May 7, 2024 • 40 mins
https://plus12socks.com/
Ever slipped into a pair of socks and wondered if they're doing more harm than good? Join me as we explore the intriguing world of anatomically correct socks with Tanya from Austria, a pioneer in the field. Our lively chat starts off with a mix-up of time zones before diving headfirst into the transformative nature of socks designed to embrace the natural asymmetry of our feet. I share my eye-opening experience with these foot-friendly creations, and Tanya sheds light on the philosophy behind socks that are not just comfortable but aimed at proper toe alignment. It's a revelation for anyone who's ever thoughtlessly pulled on a tube sock.
The adventure doesn't stop at mere sock enlightenment, though. We take a closer look at the development of Plus 12 Barefoot Socks, the innovative children's footwear that champions healthy foot growth. We unravel the necessity of space within shoes and Tanya's decade of dedication to creating socks that support the barefoot shoe movement. You'll be fascinated by the tales of perseverance, collaboration with the proficient knitter Gunter, and the specialized knitting machine that brought these foot-shaped socks to life. It's a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the meticulous craft of producing footwear that's not just comfy but healthy.
As we wrap up, we delve into the broader implications of foot health, discussing 'zookosis' and the importance of anatomically correct footwear. Our conversation touches on the rise of barefoot shoes and how my journey to becoming a barefoot shoe enthusiast highlights the tug-of-war between societal norms and the well-being of our feet. Before parting ways with Tanya, we reflect on the enriching exchange and my own testimonial of these European-crafted socks that have left a lasting impression on my soles and soul. If you're curious about making a simple yet impactful change for healthier, happier feet, this is an episode you won't want to miss.
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Email: solutionsfromthemultiverse@gmail.com
Adam: @ajbraus - braus@hey.com
Scot: @scotmaupin
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Thanks to Jonah Burns for the SFM music.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning everyone .
I had my decaf coffee, so I'mdecaffeinated.
Now Nice ready.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Well you say good morning everyone.
But I noticed that for one ofus.
It is 6 in the evening, 6.30 inthe evening.
I've Googled what time it wasin Austria right now.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I was going to say are you Jason Bourne?
How do you know that?
I was going to say are youJason Bourne?
How do you know that?
If?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I was Jason Bourne.
I would not be allowed to tellyou, but I'm just a guy with
Google.
So we are talking to someone inAustria.
Wait, I mean, we just said wewere going to banter, that I
stopped doing it immediately.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
That's okay.
It was just a short banter,very short.
I started like a coffee thing,didn't go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Well you wish me a good morning, and I and I well,
I dropped the ball immediatelyCause someone said good morning
to me and I immediately was likeno, no, I will not.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
You know there's.
They say there's two types ofintolerable people in the world
politically correct people andtechnically correct people.
So who's?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
making this list?
I think I definitely.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I'm in the technically correct.
That's my intolerable type.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Well, I was gonna say I might.
I might add a third type ofpeople to this list, and that's
people who make a list ofintolerable people.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yes, there we go, so I get to be in part in two
circles of that.
Yeah Well, yeah, let'sintroduce our guests.
So welcome, tanya, do you wantto say hello?
Where are you coming in from?
Scott kind of gave away alittle bit of the game.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I'm sorry about that.
Well, let me start it properlyhere so welcome everyone to
Solutions for the Multiverse,another episode.
Thank you for joining us.
I'mott maupin, I'm adam brosand we are here every week with
a new solution from adam's brainto you, and I am just trying to
get in the way and muddy it upas much as possible.
But today we have a thirdperson, we have a guest, and
(02:00):
today our guest is tanya wartert.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Welcome everybody, hello, and I gave away earlier
where you're coming in from, butwe're talking to Tanya from
Austria today.
That's right.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
So, tanya, you have a very special thing that I found
and I said this is a solutionfrom the multiverse.
I got to reach out to theseguys, but first I put it in
order, and so I got my order andI started to use them and I
loved them and I couldn't butreach out and say you guys got
(02:37):
to come on the podcast and tellus about this special thing.
Do you want to tell Scott andthe listeners what you guys make
?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
It is so great that you love what you got because,
um, to be honest, it was not myidea.
This product site, the idea forthis product, um, was from the,
the inventor of this.
Uh, we're talking about socks,these, these socks, um and these
(03:03):
socks totally new socks, I lovethem and they have a very
special shape because all socksnormally you get in the shops
have a kind of trapeze shape inwhere the toes are right and um,
their feet are not symmetric,and so why are socks?
(03:28):
that was the question, and thenthat was the reason why we
started to invent socks with afoot shape very cool.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, I didn't even think my socks are just a big
two.
They they are not signified,but, like my shoes, I don't wear
just two shoe.
You know like, I wear a leftshoe and a right shoe, so why
not a left sock?
Oh, now I'm jealous.
Adam is holding up a pair ofsocks, which are obviously tiny
socks that we're talking about,and they are different left and
(04:00):
right, and now I'm I don't.
Now I feel like a real jumpwith my socks the heel is
different too.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
The heel really turns .
It really turns, so it's I.
I basically think of it as,like regular socks are just like
a tube.
They're like a tube and thenyour foot, your foot, kind of
deforms the tube.
I mean they call them tubesocks that's right, that's the
thing, and so your foot kind ofdeforms them into your foot
shape, but these are actuallymade to be your foot shape when
(04:30):
you start.
Okay.
So, adam, catch me up.
They're different, it feelsdifferent.
It really does.
It's like night and day to wearthem.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yeah, your toes have space now and they are roomy for
the toes and that's thecomplete difference.
And the important thing is thatthe big toe is really in line
with your feet, so nothing likesqueezing your toes, or so.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
That's a fundamental new thing.
Adam just held his foot up tothe camera.
With my sock.
I've got a little extra if youput on a stocking cap, his foot
up.
Yeah, adam just held his footup to the camera.
You don't have one of thoselike with with my sock.
I've got like a little likeextra.
Like, uh, if you put on astocking cap or something, you
have like a little extra stuffon top.
It's like on my foot but yours.
It just kind of looks like areally comfortable.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
I'm jealous now I don't I wasn't ready to feel
jealousy this this morning yeah,they feel so what I'm, what one
thing I've noticed from wearingthem for a few days is and you
guys say this on your websitetoo oh, the company's name is
Plus 12 Socks.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Plus 12 Socks.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
And we'll put a link in the notes.
Absolutely Einfach, nur gerade,simply straight.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Line with your feet.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Simply only straight.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Wait, did you just say plus 12 socks in austrian?
Speaker 3 (05:50):
yes, we say it.
Well, how do you say?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
plus 12 socks in english, oh yeah, yeah, get out
of the way, adam.
I want to hear tanya say yeah,but there's.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
There's a serious background why we invented these
socks, because we are aresearch team and in 2005, I
think it was, we had ascientific project with the
ministry of science here, or weeven had two projects, and we've
been measuring children's feetand their shoes and we're
(06:19):
checking if the shoes fitproperly or not and what we saw
is that the three tosix-year-old children had about
75% of them had croc big toes,so had an angle, and that was
mainly because they wore toosmall shoes.
(06:42):
Yeah, and when we measured andmeasured, and measured and we
took a look at the socks and itwas like they look strange
because they don't have theshape of feet.
And then we started to measurechildren's feet barefoot and
(07:04):
with socks, and make a guess aretheir feet longer if children
wear socks or not?
Speaker 1 (07:11):
shorter, sure with socks, if they wear socks it
pulls their toes a little bit,and shorter, shorter.
Oh.
So their shoes were too smallbecause they were wearing socks.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Socks weren't expressing their actual shape of
their feet properly, wow, okaywe were really surprised because
we thought, okay, there is allthis tissue of the socks and if
you wear thick tennis socks orso, the feet should be longer
with socks than without socks.
(07:42):
But they were were not.
They were even shorter.
And that's why we thought, okay, we should not only talk about
shoes like barefoot shoes orminimal shoes.
We should also talk about thesocks you wear with barefoot
shoes, for example, because ifyou have barefoot shoes with so
much space for your toes and youwere wear normal socks, it
(08:06):
doesn't make sense because thenyou're ruining your everything
you get from the shoe.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
You're just giving up again with your sock.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
That makes sense, okay, maybe.
