Art and Socks – a night with Hitsu, formerly Huely

I’m not an art expert, I fall into that category of knowing what I like. Street art is a bit take-it-or-leave-it but I enjoy seeing how the genre changes and how it can be translated into and onto different materials.

Hitsu is taking street art to the mainstream. You can wear street art on your feet.

Hitsu co-founder Dan Demsky came up with the idea and worked with artist and co-founder Nate Kogan. They sourced Canadian artists to take their work and translate it from walls and canvas to socks. Their first run (each genre will get a run and when it’s sold out, it’s sold out) had 2,000 socks.

The second run is the run that features the art from Canadian street artists Lazerhorse and Uber5000. Each pair of socks comes wrapped and packaged in a box. Each box has a card with the artist’s information and personal statement. It’s a great way to learn more about art and the artist and on cold days, it’s quite a treat to wear colourful, artistic socks.

You don’t just order a pair of socks – it’s not that mundane. To get the full experience of buying what is essentially wearable art, you order a pair, or a three- or five-pack without knowing what’s in the box. You only find that out when you open your package.

Look, Canadians wear a lot of black.

But the best part is that it’s all Canadian. I had a quick chat with Nate while the team was setting up. He said that all aspects of production were done in Canada and you’re supporting local artists.

You can buy a pair of socks ($20) at Hitsu.com.