#SocksForACause

It’s hard to imagine not being able to change into clean, dry socks if the ones you were wearing happened to get wet. It’s even harder to imagine that instead of being able to wash your feet and put on a clean pair of socks, you were forced to sleep in those wet, dirty socks.

But this is a reality for many homeless people up and down the UK.

Trench foot is caused by prolonged exposure to cold, wet and dirty conditions. The condition is largely associated with World War I, but 100 years since the war ended, trench foot has made its way into our homeless communities.

Homeless people are more vulnerable to trench foot as they often wear the same pair of socks for weeks or months on end, which become damp with sweat after walking for miles every day. They then sleep in their damp footwear - either to keep warm, or through fear of their socks and shoes being stolen - and have limited access to clean, dry socks and no means to treat their sore, blistered feet.

We recently took to the streets of Manchester to see if the public knew about this…
  

We’re passionate about making a difference - so we’ve launched our #socksforacause campaign to raise awareness for this problem, and encourage people to donate socks to homeless charities.

A national issue

We’ve recently witnessed, with great concern, that as the issue of homelessness grows - so does the issue of trench foot. We regularly support a number of different charities, but we wanted do something about this particular issue that would have the greatest impact.

Earlier this year we donated a year’s supply (20,000 pairs!) of socks to five homeless charities across Greater Manchester. Our donation has massively helped rough sleepers in Greater Manchester, but there are many more homeless people in cities up and down the UK who desperately need access to clean, dry socks.

Help us help the homeless

Despite being one of the most-needed, socks are one of the least-donated items to homeless charities - further increasing the homeless community’s vulnerability to this wartime condition.

As well as speaking to the people of Manchester, we also recently conducted a survey, asking more than 700 people to rank a range of items based on what they thought homeless people needed the most. The results highlighted the public’s distinct lack of awareness for this growing issue, with respondents ranking socks as one of the items least needed by homeless people.

It’s time to make a change.

Help us to raise awareness and eliminate this bygone condition from our streets, by sharing our video on social media with #socksforacause. Be sure to tag SOCKSHOP.