Yeah, we did have x-rays withfeet barefoot and with feet in
the comfortable but normal socks, and what we saw is really a
huge angle with the big toe.
So if you know how many halluxvalgus operations we have right
now, this is one of the reasonswhy so many people suffer from
(08:47):
um hallux valgus and footproblems when they get older and
older and, regarding that, Ithink 98 or 99 percent of of the
children are born with healthyfeet, and when you're old, I
don't know, maybe 40 or 30percent of people have healthy
(09:09):
feet, so it's good to look atthem I just I, I looked up how
it's.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Do we both look up how?
Speaker 3 (09:17):
you do how it's followed this.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
It's a great word.
I sounded like I was like do weis a vampire attacking people's
feet?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
well, I think I've been looking at this.
I think this is something mymom did surgery for, like later
you know like it's called abunion, just a bunion well, I
feel like we had talked about itor something called hammer toes
.
Maybe that's a different thing,but yeah, where?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
you're different.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah, that's different okay, but bunions are
very common but I'm looking at apicture of this hollux valgus
and, yeah, it looks like the, itlooks like the toe.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
The big toe takes a turn where it's supposed to go
and then goes in right weird sothe right toe goes to the right
side and the left toe goes tothe left side and, um, yeah,
then sometimes the the big toeis above the second toe, because
this is such a disform,disformity, yeah yeah, yeah,
(10:13):
deformation deformation yes yeah, I'm sorry for my english.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
No, your english is awesome.
It's so great yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
So you saw this and you thought, okay, we can work
on this by changing the sock.
And then, oh nice.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Yeah, first we thought about, okay, we have to
make sure that children wearshoes that have enough space,
did this measurement and we didpress releases and educated
(10:52):
parents to really look at thespace of the shoe, that children
have at least two millimeter,12 millimeters space in the
shoes.
That's why it is called plus 12.
You need 12 millimeters ofspace in your shoes.
And after all the research andeducating parents and so on, we
came to the topic that wethought, yeah, why not making
(11:13):
socks?
Because barefoot shoes werealready invented, but this was
somehow the missing link nice?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
yeah, because if you can't fully get the benefits of
the barefoot shoes, what?
So?
I am bad with shoes.
I just wear big converse shoes.
What's a barefoot shoe?
Help help me understand where.
What is it?
What makes a shoe a barefootshoe?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I guess there is no clear definition about it, but
what we define as barefoot shoesare shoes that really have foot
shapes, so also a lot of spacewithin the toes so that shoes
are not narrow where the toesare.
So what looks nice, maybe forwomen's shoes especially, but
(12:03):
it's a question of the doses.
You should not wear these shoestoo much during a day and we
have, yeah, a huge trend forthese barefoot shoes almost no
sole, so you can feel the groundand what you're walking on and
you have much space for yourtoes.
(12:24):
Yes, that that's what barefootshoes are.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, I'm looking.
It seems like a very minimalshoe that's kind of more
foot-shaped than what I wouldsay shoe-shaped, you know?
Okay, right on.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Exactly.
Yeah, I've heard one of thedefinitions to a barefoot shoe
is like your heel is on the samelevel as the ball of your foot.
Like most padded shoes, you'reactually at a bit of an incline
and that also will crowd thetoes because the weight is even
oh sure forward, and so thetruth.
So you have to make surethere's a name for it when it's
(12:56):
totally level.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
I don't remember what it's called, though it's like
zero yes, I only know the germanterm, but but that's true.
Which?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I'm sure is fantastic .
I'm sure it's about a wordabout this long.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
No, it's short, it's called Sprengung.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Ah, sprengung Nice, Like explosion.
I thought it was going to belike heel, flat, toe-ness.
I was looking into getting somebarefoot shoes and I want to
get.
I want to get them.
But one thing I also found isthat you can get regular sort of
(13:38):
padded shoes but that just havea wide toe box and achieve some
of the same things.
Cause a lot of times, cause itdoesn't really matter if you
walk on sort of a padded surface, just as long as it's flat and
the toe box is wide.
So it's weird that there's likebarefoot shoes that are so thin
that it's really like a hardsurface that you're walking on,
but they could just make thempadded with the wide toe box.
(13:59):
I think right, wouldn't thatmake the same?
Yeah, similar effect.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
It is not so easy.
Yeah, it is not so easy.
Some have barefoot shoesbecause of the flat sole, but
have a shape like regular,normal shoes.
Others, for example for joggingor hiking, have shoes with a
huge toe box and proper sole.
(14:23):
I don't know what barefootshoes are exactly, but what we
know is that a big toe box withspace for your toes is really
healthy for your feet.
That's what we know, even fromresearch and with children, and
with adults as well.
Well, I'm definitely gonna getsome.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
I'm definitely gonna get some barefoot shoes to go
with these barefoot socks.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
That's great and um, yeah, we thought, uh, it's, it
should be easy knitting socksthis shape.
But then we had the idea in2000, 2008 or 9 and it was more
than 10 years um, we visited, um, we visited companies with
(15:09):
knitting machines in Italy, wevisit them in Germany, we visit
them in Switzerland, and weasked them could you please knit
a sock for us with foot shapeand with the big toe space?
And you cannot imagine what wegot as prototypes.
(15:29):
It was incredible if youcouldn't even think these could
be socks or so.
It was really very, very hardand took us about 10 years, and
during this time of how can wedevelop these socks.
We learned to know one knitter.
(15:52):
He's a professional knitter.
We have a tradition of knittingwith.
Knitting machines here inAustria are only a very few
(16:13):
people who know this um, whohave the abilities to to run
these machines and to work withthem.
Sure, and one of them was a guy.
His name is gunter, and weasked gunter the very first time
when we had the idea and he wasworking for a Swiss company and
he was curious about it, but hehad no time to try it.
And, yeah, every year he wascalling us and asked do you
(16:35):
already have these new socks inline with your feet?
And we said no, we couldn'tfind any company who can knit
them for us.
So, yeah, difficult, difficult,and year by year he called us
and in 2019, he said if I'mhonest, I'm looking for a new
(16:57):
job.
And we said, oh, this is ourchance.
We have to buy a knittingmachine ourselves and then try
it out and then see what happens.
And we said, okay, we do thisproject for six months and if it
does not work, okay, we forgeteverything.
We lost some money, okay, butum, we have to try it now, after
(17:18):
10 years of finding somebodyand disappointment.
And, yeah, gunther said, okay,we can do that, I will try it.
And yeah, we bought oneknitting machine in Italy and
Gunther started to knit.
And if you can imagine knittingmachines for socks, they look
(17:39):
yeah, they're big machines suretwo meters high and one meter
square, and they always knitcircular, so you have more like
sleeves that come out of themachine.
Yeah, and Günther started totry to make this the end of it,
(18:04):
because they always start withthe shaft.
Yeah, to make this the end of,because they always start with
the shaft.
Um, yeah, they tried to makethis toe in this special shape,
like feet are that was.
That was not really possible,but they were so eager to do it
that we asked a sewer if shecould maybe do it with a sewing
(18:28):
machine manually right that'swhat we tried and the outcome
was really cool and this is whyyou have the little sew in on
the top of the toes.
But that is handmade, yeah sothere is no um automized
solution for that um theknitting machines really cannot
(18:51):
do it and we have this littlehandwork, I would say, with a
sewer who sews this little umsuture above the toes three,
four and five.
The machine closes above thetoes three, four and five.
The machine closes above thetoes one and two Difficult to
explain.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Can you imagine what I'm talking about?
Yeah, because feet aren't like abig tube, but the machine is
making just a tube, so you needa fabric surgeon, I mean,
essentially, to go in there andcut it to the right shape and
then suture it back together.
That's amazing.
I'm looking at these.
While you were talking, Ipulled up the website, the it is
(19:31):
just plus 12 sockscom, and yeah, these socks have like a
different shape on the toe andthen you've got what I love is
like this big red block for thebig toe that tells you which is
left and right.
I don't have to like look, Idon't have to search or hunt on
the sock for a tiny letter.
These are beautiful.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
I also got the blue ones.
I can show you the blue ones.
This has a blue hat on the toe.
The toe tag.
Yeah, these are great socks.
I looked up, by the way, inEnglish.
What did you call it?
Schunga?
No, what was the?
We call it?
Zero drop?
