The Huntington Town Board congratulated the founders of John’s Crazy Socks, which was cited recently as a winner of a national accounting firm’s Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.
The Melville company was founded two years ago by Huntington residents Mark X. Cronin and his son, John, upon John’s graduation from high school. John, who has Down Syndrome, had said he wanted to go into business with his father, and they settled on one capitalizing on John’s fondness for unusual socks. the firm has grown into one that produced $5.5 million in revenue in its second year, selling 2,300 varieties of socks and receiving more than 20,000 online reviews.
More than half of its workforce has differing abilities, and through videos, social media and speaking engagements, the Cronins demonstrate what persons with differing abilities can do.
The company also pledges 5 percent of its earnings to the Special Olympics and donates money from their Awareness and Charity sock lines to other charity partners, including more than $300,000 for the National Down Syndrome Society, the Autism Society of America and the Williams Syndrome Association, among other groups. Mark and John Cronin have spread their message of maximizing potential and social consciousness through speaking engagements across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
In June, the accounting firm Ernst & Young presented John’s Crazy Socks with one of its 2019 New York Region Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, in the Mission Drive category. The awards recognize entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies for innovation, financial performance and their impact on the world.
“Their workplace is absolutely amazing,” said Councilwoman Joan Cergol, who visited it a few months ago. “John and Mark Cronin are truly inspirational as role models for successful business plans and corporate responsibility. We have known this for some time, and it is exciting to see that they are receiving national recognition for their work. I wish them even greater success in the future.”