Tell us about yourself?
I am Sean Page, one third of Honey Dog Clothing. I work with Rob Hancock and Jay McNeill, and between us we sell Funky Chunky Socks. I personally oversee the online portion of the business focusing on raising brand awareness and improving our online presence, Rob develops and maintains our website and Jay grew up working around the markets of London and manages the market stalls.

What is your business and what prompted you to follow this path?
Honey Dog Clothing focuses on handmade clothing, selling only the highest quality hand knitted garments that are made by our UK-based team of Mums, Grandmas, Girlfriends and Aunts. The business began with a single market stall on Netil Market in London and, following the overwhelming response we had from our Funky Chunky Socks, we decided to develop this into an established handmade clothing brand. We have two arms of our business:


Markets – We have two market stalls and are currently negotiating a third. You can find our original market stall on Saturdays at Netil Market (London Fields, London). The feedback we had from our customers at Netil Market gave us the support we needed to build our business. We set up a second market at the Sunday UpMarket on Brick Lane, London and are in the progress of starting a third at the craft market in Cambridge.

Online – We’re very much in our infancy selling online. Our products are available online exclusively through WowThankYou and we intend on adding to the collection available, including a new range of super chunky ponchos. We plan on running competitions and trying to create a more engaging experience with Honey Dog Clothing online.

Describe your product range
Our main product line is Funky Chunky Socks. These are some of the thickest, warmest woollen socks you can buy! All of our socks are knitted by hand by our team of Mums, Grandmas, Girlfriends and Aunts. Our socks range in size, style and thickness, with our chunkiest socks keeping your toes cosy on the coldest of mornings. These super thick socks feel great on your feet and are a surprisingly comfortable replacement for slippers! Our thinner socks are still a lot warmer than your average sock but make a welcome addition throughout the year.


This week our team of needle ninjas have been working on a new range of woollen ponchos. We are currently in the process of photographing a selection of these great ponchos to bring over to WowThankYou. The ponchos range in size, style and thickness and the small selection that were initially produced have already almost sold out as friends snap them up for Christmas presents!


All of our handmade products are knitted with the finest quality lamb’s wool. When we first began knitting socks we experimented with different types of wool and yarn, but based on feedback from our customers it was clear that lamb’s wool offered the thickest, warmest and most durable of garments whilst still remaining comfortable on your skin.

Where do you make your products (home, studio etc)?
All of our products are handmade by the Honey Dog clothing team, lovingly put together in living rooms, kitchens, studies, studios, workplaces, on train journeys and anywhere else they get a quick 5 minutes to do some knitting! We saw a talent among close friends and family and decided it would be a waste for this talent not to go appreciated. This being the case we gathered up a team of dedicated knitters and haven’t looked back since.

How is business?
As temperatures continue to plummet our market stalls have been seeing more and more customers wishing to fend off the cold, with repeat customers bringing back hordes of friends having seen the socks and wanting to get some for themselves. Netil Market maintains a friendly local customer base whereas Brick Lane is exposing our brand to new people that travel from around the country. Recently we had a buyer from a high street brand whose interest was peaked by the quality of the socks and is desperate to see the ponchos! The online section of the business is still developing but with the continued support of Tracey at WowThankYou we have high expectations for Honey Dog Clothing to continue to grow online.

How do you promote your work? Is it purely online, or do you attend shows/exhibitions, stock stores/galleries…?
Honey Dog Clothing is currently doing research into showcasing our work at craft exhibitions. We regularly keep customers and friends up to date with new products and pictures of the market stalls and products on Facebook and our own website (shameless plug). We’re also running a prize draw on our website at the moment, offering customers the chance to win one of our six handmade Christmas stockings with one lucky winner receiving a free pair of Funky Chunky Socks of his or her choice.

Have you had any famous customers? If yes, can you tell us more?
We’ve seen a few celebrities around our markets in London, most notably Dappy from the band N-Dubz and Peaches Geldof. I personally think it’s the look of our market stall, it’s plastered with a mosaic of socks of all different shapes colours and sizes and I don’t think anyone can walk past and resist having a feel!

Where would you like your business to be 5 years from now?
At Honey Dog Clothing we don’t like to plan too far into the future, we like to take things one step at a time whilst bearing our next step in mind. Despite that, 5 years from now we all have high hopes of expanding into more markets across the UK, and developing a solid online presence. Although I’m not sure how our small but dedicated team of needle workers will cope so if you know any talented knitters, do get in touch!

What has been your business highlight so far?
I think the highlight so far was our first weekend at the Sunday UpMarket on Brick Lane. Being such a high profile and somewhat trendy market, we were unsure of the reception we were going to get. However as soon as we set up it was clear to see that people loved the product, Jay even got accosted walking from the van to the stall by people wanting to rummage through his box of socks!

What one piece of advice would you give to someone looking to set up a business similar to your own?
Firstly listen to your customers – get some prototypes together and see what people think of your product. It was the feedback from our customers that let us know we had something that was popular and motivated us to develop the business. Most importantly however – have fun! Running your handmade businesses shouldn’t be a chore, you should enjoy doing it. Now don’t get me wrong, I could do with not getting up at 5am every Sunday to make the haul to London, but once I’m there I love the atmosphere of the market and speaking with so many different people. I think that as soon as it becomes a chore then maybe its time to revaluate your strategy.


Just for fun …

Tell us a joke (keep it clean) to make us smile
Did you hear about the elephant with diarrhoea?

It’s all over town

Best book you’ve ever read, and why?
Lord of the Flies by William Golding. I think it’s a fantastic book on so many levels, but overall as a revealing exploration into the dark side of man.

Favourite song of all time?
Sympathy for the Devil – Rolling Stones

Pets – cat or dog?
I’ve grown up with both Cats and Dogs so I’m fond of both, although I’m not fond of how cats like to sit just outside of where you can reach yet still expect to be stroked!


Holiday – trekking in Himalayas or shopping in Dubai?
Definitely trekking in the Himalayas. There are so many amazing and truly awe-inspiring places to visit around the world, I wouldn’t say no to an afternoon lounging by the pool though!

Honey Dog Clothing’s products can be viewed in their online store.