Zero drop shoes are no, theheel and the ball of the shoe
(20:17):
are on the same level.
So if you want to look up azero drop shoe, and you can get
added zero drop shoes, but youcan also get minimalist zero
drop shoes.
But either way, you're going toget that benefit of the flat
surface.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Thank you, Adam.
Yeah, I looked it up as wellnow, and it is what we call the
sprengung is in my dictionarythe heel drop.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, okay, yeah, the sprengung, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
I was going to say so , Adam, so catch me up here.
I now know how the stocks cameto be.
How did you come to find thesestocks?
How did you get?
Speaker 1 (20:53):
connected with.
Well, because you know, we hadthe episode the other day on
Zootopia, right?
So that's this concept that I'minventing, which is where we
should build society so that itfits harmoniously with human
human nature as human nature, asfar as we understand human
nature.
I mean, there's a theory,there's mysterious things about
(21:14):
it that we don't understand, butthere's certain things we do
understand, one of which is theshape of our feet.
We know what the shape of ourfeet are and therefore a great
example of potential zookosiswhich is the damage that animals
receive in zoos is zookosis isto wear, to cripple our own feet
(21:36):
with shoe wear and sock wear.
That doesn't actually fit ourown biology and our own nature,
and it makes it's tremendous.
It's almost sad or kind oftragic that there would be this
such a wide proliferation, sowide and so common that people
can't even understand it.
It has to be on a podcast aboutcompletely new ideas to just
(22:00):
say wear socks and shoes thatare the shape of your feet,
you'll be healthier your wholelife.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
You saying it's 2024?
We should stop like crammingour bodies into like weird like
weird containers.
It's all start makingcontainers that fit the way we
are actually shaped.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Yeah, people are like let's make ais that can totally
, you know, do everything, andI'm like how do we just make
like socks that fit our feet,like let's just go back to
basics.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
No, no, we have to teach the computers how to paint
pictures and write poetry.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
So that we don't have to do that.
What, yeah?
So I just so I thought, okay, Iknew barefoot shoes and I knew
wide toe box shoes, but I don'tknow.
Something in my brain was likewhat about socks?
And so then then I Googled thatand you guys were the first
thing that came up, or at leastI found you very rapidly, and I
thought that is so damn cool.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
And, Adam, how did you Google that?
Were you like I need socks formy feet?
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Like, what did you?
I think I was something likeand I don't know what.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
I left right and it's no, it was no.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I was thinking more along the terms of anatomically
correct socks.
All right yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Yeah, when we started I was really not sure if this
is going to work, because I waslike, who cares about what shape
their socks have?
So it was really maybe this wasgoing to end up in a disaster.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Well, I was going to say, but I'm guessing you found
out exactly who cares abouttheir socks being left and right
.
What groups have you found thatare super passionate about?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
There is really a huge fan group for these
barefoot shoes now.
And of course I can definitelybelieve it, and we have a
company fromany that's wildlingor wildling, I don't know how
you say that and then, um, yeah,they noticed that we make socks
(23:59):
and, um, they were reallyunbelievable.
Now we have the right socks forthese shoes, and they expanded
to the us as well.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
So so you could partner with shoe companies,
yeah, or?
Speaker 3 (24:14):
I think another company named soft star shoes.
They make barefoot shoes andthey got really curious and
noticed okay, there is somebodyin austria producing socks for
these, for these, I bet youcould do some great partnerships
with them so they sell plus 12socks now and we were really
(24:36):
surprised because hey, what'sgoing on?
Why do we sell socks to the us?
Why is there adam?
In california who sends us?
Yeah, who wants to have oursocks?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
we're just three people here in austria sounds
like you're gonna have a lotmore people soon and or you're
gonna get compete.
You know your competitorsbecause I think this is
definitely gonna take off.
You did you see just last week,lebron james foot, did you?
See no, no, unfortunately notso lebron james foot went viral
(25:11):
because his toes are mashed upyeah, you're showing a picture.
I kind of wish you wouldn'ttotally mashed up and this, this
, this, this picture went viral.
He's just walking on the beachand he has those shoes on and
someone snapped a picture andand somebody just grabbed it and
and and blew up the foot andhis foot is all mashed up
because he's been wearing nikes.
(25:33):
Right, he has like a nike deal,and so he wears these shoes
that come to a point right onthe toe and then he's
professional?
Speaker 2 (25:41):
yeah, and they're.
They lace them up super tightbecause they're like we want to
feel.
You know, feel your foot righton the court, right.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
So this went viral and Tanya you guys on your
social media should post aboutthis and be like hey, look at
LeBron James' foot, send himsome socks.
Just send LeBron James somesocks.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
I just wanted to ask you if you can call him and send
him some socks.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Oh, I'm sorry, you guys have brunch every yeah.
Yeah, we have brunch.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Occasionally well, not every sunday come on, but
you know, yeah, like at onceevery other sunday maybe.
Yeah, he invites me up to thehouse, no big deal, I fly out,
you know to wherever he.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I don't know where, I didn't I didn't know, his toes
look like that now I feel like Imight be able to take him in a
game of one-on-one like maybe Ihave because my toes are better,
maybe I'd have a chance againstlebron.
So, tanya, has this journeyturned you into a barefoot shoe
wearer?
Have you become someone whowears only, or mostly, barefoot
(26:39):
shoes?
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I do.
I walk barefoot as often aspossible, um, and I also wear
barefoot shoes, and now I wearthem for three or four years, I
would say, and I really cannotimagine I've been wearing other
shoes before.
Okay, sometimes, if I go out inthe evening and it is really a
(27:03):
special evening or something Iwear beautiful women's shoes but
um yeah you should always tryto have something like the
contrast on the next day andthen only walk barefoot or so,
so that the toes can reallyreshape or have.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah, can feel free again yeah, you, you're like for
special times.
I will torture my feet just fora little while, but then I will
.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
That's just for special times.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
For Oscar nomination or something, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
So here's another sign of zookosis so we talked
about bunions are a sign ofwearing the wrong type of
footwear.
And not just wearing the wrongtype of footwear, but the right
type of footwear barely.
Not just the wearing the wrongtype of footwear, but the right
type of footwear barely evenbeing available in stores.
Like you can't even really getit unless you really learn oh, I
need a barefoot shoe with awide toe.
Like you have to go in with amission right, when it should be
(27:59):
the default.
Like the default should be thisshoe is healthy for your foot,
right.
Instead it's the default isthis shoe will damage your foot
over time.
You know it's like.
It's like.
You know it's like every kidgets a cigarette when they turn
16.
You know, like why are we doingthis?
Speaker 2 (28:16):
you know now, what about wooden wooden shoes, like
those dutch wooden shoes?
Are those good for your feet,do you think?
I mean, I guess it would dependon how skillful the carver is,
but I I google they don't lookparticularly comfortable, anyway
.
Well, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
As long as you have 12 millimeters of space in front
and as long as they are.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
And with wooden shoes .
If they're too small, you canjust like get in there and, like
you know, carve out a littlebit more of the space in the
front.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
You're like all right , here we go Also.
Fact.
I bit more of the space in thefront.
You're like all right, here wego also fact.
I don't know.
This is not an austria fact,this is a holland fact.
But the word sabotage comesactually from sabbats, which are
the wooden shoes of dot ofholland, and those are called
sabbats.
That's the name of the shoes,really.
And yeah, and the saboteurswould throw their wooden shoes
(29:06):
into the machinery of themechanical looms that were
replacing weavers, and so theywere called saboteurs.
They threw their sabots fromthrowing wooden shoes.
Yeah, I did smashing themachines with their wooden shoes
, yeah see, tanya.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
I'm so glad I have adam here, because I would never
know that.
How would I ever buy that out,if not for this show?
Speaker 1 (29:27):
but tanya has to be careful, because you guys have
an, a weaving machine, you havea knitting machine, so there
could be a saboteur who comesthrough you better.
Yeah, be careful.
Don't let any wooden shoes inthe door.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
That person is going to have a hard time blending it,
like you've got a whole companyof people with like barefoot
shoes and one person just you'relike is that?
Who is that cock?
You're like, is that?
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Who is that guy?
Speaker 2 (29:49):
No, I'm one of you, it's okay.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
I am Dutch and they're Dutch too, so they're
really tall.
They're really tall.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
You're like what is this really tall guy covering
here?
