a multimillion-dollar company that’s probably our biggest inspiration so far.
Comrad has more than doubled every year since launch, signed distribution deals with major retailers, and acquired close to half a million customers.
But despite the successes of these companies, many people still don’t use compression socks. At $48b, the global socks business is a massive industry. With exceptional execution, we can succeed as well.
Customer
We’re building Main Squeeze for four groups of people:
Corporate Cici: Sits for long periods
Busy Beju: Constantly on the move
Ajala the Traveller: Frequent travellers
Gymrat Gina: Fitness enthusiasts
Compression socks can significantly improve the quality of life for anyone who fits into one of these categories. This includes nurses, DJs, set designers, retail workers, fitness enthusiasts, club goers and so many others.
Our target customers are young at heart and style-conscious. So for our socks to make it into their wardrobes (and lives), we need to make them fashionable.
Brand
Naming the product was really a team effort. We started with placeholder names like SuperSocks and Active Socks, and then reached a three band shortlist: Lillies, MainSqueeze and Sock It.
I really liked Lillies, but thanks to Princess we went with Main Squeeze.
The brand name is inspired by the people in our lives who provide comfort just by being around. For some it’s a sibling, for others a friend, and for many, a partner. If you’re lucky, it’s a mix of all. We want to celebrate these relationships through our branding and storytelling.
Princess was already working with design agency Orchidea for Blank, so we asked them to help with some basic branding for Main Squeeze. The brief was deeply researched and full of samples of socks we’re inspired by, brands we love, brands we want to emulate, and those we don’t want to feel like.
Here’s a screenshot from the mood-board:
After a few weeks, we settled on a logotype, colours and packaging design. My favourite element is a mascot we call Buddy.
What next
About six months of research, design and testing have gone into this, but we’re still very early. Some of the more interesting challenges like marketing, operations and customer experience are still ahead.
Sometime this July, we’ll launch Main Squeeze in the UK and US. Our first production run will be 600 pairs of socks in block colours.
I’ll share a scheduled update like this every two weeks to all subscribers. Paid subscribers will get more real-time updates e.g. new samples. You’ll also be able to ask questions or leave feedback in the comments.
If you’re curious, consider paying for a subscription.
PS: Last word from Princess
Follow us on Instagram and TikTok abeg @mainsqueeze.world :)
 | A guest post by
|