Alumnus fights preventable blindness by selling mismatched socks

Thanks to two Chapel Hill alumni, fashionable socks now serve a greater purpose than providing style and warmth to our toes.

Roger Nahum, class of 2009, and Match du Toit, class of 2008, are the CEO and president of Socks With a Purpose, or SWAP Socks. They founded the organization in 2014 with Cole Page, the company’s CTO.

According to the company’s website, the trio’s mission is to “[break] the conventional mold of matching socks, while raising awareness and aid for the global eye health epidemic.”

The socks are sold in packs of four, with the option to swap the socks around and create up to six different pairs.

After being inspired by someone who had a vision impairment, Nahum began working for Prevent Blindness, an American eye health and safety group. While volunteering, he thought of his own method to spread awareness: SWAP Socks.

Blind people do not have the ability to distinguish, or even see, socks.

“I told myself that if I could find a way to create something of my own with substance that provides value in a lot of areas, I was going to do it,” Nahum said.

80 percent of all sales go directly toward providing eye care to an individual in need.

The company hopes to expand its enterprise and, eventually, create more products that give meaning to popular fashion.

“We think that there is a lot of power in what we are creating, so, why stop at just socks and vision?” Nahum said.

jmnicotra@students.chccs.k12.nc.us