Speaker 1 (30:01):
So what's next for Plus?
I mean, it sounds like you guysare small, so what's next is to
grow and do those partnershipswith barefoot shoe companies and
getting to running runningstores all over the country, and
put it put it do a social mediapost about lebron james speak.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Send lebron james is that the next?
Speaker 1 (30:20):
goal is to grow, or or do you guys have other kind
of missions, missions?
Speaker 3 (30:24):
yeah, we.
I think we have other kinds ofmissions.
Growing is not the thingbecause, as you now know, we are
just one man who can deal withthese knitting machines we have.
We have three, four of theseknitting machines and one like
an old timer from the 1970s andthat makes very special socks
(30:48):
like grandmothers knit withthose people that make the best
thing yeah, the best I mean I'mnow.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
I'm loving my socks.
I'm like oh man, gunter madethese for me.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
They're like a personal gift, right and um, we
don't know any other people whocan knit and we have these one,
two ladies that sue the suitorin front of the toes and it's
definitely not easy to findpeople who can do it.
(31:17):
And we definitely want to stayhere in austria and do it in
austria and we do as much as wecan, but we're not interested in
expanding.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Okay, nice, Well, that's good.
This is a very contrary to.
I live in San Francisco, so youknow that's our culture in San
Francisco.
As soon as we have a good idea.
The idea is okay a billionunits.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Keep it small, keep it good.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Yeah, that's great, so refreshing to just say we're
just going to make socks.
That's great, so refreshing tojust say we're just going to
make socks.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
That's so lovely.
Yes, and as long as you sellsome of them and it works, so
far, it must not be maximizingprofit for us.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
So Well, yeah, now I feel like a real chump wearing
my like my normal socks rightnow.
I kind of want to, and I cansee that.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
I can see the custom sewing.
I can see the custom sewinghere on the, on the, on the edge
, and you can see how themachine does.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
it does it over the big toe and the next toe and
then you can exactly yeah,that's beautiful, yeah, amazing,
amazing it was also when weknow how the you have to make
this curve around about this toenumber three, four and five,
(32:32):
because we've been drawing, Ithink, thousands of children's
feet when we measured them.
So yeah, that's why we know theshape exact shape to go for.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
So, adam, when you bought these socks, did you go
to the plus 12 socks website ordid you yeah?
Speaker 1 (32:56):
yeah, I just put on the website.
But I mean, you know, it waslike it was like eight or ten
dollars.
Actually that's not even veryexpensive.
It was like regular price fornice high-end socks and then,
and then the shipping was like Idon't know six, eight dollars
or something yeah, that's what Iwas gonna say is it was.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
It didn't sound like it was any problem to just put
it in.
It translates the currency.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Yeah, you have a it was all super easy, yeah, and
the sizing was perfect.
It came because they'reeuropean sizing, so you can get
the exact millimeter length ofyour foot, and then it gives you
the exact size, so you can'tget it wrong.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
And then you went through that whole process
without telling me, just so thattoday you can make me feel bad
because you could hold up thesocks and say look, scott, I
have better socks than you do.
Okay, well, it worked.
Good job, it worked.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Mission accomplished Adam.
We want to create sock jealousyDone Sock jealousy, sock envy
accomplished adam.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
We want to create sock jealousy done sock jealousy
, and what you don't know, scottwhat you don't know at the
moment, scott, is that there isa little dot on the heel as well
and because we are very awareabout do the socks really fit?
And if you have children andthey grow, you can see when the
dot moves under the heel.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
These socks are too short and maybe squeeze your
toes because they they childrenare grown out of them yeah, I
love that because, yeah, it'strue I have the instructions
here I have a 10 year olddaughter and, yeah, her trying
to make sure she has the rightsize feet and socks and or shoes
and socks.
It's a constant challenge.
So I love that, the little, thelittle guide at the back, and
(34:28):
as soon as it's not in the rightspot anymore, you're like oh,
time for a new time for a newsize can I tell you one more
word, because?
Speaker 3 (34:35):
of the price.
We we have a special pricephilosophy because, as you
mentioned, they're more, maybe alittle bit more expensive than
the very cheap asian socks youcan get I don't know 10 pairs
for two dollars or so.
So our socks are now about 15,I guess, for adults and 10 or
(34:57):
less for kids, and that's whatwe always wanted.
We wanted to keep the price forkids' socks under $10 and make
it affordable for everybody asgood as we can.
And we want to stick this priceand that's why the socks for
adults are 15 euros or so,because we want to keep the
(35:21):
socks for kids cheap, andsometimes you have $1 more for
adult socks because of thatright, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
You know I'm actually looking to.
I'm totally off base.
I'm looking at like, forexample, other like wool sock,
because you guys sell woolcotton and this other fabric I
didn't know called pencil pencilright pencil, which is really
nice.
It's like a, it's like a verythin, strong sort of stiff
fabric that I like a lot.
Um, but the wool socks if youcompare apples to apples with,
(35:53):
like another high-end wool sockcompany, their socks are 24 for
one pair.
So you guys are actually muchmore affordable than than than
that, so I would say veryaffordable.
I mean, yeah, these guys are-.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Well, and I love the philosophy of keeping the kid's
socks at a certain level becauseas a parent, those prices add
up and you're like, I keep mysocks until I wear holes in them
and they fall off my feet.
But kids outgrow their stuffquick and you need to know, like
you're saying, with the heeldot, you need to know when it's
too small, and then you alsoneed to be switching this stuff
(36:28):
out.
So keeping them price you know,not not having to pay for a new
set of everything at a highprice every time.
That I love that.
That's apparent.
That's beautiful from my earsthank you how cool.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Well, should we wrap up here, guys?
I feel like this we've justlike blown everybody's socks off
.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
That's an expression is that an expression in german,
or probably?
Speaker 1 (36:53):
not, I don't know, I don't think so are there any
stock-based expressions?
Yeah, expressions.
Okay, what are some expressions?
Speaker 3 (37:02):
yeah, for example, I'm really mad about it
something but it literally meansout of the socks.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Oh, yeah, I'm out of my socks, that's, I'm really mad
about something yeah, nice, orI'm.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
I'm so happy with that.
Yeah, I'm really excited, soany kind of any kind of extreme.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Yeah, if I've been fun, fun then suck him exactly
okay great, I'm right out of mysocks yeah, I was not brave
enough to try that myself.
Yeah, very cool.
Well, I have been blown out ofmy socks by this and I I could
see myself probably getting someleft right socks in the very
(37:46):
near future.
So, plus 12 socks.
And, tanya, I'm so happy youwere able to join us today.
Thank you again for coming onand telling us about your
amazing product.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yeah, this is fantastic.
I didn't even know about it.
This is the solution right outof the multiverse, but it's our
verse.
It's right here in our universe.
It's just in a tiny mountaintown in Austria.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Yeah, we're just stealing Tanya's actual solution
.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
We're not doing any work ourselves.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
this time it's been very nice.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
You better watch out, tanya.
The orders are going to pour infrom the solutions, from the
multiverse.
Bump, yeah, the bump.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
I'm joking.
Yeah, I would check the emailsince.
Great great.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
We don great, great.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
We don't have enough.
We might have a significantnumber of sock heads out there.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
We actually haven't talked to our audience about
that specific.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Everyone who's listening, everyone should go
and order a pair of socks andjust totally blow, totally blow,
tanya and gunter away.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
That'd be so fun so yes, I think I have to check if
I got an email from libra jamesin order yep you could have the
stripy ones.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
I think he would like the stripy ones.
Oh my gosh, do you know how bigLeBron James feet are?
Poor Gunter, we have up to size50.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
You might have to have Gunter make a custom.
A custom, actually, that'd becool to make a LeBron James size
and maybe make and then sendthem to him as a gift here.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
Basketball player edition.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
Yeah, great.
Well thank you guys, everybodyThanks for joining us.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
We will be here again next week, but, tanya, thank
you again for joining us.
I really appreciate this andthis has been fantastic
conversation.
It's been fun.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Thank you, bye, bye.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
And everyone.
Fantastic conversation, it'sbeen fun.
Thank you, bye-bye.
And everyone plus 12 socks,yeah, bye-bye.
Well, that was cool, oh my god,cool, right.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Yeah, this is the like zookosis, and how in?
