Sock-fluencer Gia Seo’s Selfies and Style Takes

I worked at Vogue before all of the intern laws came into place, so it was an incredible learning experience, but it taught me that everyone who’s coming up underneath me has a very different work experience than my generation, who is now like, 27-35. I was literally everyone’s bitch. It was the total stereotype of what I thought working for a fashion company would be like. But it taught me how to manage a team in a mutually beneficial way. Everyone who comes on my team, I try really hard to make sure they’re getting the same learning experience that I wanted to get when I was growing up. In that sense it was more of a positive than a negative.

A couple years ago I overheard a conversation between two bloggers and one of them was talking about targeted influencing. She was saying, “I figured I would get more money and brands to send me stuff if I could target what type of influencer I was. Now I only say I’m a ready-to-wear influencer, so I don’t take accessories or food and drinks.” From there I was like, “Alright Gia, what target market are you trying to hit here?” I wasn’t allowed to buy luxury growing up, but with socks, it was this tradition I had with my mom. One day I changed my title to sock influencer to see if brands and consumers were going to take this seriously, or understand my humor, and it turned out I was taken very seriously. That proved to me that it’s really easy to sell yourself on social media with a very simple idea.

I grew up playing sports, so the only cure I would do is Tiger Balm if I had aching feet or ice baths if I was running for long periods of time. I guess a pedicure like once every six months is really nice. [Laughs]

I have to walk 10 blocks to drop off my laundry and even then, I will drop off straight up Proenza leather jackets, but not socks. It’s an awful mentality but I’m like, “I can always replace this jacket, but I cannot find these silk tie-dye socks that were indigo dyed upstate in New York from this luxury brand in Paris.” Unless they’re sportswear socks, and even then sometimes I’m like, “these Nike ones are too cool to give to the laundromat.” I love stiff, structured socks. Crunchy clean. Not like, “These are my lucky basketball socks and I haven’t washed them in 10 years.” More like, “Alright, there’s starch because Gia washed them so god damn well in the sink and was able to use that nice corn starch that her mom sent her from Korea.”

Usually brands don’t send me something without emailing first, but one day my assistant calls me and he’s like “Hey, you received this random box from China.” You know those cushions you wear at the airport, those neck pillows? It was that, attached to two circular velcro straps that were really long, and another velcro strap attached to socks. I was so confused so we googled the mailer to see if we knew them and it turned out it was just some random person promoting sex toys. That was probably the weirdest sock combination I’d ever received. I can receive anything from like 0-400 pairs in a month.

I’ve had people contact my business email being like, “Hey, just curious, how much would we have to pay you to send us a pair of socks you’ve worn playing basketball?” I haven’t played basketball in like 10 years, and it might take me another 10 to find those socks... Or people being like, “Hey babe, I would love to lather your feet up,” and I’m like, “Do you think I’d be a sock influencer if I had gross feet?” Come on guys, let’s be a little more unique with these DMs.

Texture reporting is something I was doing for fun on my stories, because as someone who is considered part of the influencer game, it becomes really saturated and superficial. At one point I was like, “I’m not even selling myself as a brand, I’m selling everything about myself. I’m too old for this shit honestly.” I wanted something that was my own, personal to me that I wasn’t being paid or sponsored to talk about. That came with texture, it’s something that was at the forefront of how I got into fashion. I remember sitting in my mom’s closet, even before seeing the actual fabrics, closing my eyes and running my hands through that cloth. For me, everything is about quality over quantity.

I’ve realized bloggers will meet and coordinate their outfits so when they’re walking down the street they’re the color of the rainbow, or all pastel pink based off what WGSN said was the trend this season. One of my friends is a very famous blogger and she told me recently that brands will now send collections and money to these bloggers so they don’t actually have to go to the shows. They’ll figure, “If this show is happening downtown, this corner is where all the street style photographers will be for the start of the show,” and they’ll go with their friends, get their photos taken on that street, and hop into an Uber and go to the next show. My friend was telling me she can make upwards of $70,000 in a week doing that. That’s a business.

Woolmark is one of my favorite merino wool companies because they’re the only 100% sustainably sourced merino wool in the world, and they support a lot of young knitwear designers for the Woolmark prize that promotes sustainability as well. Some brands that I really love, like PH5, two girls from China who are at the forefront of technologically-induced knitwear, leave zero footprint in the industry. Everything is made digitally in a tech pack and only sourced if someone purchases it. It’s direct-to-consumer marketing, which I think is probably the future of buying anyways. Being born and raised in Alaska, I’ve literally watched our glaciers melt and our fish leave because the water is getting so cold. I feel blessed that I grew up in a place where I could physically see it, people were talking about sustainability at all times. In New York I feel like it’s such a trend-heavy word and people love to throw the term out there but they don’t really know what they’re saying.

Having clean socks makes a world of difference because a lot of diseases on the street start with your feet, maybe not having clean shoes or socks for a long period of time. The very simple act of donating pairs of clean Hanes socks, you would be surprised by how much more beneficial that could be than even something like a thermal shirt that can keep you warm. Every year I go to the Bowery Mission in New York and I donate a ton of socks. In order to truly be an influencer, at the heart of that word for me, is someone who is influencing the culture in the most positive way, using their platform to educate their viewers in making a positive impact in the world.