Injinji

Paul Martin is one of America's finest athletes: an Olympian in hockey, cycling and running and a record-holder in triathlons. Paul only has one leg, and that one leg was the genesis of one of the great PR success stories in the athletics world.

At an adventure race in 2001, Gordon was at a transition area watching Paul change legs and noticed a weird sock on his one foot. It had five toes (the foot and the sock). Intrigued, Gordon asked about it, and Paul said that these "Injinji socks" were the best thing ever, and offered Gordon the use of his right socks in perpetuity.

Since Gordon is comfortably bipedal, he bought a pair off the internet himself and soon sent a fan letter to the company,y since the socks were the only thing that eliminated his persistent blisters. A dialogue ensued, and for two years, Injinji sponsored Gordon's adventure racing team without knowing that he owned a PR firm. Once the founders of Injinji figured that out, they became a client.

We wrote a press kit that mirrored the company's unique culture and set about drumming up some publicity for Injinji. The trade magazines - Sporting Goods Business, Gear Trends, SNEWS - got on board. Pretty soon, so did the active consumer media: we got the company into the pages of National Geographic Adventure, Adventure Sports Journal, Competitor and even Outside Magazine's Buyer's Guide.

Then all hell broke loose. The Los Angeles Times liked them. So did the New York Times. Esquire? Why not? In fact, why don't we pitch Time Magazine? Sure enough, they fell into place as well, and our clients were heralded as one of Time's most innovative consumer products of 2005.

Little wonder that a small sock company has now become a big business. From very humble beginnings, Injinji now sells in dozens of REI outlets nationwide, has hundred of retail accounts and is sold in six countries overseas.

We still wear Injinjis - and so does Paul Martin.

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