Speaker 2 (39:38):
application and how did you get in touch with her?
Did you just reach out to thecompany?
I?
Speaker 1 (39:42):
just emailed them and said, hey, come be on our
podcast.
And they like said, okay, lookat you buying european socks, I
know, and you know it actuallyis quite affordable when you
compare it to comparable sort ofhigh-end socks in america well,
now you could write it off as apodcast expense.
Very clever, yes, very cleverit was 45 euros for three pairs,
(40:03):
and then they threw an extrapair in, so it was only like $10
a pair total, even withshipping.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
I mean, that's good for good local socks, that's a
steal.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
These are handmade by Gunter.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Yeah, look at that.
They look weird because you'renot used to seeing socks that
are boxed to look like actuallylook like foot, yeah yeah, yeah,
the heel is really weird lookat that.
But if you, you've put these on, you've worn them around now.
I'm wearing them right now andthey're they're dope.
You like them?
Yeah, they're great.
Good morning everyone .
I had my decaf coffee, so I'mdecaffeinated.
Now Nice ready.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Well you say good morning everyone.
But I noticed that for one ofus.
It is 6 in the evening, 6.30 inthe evening.
I've Googled what time it wasin Austria right now.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I was going to say are you Jason Bourne?
How do you know that?
I was going to say are youJason Bourne?
How do you know that?
If?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I was Jason Bourne.
I would not be allowed to tellyou, but I'm just a guy with
Google.
So we are talking to someone inAustria.
Wait, I mean, we just said wewere going to banter, that I
stopped doing it immediately.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
That's okay.
It was just a short banter,very short.
I started like a coffee thing,didn't go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Well you wish me a good morning, and I and I well,
I dropped the ball immediatelyCause someone said good morning
to me and I immediately was likeno, no, I will not.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
You know there's.
They say there's two types ofintolerable people in the world
politically correct people andtechnically correct people.
So who's?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
making this list?
I think I definitely.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I'm in the technically correct.
That's my intolerable type.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Well, I was gonna say I might.
I might add a third type ofpeople to this list, and that's
people who make a list ofintolerable people.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yes, there we go, so I get to be in part in two
circles of that.
Yeah Well, yeah, let'sintroduce our guests.
So welcome, tanya, do you wantto say hello?
Where are you coming in from?
Scott kind of gave away alittle bit of the game.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I'm sorry about that.
Well, let me start it properlyhere so welcome everyone to
Solutions for the Multiverse,another episode.
Thank you for joining us.
I'mott maupin, I'm adam brosand we are here every week with
a new solution from adam's brainto you, and I am just trying to
get in the way and muddy it upas much as possible.
But today we have a thirdperson, we have a guest, and
(02:00):
today our guest is tanya wartert.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Welcome everybody, hello, and I gave away earlier
where you're coming in from, butwe're talking to Tanya from
Austria today.
That's right.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
So, tanya, you have a very special thing that I found
and I said this is a solutionfrom the multiverse.
I got to reach out to theseguys, but first I put it in
order, and so I got my order andI started to use them and I
loved them and I couldn't butreach out and say you guys got
(02:37):
to come on the podcast and tellus about this special thing.
Do you want to tell Scott andthe listeners what you guys make
?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
It is so great that you love what you got because,
um, to be honest, it was not myidea.
This product site, the idea forthis product, um, was from the,
the inventor of this.
Uh, we're talking about socks,these, these socks, um and these
(03:03):
socks totally new socks, I lovethem and they have a very
special shape because all socksnormally you get in the shops
have a kind of trapeze shape inwhere the toes are right and um,
their feet are not symmetric,and so why are socks?
(03:28):
that was the question, and thenthat was the reason why we
started to invent socks with afoot shape very cool.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, I didn't even think my socks are just a big
two.
They they are not signified,but, like my shoes, I don't wear
just two shoe.
You know like, I wear a leftshoe and a right shoe, so why
not a left sock?
Oh, now I'm jealous.
Adam is holding up a pair ofsocks, which are obviously tiny
socks that we're talking about,and they are different left and
(04:00):
right, and now I'm I don't.
Now I feel like a real jumpwith my socks the heel is
different too.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
The heel really turns .
It really turns, so it's I.
I basically think of it as,like regular socks are just like
a tube.
They're like a tube and thenyour foot, your foot, kind of
deforms the tube.
I mean they call them tubesocks that's right, that's the
thing, and so your foot kind ofdeforms them into your foot
shape, but these are actuallymade to be your foot shape when
(04:30):
you start.
Okay.
So, adam, catch me up.
They're different, it feelsdifferent.
It really does.
It's like night and day to wearthem.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yeah, your toes have space now and they are roomy for
the toes and that's thecomplete difference.
And the important thing is thatthe big toe is really in line
with your feet, so nothing likesqueezing your toes, or so.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
That's a fundamental new thing.
Adam just held his foot up tothe camera.
With my sock.
I've got a little extra if youput on a stocking cap, his foot
up.
Yeah, adam just held his footup to the camera.
You don't have one of thoselike with with my sock.
I've got like a little likeextra.
Like, uh, if you put on astocking cap or something, you
have like a little extra stuffon top.
It's like on my foot but yours.
It just kind of looks like areally comfortable.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
I'm jealous now I don't I wasn't ready to feel
jealousy this this morning yeah,they feel so what I'm, what one
thing I've noticed from wearingthem for a few days is and you
guys say this on your websitetoo oh, the company's name is
Plus 12 Socks.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Plus 12 Socks.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
And we'll put a link in the notes.
Absolutely Einfach, nur gerade,simply straight.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Line with your feet.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Simply only straight.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Wait, did you just say plus 12 socks in austrian?
Speaker 3 (05:50):
yes, we say it.
Well, how do you say?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
plus 12 socks in english, oh yeah, yeah, get out
of the way, adam.
I want to hear tanya say yeah,but there's.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
There's a serious background why we invented these
socks, because we are aresearch team and in 2005, I
think it was, we had ascientific project with the
ministry of science here, or weeven had two projects, and we've
been measuring children's feetand their shoes and we're
(06:19):
checking if the shoes fitproperly or not and what we saw
is that the three tosix-year-old children had about
75% of them had croc big toes,so had an angle, and that was
mainly because they wore toosmall shoes.
(06:42):
Yeah, and when we measured andmeasured, and measured and we
took a look at the socks and itwas like they look strange
because they don't have theshape of feet.
And then we started to measurechildren's feet barefoot and
(07:04):
with socks, and make a guess aretheir feet longer if children
wear socks or not?
Speaker 1 (07:11):
shorter, sure with socks, if they wear socks it
pulls their toes a little bit,and shorter, shorter.
Oh.
So their shoes were too smallbecause they were wearing socks.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Socks weren't expressing their actual shape of
their feet properly, wow, okaywe were really surprised because
we thought, okay, there is allthis tissue of the socks and if
you wear thick tennis socks orso, the feet should be longer
with socks than without socks.
(07:42):
But they were were not.
They were even shorter.
And that's why we thought, okay, we should not only talk about
shoes like barefoot shoes orminimal shoes.
We should also talk about thesocks you wear with barefoot
shoes, for example, because ifyou have barefoot shoes with so
much space for your toes and youwere wear normal socks, it
(08:06):
doesn't make sense because thenyou're ruining your everything
you get from the shoe.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
You're just giving up again with your sock.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
That makes sense, okay, maybe.
Yeah, we did have x-rays withfeet barefoot and with feet in
the comfortable but normal socks, and what we saw is really a
huge angle with the big toe.
So if you know how many halluxvalgus operations we have right
now, this is one of the reasonswhy so many people suffer from
(08:47):
um hallux valgus and footproblems when they get older and
older and, regarding that, Ithink 98 or 99 percent of of the
children are born with healthyfeet, and when you're old, I
don't know, maybe 40 or 30percent of people have healthy
(09:09):
feet, so it's good to look atthem I just I, I looked up how
it's.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Do we both look up how?
Speaker 3 (09:17):
you do how it's followed this.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
It's a great word.
I sounded like I was like do weis a vampire attacking people's
feet?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
well, I think I've been looking at this.
I think this is something mymom did surgery for, like later
you know like it's called abunion, just a bunion well, I
feel like we had talked about itor something called hammer toes
.
