Swiftwick Vision BUGS socks are cool, funny and help a great cause, the Friends of Warner Parks Urban Nature Program. That’s an awesome collaboration we here at TVO enjoy seeing.
Racheal Hubarth, Swiftwick’s Brand Marketing Manager, leads the company’s charitable and philanthropic efforts. Swiftwick is based in Franklin, which is south of Nashville, and the Friends of Warner Parks is a solid group doing good things in the area. The BUGS socks were designed by children in the parks’ Urban Nature Program. A portion of sales goes to support the program. Hubarth said the company in the last year or so has begun to focus on fewer organizations and more awareness about them.
“We had a long relationship with Friends of Warner Parks, which is the largest parks system in central Tennessee,” she told TVO. “They have a specific program called Pen Pals and Urban Nature Detectives. Our main philanthropic mission is for people to be their best and doing things outdoors, and focusing on youth. Pin Pals focuses on underserved youth in Central Tennessee. Some of these kids never have been to a park before.
“They have after-school programs, and in summer they have camps. Before Covid hit, there were full overnight camps with the camp experience. After, it went to more of a day camp system. We have been supporting them officially since April 2021 and support through quarterly donations. We also donate a significant amount of our team volunteering time to them.”
Buzz on the Socks
The limited edition Vision BUGS socks have hand-drawn bug designs by the students of Friends of Warner Parks Urban Nature Program. About 50 students had the opportunity to draw one bug inspired by their adventures outdoors. The Swiftwick team digitized every image on the 360° printed VISION Impression BUGS socks. All sales of the BUGS socks will go back to the Urban Nature Program.
“Last year we were thinking about different ideas and thought, why not come up with a cool sock idea?” Hubarth said. “We urged the kids to go outside, do some outdoors exploration, find inspiration for their bug drawings, and then come back inside to draw their bug. We were able to get all of them into the design on the 6-inch sock cuff. Our creative team does the designing. It’s rare to have such a custom project. Often we have something simple, maybe a stripe or a pattern that is more easily replicated. Our designer had to digitize the drawings, put them on the socks, and then move them around to make them all fit. It was challenging.”
Swiftwick makes a wide variety of wool and synthetic socks for a range of sporting activities.
About Friends of Warner Parks
The Friends of Warner Parks is a Nashville-based nonprofit organization that connects underserved youth with nature through hands-on activities and camps like hiking, kayaking and birding. Students are encouraged to listen, observe and wonder. Swiftwick’s BUGS sock was inspired by the desire to share the work of this organization with a much larger audience, highlight the discoveries and passion of the kids benefiting from the Urban Nature Program, and continue to give back in a big way.
“It is truly a joy to work in the field with these students every day, introducing them to the intricacies of their natural surroundings, from what they find outside, to what they eat and how their food grows,” Betty Krogman, Urban Naturalist at Warner Park Nature Center, said. “This sock project perfectly captures the thoughtful wildlife observation, insect discovery, and arts and crafts that this program is built on.”
Swiftwick partners with the Friends of Warner Parks Urban Nature Program through financial support and volunteering efforts, helping to maintain camping areas as well as assisting in facilitating summer programs and extracurricular activities during the school year. The BUGS sock can be found here: www.swiftwick.com/collections/vision
