Giving Back Through Every Drop: How Ivy Ellis Socks Supports CALM
For Ivy Ellis Socks, creating beautiful products and giving back have always been part of the same journey.
The story began around co-founders Les and Lauren Dawson’s kitchen table during the Covid lockdown of 2020, with a few rough sock sketches, a pack of marker pens and plenty of time to experiment. Inspired by vintage sportswear, American college style and the Ivy League, what started as a small side project has grown into a distinctive British brand creating handmade socks in Scotland.
But from the beginning, there was another reason for creating Ivy Ellis Socks. Per Les:
“My father took his own life when I was 14, and we started the brand because we wanted to give something back, as well as making beautiful products. Prevention against suicide is extremely close to our hearts.”
That personal connection led Ivy Ellis Socks to support CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably, which works to prevent suicide and support people struggling with life. For the founders, supporting the charity is not simply about attaching a good cause to a commercial product. It is part of the reason the business exists.
“When we embarked on this project, we wanted to support and give back to a cause that is very important to us and extremely close to our hearts.”
Ivy Ellis Socks has developed a creative approach to fundraising that fits naturally with the way the brand operates. Throughout the year, the business launches limited product drops, with 100% of net profits from selected products donated to CALM.
One example is its “Keep Talking Tee”, created specifically to raise funds and awareness for the charity. The business has also produced special socks commemorating sporting legends including Ricky Hatton and Gary Speed, with 100% of the net profits donated to CALM.
The approach allows Ivy Ellis Socks to combine creativity, product development and charitable giving, while giving customers an opportunity to support a cause that matters to them.
For the team, the potential impact is particularly meaningful.
“It means that for nearly every £5 raised, we could potentially give a life-saving phone call from the amazing team at CALM.”
The giving is promoted primarily through social media and Ivy Ellis Sock’s customer mailing list, while the brand also makes its relationship with CALM visible to customers.
The business was directed to Work for Good by CALM, providing a straightforward way to structure and manage its charitable giving.
For Ivy Ellis Socks, that simplicity matters.
“The simplicity of the whole set up and how efficient it is.”
There is no separate fundraising department or elaborate programme behind the giving. It is simply built into the way the founders choose to develop and launch products.
The result is a business where creativity can have a purpose beyond the product itself. A new design can become an opportunity to raise money, start a conversation and help support people who may be struggling.
For Les, there is also a powerful sense of what greater awareness and openness around mental health might have meant when he was younger.
“If the awareness on mental health was around back in 1989, then he could still be with us today, as many others would be.”
It is a deeply personal motivation, but the response has become something positive and outward looking: using a creative business to encourage people to keep talking, while supporting an organisation working to prevent suicide.
Ivy Ellis Socks continues to operate as a passion project, giving the founders the freedom to create products and campaigns that matter to them while making charitable giving part of the journey.
Key takeaway:
Ivy Ellis Socks shows how a business can turn personal experience into positive action, using creativity and commercial activity to raise awareness and support a cause that is deeply connected to its purpose.
To learn more about Ivy Ellis Socks, please visit their website.