Maybe that's a different thing,but yeah, where?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
you're different.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah, that's different okay, but bunions are
very common but I'm looking at apicture of this hollux valgus
and, yeah, it looks like the, itlooks like the toe.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
The big toe takes a turn where it's supposed to go
and then goes in right weird sothe right toe goes to the right
side and the left toe goes tothe left side and, um, yeah,
then sometimes the the big toeis above the second toe, because
this is such a disform,disformity, yeah yeah, yeah,
(10:13):
deformation deformation yes yeah, I'm sorry for my english.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
No, your english is awesome.
It's so great yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
So you saw this and you thought, okay, we can work
on this by changing the sock.
And then, oh nice.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Yeah, first we thought about, okay, we have to
make sure that children wearshoes that have enough space,
did this measurement and we didpress releases and educated
(10:52):
parents to really look at thespace of the shoe, that children
have at least two millimeter,12 millimeters space in the
shoes.
That's why it is called plus 12.
You need 12 millimeters ofspace in your shoes.
And after all the research andeducating parents and so on, we
came to the topic that wethought, yeah, why not making
(11:13):
socks?
Because barefoot shoes werealready invented, but this was
somehow the missing link nice?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
yeah, because if you can't fully get the benefits of
the barefoot shoes, what?
So?
I am bad with shoes.
I just wear big converse shoes.
What's a barefoot shoe?
Help help me understand where.
What is it?
What makes a shoe a barefootshoe?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I guess there is no clear definition about it, but
what we define as barefoot shoesare shoes that really have foot
shapes, so also a lot of spacewithin the toes so that shoes
are not narrow where the toesare.
So what looks nice, maybe forwomen's shoes especially, but
(12:03):
it's a question of the doses.
You should not wear these shoestoo much during a day and we
have, yeah, a huge trend forthese barefoot shoes almost no
sole, so you can feel the groundand what you're walking on and
you have much space for yourtoes.
(12:24):
Yes, that that's what barefootshoes are.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, I'm looking.
It seems like a very minimalshoe that's kind of more
foot-shaped than what I wouldsay shoe-shaped, you know?
Okay, right on.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Exactly.
Yeah, I've heard one of thedefinitions to a barefoot shoe
is like your heel is on the samelevel as the ball of your foot.
Like most padded shoes, you'reactually at a bit of an incline
and that also will crowd thetoes because the weight is even
oh sure forward, and so thetruth.
So you have to make surethere's a name for it when it's
(12:56):
totally level.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
I don't remember what it's called, though it's like
zero yes, I only know the germanterm, but but that's true.
Which?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I'm sure is fantastic .
I'm sure it's about a wordabout this long.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
No, it's short, it's called Sprengung.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Ah, sprengung Nice, Like explosion.
I thought it was going to belike heel, flat, toe-ness.
I was looking into getting somebarefoot shoes and I want to
get.
I want to get them.
But one thing I also found isthat you can get regular sort of
(13:38):
padded shoes but that just havea wide toe box and achieve some
of the same things.
Cause a lot of times, cause itdoesn't really matter if you
walk on sort of a padded surface, just as long as it's flat and
the toe box is wide.
So it's weird that there's likebarefoot shoes that are so thin
that it's really like a hardsurface that you're walking on,
but they could just make thempadded with the wide toe box.
(13:59):
I think right, wouldn't thatmake the same?
Yeah, similar effect.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
It is not so easy.
Yeah, it is not so easy.
Some have barefoot shoesbecause of the flat sole, but
have a shape like regular,normal shoes.
Others, for example for joggingor hiking, have shoes with a
huge toe box and proper sole.
(14:23):
I don't know what barefootshoes are exactly, but what we
know is that a big toe box withspace for your toes is really
healthy for your feet.
That's what we know, even fromresearch and with children, and
with adults as well.
Well, I'm definitely gonna getsome.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
I'm definitely gonna get some barefoot shoes to go
with these barefoot socks.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
That's great and um, yeah, we thought, uh, it's, it
should be easy knitting socksthis shape.
But then we had the idea in2000, 2008 or 9 and it was more
than 10 years um, we visited, um, we visited companies with
(15:09):
knitting machines in Italy, wevisit them in Germany, we visit
them in Switzerland, and weasked them could you please knit
a sock for us with foot shapeand with the big toe space?
And you cannot imagine what wegot as prototypes.
(15:29):
It was incredible if youcouldn't even think these could
be socks or so.
It was really very, very hardand took us about 10 years, and
during this time of how can wedevelop these socks.
We learned to know one knitter.
(15:52):
He's a professional knitter.
We have a tradition of knittingwith.
Knitting machines here inAustria are only a very few
(16:13):
people who know this um, whohave the abilities to to run
these machines and to work withthem.
Sure, and one of them was a guy.
His name is gunter, and weasked gunter the very first time
when we had the idea and he wasworking for a Swiss company and
he was curious about it, but hehad no time to try it.
And, yeah, every year he wascalling us and asked do you
(16:35):
already have these new socks inline with your feet?
And we said no, we couldn'tfind any company who can knit
them for us.
So, yeah, difficult, difficult,and year by year he called us
and in 2019, he said if I'mhonest, I'm looking for a new
(16:57):
job.
And we said, oh, this is ourchance.
We have to buy a knittingmachine ourselves and then try
it out and then see what happens.
And we said, okay, we do thisproject for six months and if it
does not work, okay, we forgeteverything.
We lost some money, okay, butum, we have to try it now, after
(17:18):
10 years of finding somebodyand disappointment.
And, yeah, gunther said, okay,we can do that, I will try it.
And yeah, we bought oneknitting machine in Italy and
Gunther started to knit.
And if you can imagine knittingmachines for socks, they look
(17:39):
yeah, they're big machines suretwo meters high and one meter
square, and they always knitcircular, so you have more like
sleeves that come out of themachine.
Yeah, and Günther started totry to make this the end of it,
(18:04):
because they always start withthe shaft.
Yeah, to make this the end of,because they always start with
the shaft.
Um, yeah, they tried to makethis toe in this special shape,
like feet are that was.
That was not really possible,but they were so eager to do it
that we asked a sewer if shecould maybe do it with a sewing
(18:28):
machine manually right that'swhat we tried and the outcome
was really cool and this is whyyou have the little sew in on
the top of the toes.
But that is handmade, yeah sothere is no um automized
solution for that um theknitting machines really cannot
(18:51):
do it and we have this littlehandwork, I would say, with a
sewer who sews this little umsuture above the toes three,
four and five.
The machine closes above thetoes three, four and five.
The machine closes above thetoes one and two Difficult to
explain.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Can you imagine what I'm talking about?
Yeah, because feet aren't like abig tube, but the machine is
making just a tube, so you needa fabric surgeon, I mean,
essentially, to go in there andcut it to the right shape and
then suture it back together.
That's amazing.
I'm looking at these.
While you were talking, Ipulled up the website, the it is
(19:31):
just plus 12 sockscom, and yeah, these socks have like a
different shape on the toe andthen you've got what I love is
like this big red block for thebig toe that tells you which is
left and right.
I don't have to like look, Idon't have to search or hunt on
the sock for a tiny letter.
These are beautiful.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
I also got the blue ones.
I can show you the blue ones.
This has a blue hat on the toe.
The toe tag.
Yeah, these are great socks.
I looked up, by the way, inEnglish.
What did you call it?
Schunga?
No, what was the?
We call it?
Zero drop?
Zero drop shoes are no, theheel and the ball of the shoe
(20:17):
are on the same level.
So if you want to look up azero drop shoe, and you can get
added zero drop shoes, but youcan also get minimalist zero
drop shoes.
But either way, you're going toget that benefit of the flat
surface.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Thank you, Adam.
Yeah, I looked it up as wellnow, and it is what we call the
sprengung is in my dictionarythe heel drop.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, okay, yeah, the sprengung, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
I was going to say so , Adam, so catch me up here.
I now know how the stocks cameto be.
How did you come to find thesestocks?
How did you get?
Speaker 1 (20:53):
connected with.
Well, because you know, we hadthe episode the other day on
Zootopia, right?
So that's this concept that I'minventing, which is where we
should build society so that itfits harmoniously with human
human nature as human nature, asfar as we understand human
nature.
I mean, there's a theory,there's mysterious things about
(21:14):
it that we don't understand, butthere's certain things we do
understand, one of which is theshape of our feet.
