Design-a-Sock: Frequently Asked Questions
Design-a-Sock is one of our favorite times of year. We get to see amazing submissions come pouring in from all our highly creative and unique fans! We also get to interact with you all in a more personal way: sharing art and ideas. We can’t always answer all of your questions when you’re asking them, so we created this DASC FAQ page. If you don’t see your question answered here, please leave a comment and we’ll add it!
Who is eligible to enter?
Any person, any where in the world can enter! If you are under 13, a parent or legal guardian must submit your entry. This contest is international and open to all ages!
Where do I enter my design?
You can both download your entry form and submit your finished design here: contest.sockittome.com, or mail or hand deliver entries to: 3605 SE 21st Ave., Portland, OR 97202
When are entries due?
We are accepting entries 9/8/15 – 9/30/15
How many can I submit?
5 designs per person.
How many colors are allowed per design?
6 color limit per design.
What are the prizes?
1st Place: Cash prize of $2,000, and 15 pairs of awesome Sock It to Me socks from our current line, and your design will be manufactured on real socks.
2nd Place: Cash prize of $500 and 10 pairs of socks.
3rd Place: Cash prize of $250 and 5 pairs of socks.
When will the winners be chosen?
Winners will be announced 10/12/15.
How does the voting work?
Sock It to Me judges, including our celebrity judges and our in-house design expert, will select the top 30 designs from all eligible entries. We will post these chosen 30 on our site (contest.sockittome.com) and our Facebook page for our fans to vote from 10/5/15 – 10/9/15 on the top 10 designs. Sock It to Me judges will select the final 3 winners from the top 10. Winners will be announced on our site and Facebook page.
All judging will be based on the following criteria:
- Simplicity of design
- Use of a maximum of six colors
- use of colors that are flat and solids, NO shading, blending or half tones
- Use of pattern
- Use of imagery, themes, patterns, or designs that are different from our current line
- Originality
What if my design isn’t chosen as a winner, but you want to produce it?
Any socks produced, winning or otherwise, are created with the artist’s permission and are paid for. If we like a design that doesn’t win, we’ll contact you to see if you are interested before we move forward with payment and production.
If I submit an entry, do you own the rights to the design?
No. Contest entries will not be sent back to you, but we don’t own the rights to submitted contest entry designs: you do. Once winners are chosen (or we decide we want to produce another entry), we contact each artist to give them a contract and payment before moving forward.
Where will the winning designs be produced?
They will be produced at the same manufacturer we use to create all our socks. They are located in South Korea, where our founder is from and first discovered fun, vibrant knee socks. We have visited the factory multiple times to ensure fair practices, and we have a close relationship with them. You can read (and see) more about one of the trips here: blog.sockittome.com/asia-trip/
Why do you hold this contest?
For fun! We have an amazing full-time professional apparel design team who come up with creative and unique sock designs ALL THE TIME (seriously, they are great). This contest is an opportunity for our fans to participate in the process and an opportunity for us to make our brand more representative of our fans. Our founder, Carrie, created this contest in the fashion of the restaurant coloring contests we all did when we were kids waiting for our food to arrive.
If my design wins, will I get a pair of my socks?
Yes. Once they are produced, we will send you a pair of your designed sock. Also, we will give you a gift certificate for the prize socks, which you can use to get whatever socks you want! It takes a while for socks to get produced, so if you want to spend your gift certificate on your socks, you’ll need to wait a while.
Do you have suggestions for designs?
Something that we don’t already have (take a look at our current line to see what is already available). Also avoid complex details or gradients as these are difficult to translate onto a sock. You can design any style you want (crew, knee high, etc.), though that might get changed during production.
What are the official rules for this contest?
Good question! You can find them all here: contest.sockittome.com/rules.php
Olá, sou do Brasil e gostaria de saber se posso me inscrever no concurso? Aguardo retorno. Grata
Sim ! A nossa competição é internacional. Qualquer pessoa em qualquer lugar do mundo pode entrar. Boa sorte!
Hello Sir/Ma’m,
I read all the FAQ’s and understood that but there is one query I want to ask that the designs should be hand painted or graphic designed,I mean should be designed on any software.
Hi! I want to ask for the competition why i can’t upload my jpc files…when i want to entry it doesn’t let me because it says that “File size cannot be bigger than: 1024Kb ” what shall i do? shall i do the jpc file maybe zip?
You say six colors – do shades, tints, and tones of a color count in the six? Thanks!
You can do either! We accept them either way and get a lot of entries submitted both ways. Whichever method you prefer, we’ll take it!
You need to save it at a smaller size/different format. It doesn’t need to be perfect quality to be entered. If you are chosen as a winner, we can ask for the larger file to use to create the sock.
Yes. All colors will get translated into threads used to create the sock, so even if the color is just slightly different, a new thread will be added to the sock. 6 colors is the maximum given to us by our manufacturer. We suggest staying away from gradients for this reason.
if my sock happens to be one of the top 30, that shall be voted on facebook, will you send me an email?
We don’t email the final 30 designers, but you can check on FB or https://contest.sockittome.com/ on Monday (10/5) to see if yours made it!