John's Crazy Socks opens bigger warehouse

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. - John's Crazy Socks, a sock store with over 4,000 pairs to choose from, is celebrating the grand opening of its new Farmingdale headquarters.

For John Bleecker, it's a paying job. 

"When I first started working here I felt really excited," he said. 

Chelsie Fonseca tells us when she's at work, she feels like she fits in. 

"This really means a lot to me to connect with people who are like me," she said. 

And Masoom Syed said working there "feels like I achieved something."

The three young adults work at John's Crazy Socks, said to be the world's largest sock store.

A bigger warehouse means founders John Cronin and his dad Mark can further their mission of hiring people with differing abilities.

"We knew we could grow the business but we didn't know we'd grow this fast and this large," co-founder Mark said.

Back in 2016, John, who has Down syndrome, dreamed of starting a sock business. He and his dad launched an online store and quickly went from fulfilling 60 orders a day to well over a thousand with some 4,000 sock designs to choose from. 

"We've been able to create 34 jobs, 22 held by people with different abilities, raised over $500,000 for our charity partners, and shipped over 380,000 packages to 88 different countries," Mark said. 

Each order has a picture of the person who personally packed it. Down syndrome, autism awareness, and food-themed socks are some of the most popular. Prices start at $5 and go up to $25 for the compression socks.

"It's so great, wonderful, the new place," John said. 

With now hundreds of orders a day, it is hard for John to personally write letters to each one of his customers like he once used to. He does, however, still manage to do home deliveries to local customers as a way to say thank you for supporting his business. 

"Don't be blinded by a person's limitations," Mark said. "Be awed by their possibilities." 

And if there's one thing John has proven, it's anything is possible as he vows to continue spreading happiness one pair of socks at a time.