We know what the shape of ourfeet are and therefore a great
example of potential zookosiswhich is the damage that animals
receive in zoos is zookosis isto wear, to cripple our own feet
(21:36):
with shoe wear and sock wear.
That doesn't actually fit ourown biology and our own nature,
and it makes it's tremendous.
It's almost sad or kind oftragic that there would be this
such a wide proliferation, sowide and so common that people
can't even understand it.
It has to be on a podcast aboutcompletely new ideas to just
(22:00):
say wear socks and shoes thatare the shape of your feet,
you'll be healthier your wholelife.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
You saying it's 2024?
We should stop like crammingour bodies into like weird like
weird containers.
It's all start makingcontainers that fit the way we
are actually shaped.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Yeah, people are like let's make ais that can totally
, you know, do everything, andI'm like how do we just make
like socks that fit our feet,like let's just go back to
basics.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
No, no, we have to teach the computers how to paint
pictures and write poetry.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
So that we don't have to do that.
What, yeah?
So I just so I thought, okay, Iknew barefoot shoes and I knew
wide toe box shoes, but I don'tknow.
Something in my brain was likewhat about socks?
And so then then I Googled thatand you guys were the first
thing that came up, or at leastI found you very rapidly, and I
thought that is so damn cool.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
And, Adam, how did you Google that?
Were you like I need socks formy feet?
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Like, what did you?
I think I was something likeand I don't know what.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
I left right and it's no, it was no.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I was thinking more along the terms of anatomically
correct socks.
All right yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Yeah, when we started I was really not sure if this
is going to work, because I waslike, who cares about what shape
their socks have?
So it was really maybe this wasgoing to end up in a disaster.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Well, I was going to say, but I'm guessing you found
out exactly who cares abouttheir socks being left and right
.
What groups have you found thatare super passionate about?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
There is really a huge fan group for these
barefoot shoes now.
And of course I can definitelybelieve it, and we have a
company fromany that's wildlingor wildling, I don't know how
you say that and then, um, yeah,they noticed that we make socks
(23:59):
and, um, they were reallyunbelievable.
Now we have the right socks forthese shoes, and they expanded
to the us as well.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
So so you could partner with shoe companies,
yeah, or?
Speaker 3 (24:14):
I think another company named soft star shoes.
They make barefoot shoes andthey got really curious and
noticed okay, there is somebodyin austria producing socks for
these, for these, I bet youcould do some great partnerships
with them so they sell plus 12socks now and we were really
(24:36):
surprised because hey, what'sgoing on?
Why do we sell socks to the us?
Why is there adam?
In california who sends us?
Yeah, who wants to have oursocks?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
we're just three people here in austria sounds
like you're gonna have a lotmore people soon and or you're
gonna get compete.
You know your competitorsbecause I think this is
definitely gonna take off.
You did you see just last week,lebron james foot, did you?
See no, no, unfortunately notso lebron james foot went viral
(25:11):
because his toes are mashed upyeah, you're showing a picture.
I kind of wish you wouldn'ttotally mashed up and this, this
, this, this picture went viral.
He's just walking on the beachand he has those shoes on and
someone snapped a picture andand somebody just grabbed it and
and and blew up the foot andhis foot is all mashed up
because he's been wearing nikes.
(25:33):
Right, he has like a nike deal,and so he wears these shoes
that come to a point right onthe toe and then he's
professional?
Speaker 2 (25:41):
yeah, and they're.
They lace them up super tightbecause they're like we want to
feel.
You know, feel your foot righton the court, right.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
So this went viral and Tanya you guys on your
social media should post aboutthis and be like hey, look at
LeBron James' foot, send himsome socks.
Just send LeBron James somesocks.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
I just wanted to ask you if you can call him and send
him some socks.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Oh, I'm sorry, you guys have brunch every yeah.
Yeah, we have brunch.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Occasionally well, not every sunday come on, but
you know, yeah, like at onceevery other sunday maybe.
Yeah, he invites me up to thehouse, no big deal, I fly out,
you know to wherever he.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I don't know where, I didn't I didn't know, his toes
look like that now I feel like Imight be able to take him in a
game of one-on-one like maybe Ihave because my toes are better,
maybe I'd have a chance againstlebron.
So, tanya, has this journeyturned you into a barefoot shoe
wearer?
Have you become someone whowears only, or mostly, barefoot
(26:39):
shoes?
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I do.
I walk barefoot as often aspossible, um, and I also wear
barefoot shoes, and now I wearthem for three or four years, I
would say, and I really cannotimagine I've been wearing other
shoes before.
Okay, sometimes, if I go out inthe evening and it is really a
(27:03):
special evening or something Iwear beautiful women's shoes but
um yeah you should always tryto have something like the
contrast on the next day andthen only walk barefoot or so,
so that the toes can reallyreshape or have.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah, can feel free again yeah, you, you're like for
special times.
I will torture my feet just fora little while, but then I will
.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
That's just for special times.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
For Oscar nomination or something, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
So here's another sign of zookosis so we talked
about bunions are a sign ofwearing the wrong type of
footwear.
And not just wearing the wrongtype of footwear, but the right
type of footwear barely.
Not just the wearing the wrongtype of footwear, but the right
type of footwear barely evenbeing available in stores.
Like you can't even really getit unless you really learn oh, I
need a barefoot shoe with awide toe.
Like you have to go in with amission right, when it should be
(27:59):
the default.
Like the default should be thisshoe is healthy for your foot,
right.
Instead it's the default isthis shoe will damage your foot
over time.
You know it's like.
It's like.
You know it's like every kidgets a cigarette when they turn
16.
You know, like why are we doingthis?
Speaker 2 (28:16):
you know now, what about wooden wooden shoes, like
those dutch wooden shoes?
Are those good for your feet,do you think?
I mean, I guess it would dependon how skillful the carver is,
but I I google they don't lookparticularly comfortable, anyway
.
Well, I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
As long as you have 12 millimeters of space in front
and as long as they are.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
And with wooden shoes .
If they're too small, you canjust like get in there and, like
you know, carve out a littlebit more of the space in the
front.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
You're like all right , here we go Also.
Fact.
I bit more of the space in thefront.
You're like all right, here wego also fact.
I don't know.
This is not an austria fact,this is a holland fact.
But the word sabotage comesactually from sabbats, which are
the wooden shoes of dot ofholland, and those are called
sabbats.
That's the name of the shoes,really.
And yeah, and the saboteurswould throw their wooden shoes
(29:06):
into the machinery of themechanical looms that were
replacing weavers, and so theywere called saboteurs.
They threw their sabots fromthrowing wooden shoes.
Yeah, I did smashing themachines with their wooden shoes
, yeah see, tanya.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
I'm so glad I have adam here, because I would never
know that.
How would I ever buy that out,if not for this show?
Speaker 1 (29:27):
but tanya has to be careful, because you guys have
an, a weaving machine, you havea knitting machine, so there
could be a saboteur who comesthrough you better.
Yeah, be careful.
Don't let any wooden shoes inthe door.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
That person is going to have a hard time blending it,
like you've got a whole companyof people with like barefoot
shoes and one person just you'relike is that?
Who is that cock?
You're like, is that?
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Who is that guy?
Speaker 2 (29:49):
No, I'm one of you, it's okay.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
I am Dutch and they're Dutch too, so they're
really tall.
They're really tall.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
You're like what is this really tall guy covering
here?
Speaker 1 (30:01):
So what's next for Plus?
I mean, it sounds like you guysare small, so what's next is to
grow and do those partnershipswith barefoot shoe companies and
getting to running runningstores all over the country, and
put it put it do a social mediapost about lebron james speak.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Send lebron james is that the next?
Speaker 1 (30:20):
goal is to grow, or or do you guys have other kind
of missions, missions?
Speaker 3 (30:24):
yeah, we.
I think we have other kinds ofmissions.
Growing is not the thingbecause, as you now know, we are
just one man who can deal withthese knitting machines we have.
We have three, four of theseknitting machines and one like
an old timer from the 1970s andthat makes very special socks
(30:48):
like grandmothers knit withthose people that make the best
thing yeah, the best I mean I'mnow.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
I'm loving my socks.
I'm like oh man, gunter madethese for me.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
They're like a personal gift, right and um, we
don't know any other people whocan knit and we have these one,
two ladies that sue the suitorin front of the toes and it's
definitely not easy to findpeople who can do it.
