At John’s Crazy Socks, a design contest

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Farmingdale-based John’s Crazy Socks has announced its fourth annual sock design contest.

The company is nowaccepting entries. The first-place winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize, and have their sock design produced and available for sale on the firm’s online.

A selected charity partner will receive 10% of the profits from the sales of this new sock, as part of the company’s giving-back program. Second and third-place winners will receive a $100 and $50 John’s Crazy Socks gift certificate, respectively, and a feature on the company’s social media platforms.

“Our customers have great ideas for socks,” John Cronin, co-founder of John’s Crazy Socks, said in a news. “I can’t wait to see the designs they will submit for our contest.”

The contest deadline for entry submissions is Aug. 15. For all rules and to enter, visit the sock design contest webpage.

Applicants do not need any prior graphic design or art experience. To enter the contest, individuals must be 18 years and older and must create their own designs. For those ages 17 and under, applications must be submitted by a parent or guardian. Outside trademarked designs will not be accepted.

“Our annual sock design contest is a way to personally connect with our wonderful customers. It also provides them with an avenue to highlight charities and organizations that are important to them. As a social enterprise, we are always looking to collaborate and give back to charities around the world,” Mark Cronin, co-founder of John’s Crazy Socks, said in the news release.

Last year, the winning design came from Jerome Scriptunas of Freehold, New Jersey, who put tree images on a sock, inspiring the company’s Plant Trees Athletic Crew Socks. Those socks support John’s Crazy Socks’ new charity partner, the New York Restoration Project, a nonprofit nature conservancy stewarding parks, community gardens, and green space throughout New York City.

In 2022, Erin and Bear Bonner designed the Wheels on Fire socks that have become a customer favorite. Those socks support the Viscardi Center. The inaugural 2021 winner, Sierra Sapack, designed ASL I Love You socks using images from American Sign Language, which raise money for the Lexington School for the Deaf.

John’s Crazy Socks is a social enterprise founded by a young man with Down syndrome and his father.

To date, the company has created 34 jobs, with over half of their employees having a differing ability. They have raised more than $750,000 for numerous charity partners.