(31:17):
And we definitely want to stayhere in austria and do it in
austria and we do as much as wecan, but we're not interested in
expanding.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Okay, nice, Well, that's good.
This is a very contrary to.
I live in San Francisco, so youknow that's our culture in San
Francisco.
As soon as we have a good idea.
The idea is okay a billionunits.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Keep it small, keep it good.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Yeah, that's great, so refreshing to just say we're
just going to make socks.
That's great, so refreshing tojust say we're just going to
make socks.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
That's so lovely.
Yes, and as long as you sellsome of them and it works, so
far, it must not be maximizingprofit for us.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
So Well, yeah, now I feel like a real chump wearing
my like my normal socks rightnow.
I kind of want to, and I cansee that.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
I can see the custom sewing.
I can see the custom sewinghere on the, on the, on the edge
, and you can see how themachine does.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
it does it over the big toe and the next toe and
then you can exactly yeah,that's beautiful, yeah, amazing,
amazing it was also when weknow how the you have to make
this curve around about this toenumber three, four and five,
(32:32):
because we've been drawing, Ithink, thousands of children's
feet when we measured them.
So yeah, that's why we know theshape exact shape to go for.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
So, adam, when you bought these socks, did you go
to the plus 12 socks website ordid you yeah?
Speaker 1 (32:56):
yeah, I just put on the website.
But I mean, you know, it waslike it was like eight or ten
dollars.
Actually that's not even veryexpensive.
It was like regular price fornice high-end socks and then,
and then the shipping was like Idon't know six, eight dollars
or something yeah, that's what Iwas gonna say is it was.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
It didn't sound like it was any problem to just put
it in.
It translates the currency.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Yeah, you have a it was all super easy, yeah, and
the sizing was perfect.
It came because they'reeuropean sizing, so you can get
the exact millimeter length ofyour foot, and then it gives you
the exact size, so you can'tget it wrong.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
And then you went through that whole process
without telling me, just so thattoday you can make me feel bad
because you could hold up thesocks and say look, scott, I
have better socks than you do.
Okay, well, it worked.
Good job, it worked.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Mission accomplished Adam.
We want to create sock jealousyDone Sock jealousy, sock envy
accomplished adam.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
We want to create sock jealousy done sock jealousy
, and what you don't know, scottwhat you don't know at the
moment, scott, is that there isa little dot on the heel as well
and because we are very awareabout do the socks really fit?
And if you have children andthey grow, you can see when the
dot moves under the heel.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
These socks are too short and maybe squeeze your
toes because they they childrenare grown out of them yeah, I
love that because, yeah, it'strue I have the instructions
here I have a 10 year olddaughter and, yeah, her trying
to make sure she has the rightsize feet and socks and or shoes
and socks.
It's a constant challenge.
So I love that, the little, thelittle guide at the back, and
(34:28):
as soon as it's not in the rightspot anymore, you're like oh,
time for a new time for a newsize can I tell you one more
word, because?
Speaker 3 (34:35):
of the price.
We we have a special pricephilosophy because, as you
mentioned, they're more, maybe alittle bit more expensive than
the very cheap asian socks youcan get I don't know 10 pairs
for two dollars or so.
So our socks are now about 15,I guess, for adults and 10 or
(34:57):
less for kids, and that's whatwe always wanted.
We wanted to keep the price forkids' socks under $10 and make
it affordable for everybody asgood as we can.
And we want to stick this priceand that's why the socks for
adults are 15 euros or so,because we want to keep the
(35:21):
socks for kids cheap, andsometimes you have $1 more for
adult socks because of thatright, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
You know I'm actually looking to.
I'm totally off base.
I'm looking at like, forexample, other like wool sock,
because you guys sell woolcotton and this other fabric I
didn't know called pencil pencilright pencil, which is really
nice.
It's like a, it's like a verythin, strong sort of stiff
fabric that I like a lot.
Um, but the wool socks if youcompare apples to apples with,
(35:53):
like another high-end wool sockcompany, their socks are 24 for
one pair.
So you guys are actually muchmore affordable than than than
that, so I would say veryaffordable.
I mean, yeah, these guys are-.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Well, and I love the philosophy of keeping the kid's
socks at a certain level becauseas a parent, those prices add
up and you're like, I keep mysocks until I wear holes in them
and they fall off my feet.
But kids outgrow their stuffquick and you need to know, like
you're saying, with the heeldot, you need to know when it's
too small, and then you alsoneed to be switching this stuff
(36:28):
out.
So keeping them price you know,not not having to pay for a new
set of everything at a highprice every time.
That I love that.
That's apparent.
That's beautiful from my earsthank you how cool.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Well, should we wrap up here, guys?
I feel like this we've justlike blown everybody's socks off
.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
That's an expression is that an expression in german,
or probably?
Speaker 1 (36:53):
not, I don't know, I don't think so are there any
stock-based expressions?
Yeah, expressions.
Okay, what are some expressions?
Speaker 3 (37:02):
yeah, for example, I'm really mad about it
something but it literally meansout of the socks.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Oh, yeah, I'm out of my socks, that's, I'm really mad
about something yeah, nice, orI'm.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
I'm so happy with that.
Yeah, I'm really excited, soany kind of any kind of extreme.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Yeah, if I've been fun, fun then suck him exactly
okay great, I'm right out of mysocks yeah, I was not brave
enough to try that myself.
Yeah, very cool.
Well, I have been blown out ofmy socks by this and I I could
see myself probably getting someleft right socks in the very
(37:46):
near future.
So, plus 12 socks.
And, tanya, I'm so happy youwere able to join us today.
Thank you again for coming onand telling us about your
amazing product.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yeah, this is fantastic.
I didn't even know about it.
This is the solution right outof the multiverse, but it's our
verse.
It's right here in our universe.
It's just in a tiny mountaintown in Austria.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Yeah, we're just stealing Tanya's actual solution
.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
We're not doing any work ourselves.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
this time it's been very nice.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
You better watch out, tanya.
The orders are going to pour infrom the solutions, from the
multiverse.
Bump, yeah, the bump.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
I'm joking.
Yeah, I would check the emailsince.
Great great.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
We don great, great.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
We don't have enough.
We might have a significantnumber of sock heads out there.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
We actually haven't talked to our audience about
that specific.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Everyone who's listening, everyone should go
and order a pair of socks andjust totally blow, totally blow,
tanya and gunter away.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
That'd be so fun so yes, I think I have to check if
I got an email from libra jamesin order yep you could have the
stripy ones.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
I think he would like the stripy ones.
Oh my gosh, do you know how bigLeBron James feet are?
Poor Gunter, we have up to size50.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
You might have to have Gunter make a custom.
A custom, actually, that'd becool to make a LeBron James size
and maybe make and then sendthem to him as a gift here.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
Basketball player edition.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
Yeah, great.
Well thank you guys, everybodyThanks for joining us.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
We will be here again next week, but, tanya, thank
you again for joining us.
I really appreciate this andthis has been fantastic
conversation.
It's been fun.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Thank you, bye, bye.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
And everyone.
Fantastic conversation, it'sbeen fun.
Thank you, bye-bye.
And everyone plus 12 socks,yeah, bye-bye.
Well, that was cool, oh my god,cool, right.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Yeah, this is the like zookosis, and how in?
Speaker 2 (39:38):
application and how did you get in touch with her?
Did you just reach out to thecompany?
I?
Speaker 1 (39:42):
just emailed them and said, hey, come be on our
podcast.
And they like said, okay, lookat you buying european socks, I
know, and you know it actuallyis quite affordable when you
compare it to comparable sort ofhigh-end socks in america well,
now you could write it off as apodcast expense.
Very clever, yes, very cleverit was 45 euros for three pairs,
(40:03):
and then they threw an extrapair in, so it was only like $10
a pair total, even withshipping.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
I mean, that's good for good local socks, that's a
steal.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
These are handmade by Gunter.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Yeah, look at that.
They look weird because you'renot used to seeing socks that
are boxed to look like actuallylook like foot, yeah yeah, yeah,
the heel is really weird lookat that.
But if you, you've put these on, you've worn them around now.
I'm wearing them right now andthey're they're dope.
You like them?
Yeah, they're great.
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