HealthPopuli.com – Read More
As today is Thanksgiving in America, my tradition here on Health Populi is to express gratitude for some aspect of life and living, Most often, I’ve referred to the Engage With Grace Project which reminds us to be mindful of our and our loved ones’ end-of-life wishes as we convene around the big table today with our families and friends over big food and drink.
See here for more on Engage With Grace, a project for which I’m most grateful for launching by Alexandra Drane and Matthew Holt
For today’s gratitude message, I’m turning Pink as in Pinksocks, grateful for the launch of the book and for the movement itself.
I am the grateful owner/wearer/donner of several pairs of Pinksocks, first given to me by Nick Adkins, co-founder of the project.
Over the years, I’ve purchased socks to gift people in my own work-journey, to clients and colleagues and friends with whom the Pinksocks mission resonates every time.
That is, to Love More.
Nick and Pinksocks community members appear at virtually every health care conference, pre-announcing a meet-up at some local bar or diner or other convening place whether during HIMSS, HLTH, JP Morgan, VIVE, and so on.
The most recent Pinksocks meet-up I attended was in April 2023 at a wonderful pub in greater London, the Babel Beerhouse. Nick organized quite an international group of health care academics, researchers, thinkers and doers for the date: it was wonderful to catch up with health care raconteaur Roy Lilley, with Dr. Shafi Ahmed, with Krissie Stiles who is an expert on childhood burns and prevention, and of course, with Nick himself.
The publication of the book earlier this month by Nick, which chronicles “how a pair of socks became a symbol of love and connection,” seems the perfect topic to cover this Thanksgiving 2025.
Jane S-K: I asked Nick about the origin story of Pinksocks. Of all the logos or images to capture the joy, why the moustache?
Nick: The OG origin story of Pinksocks goes back to June 2012 in Portland, Oregon, the day I stopped wearing pants and started wearing kilts. When you wear a kilt every day, you realize your socks become part of your personality. So I built a sock drawer full of fun, funky knee-high socks: T-Rexes, cupcakes, unicorns, robot monkeys, Sasquatch, rainbows, nothing but fun funky socks. But the pair that always got the most comments, the most “Hey, I love your socks!” were these bright pink knee-highs covered in black handlebar mustaches. Every time someone noticed them, it opened a conversation. It wasn’t about fashion, it was an invitation to connect. That’s really how Pinksocks started: noticing each other, connecting, seeing another human and saying, “It’s good to see you!” Long before it was a movement, it was just Pinksocks and a smile.
Pinksocks began as a simple gesture, an invitation to see each other, to recognize one another as humans first. It started with literally gifting someone a pair of bright Pinksocks and saying, “It’s good to see you!” No agenda, no transaction, no branding exercise. Just connection. It caught fire because gifting & authentic kindness are contagious, and people were hungry for a way to express that in the world. The mustache became the playful emblem of joy, whimsy, and permission to not take ourselves too seriously. A pair of pinksocks covered with handlebar mustaches isn’t a corporate logo; it’s a wink, a smile, a reminder to show up curious and open-hearted. It signals belonging without saying a word.
Pinksocks didn’t start as a brand. It started as a way of being in the world. The details of the story regarding when pinksocks first showed up in our shared healthcare world, begins in April of 2015 at HIMSS in Chicago when the first pair of pinksocks were gifted to Eric Topol as we were walking into the conference on day 1……now we’re in Chapter 1 of the book “The Beginning”. Keep reading!
Jane S-K: What’s been the biggest surprise to you in publishing the book?
Nick: Honestly, the biggest surprise has been how deeply people see themselves in this story. I thought we were publishing a book about socks and kindness. But people tell me it’s a mirror…..they read it and say, “This is who I want to be,” or “This is how I try to show up in the world.” They gift the book to their neighbors, their teams, their friends, and say, “This is us.” I also didn’t anticipate how much it would energize communities that were already doing beautiful work in kindness, empathy, and compassion. The book didn’t start a movement; it gave language and shape to something people were already feeling.
Another big surprises was how long it took to write the book…..two and a half years! People have been telling me for nearly a decade, “You should write a book!” And I always thought, someday. But it turns out the book needed to marinate. It wasn’t just about sitting down at a keyboard; it needed ten years of lived experience to arrive. In many ways, the book wrote itself over the past decade, in every smile, in every connection, every conversation, every pair of pinksocks that were gifted. I wasn’t documenting a movement, I was living it along with you and thousands of other happy smiley pinksocks people. By the time I finally sat down to write, the challenge wasn’t what to say, it was what to leave out. There are so many stories, so many humans, so much heart speak, so many moments of kindness and connection that shaped the pinksocks movement.
Another surprise was realizing the responsibility of telling the Pinksocks story on behalf of everyone who has ever worn a pair of Pinksocks. This isn’t my story…..it’s ours. And when you’re writing a collective narrative, you want to honor it with care, accuracy, and heart. That took time. I also didn’t expect how emotional the process would be. The book became a mirror for me too…..reflecting how this movement has changed me, not just how it has spread around the world.
And on the other side of publishing, the reaction has been humbling. People aren’t just reading it; they’re recognizing themselves in it. They say, “This isn’t a book about socks. This is a book about how I want to show up in the world.” That’s the most beautiful surprise of all.
Jane S-K: I know Pinksocks is deeply engaged in at least two sectors: education and health care. Are there other vertical markets or industries where you’ve spread Pinksocks? Where do you think you’re nexst-most-needed? [I’m thinking: public sector, retail, Big Tech….]
Nick: Pinksocks organically grew in healthcare and education because those are places where humans show up vulnerable…..seeking care, seeking growth. But what we’re seeing now is that the Pinksocks ethos is relevant anywhere people want to build cultures of kindness, empathy, belonging, and purpose. We’re already being invited into tech communities, local governments, community orgs, conferences, startups, and global teams who want to bring more humanity into their work. The next frontier is anywhere systems have become bigger than relationships; public sector, retail, big tech, customer-facing industries, workforce development, even policy spaces.
And now there’s a new dimension: AI.
We’re entering a moment where technology is scaling faster than our capacity to stay grounded in true authentic human connection. AI can automate tasks, generate knowledge, and accelerate workflows…..but it can’t replace presence. It can’t look someone in the eyes and say, “It’s good to see you!” and generate the same neurochemistry as human to human connection does. As AI becomes more integrated into daily life, Pinksocks becomes the counterbalance…..a reminder that our greatest value isn’t in what we produce, but how we show up for one another.
The Pinksocks movement lives in the spaces technology can’t reach:
- a conversation in a hallway
- a teacher kneeling down to help a student
- a nurse holding someone’s hand
- a stranger gifting pinksocks without expectation
- humans saying “Yes!” to being fully present with each other
AI doesn’t threaten Pinksocks…..it amplifies why the Pinksocks movement matters. We’re showing up in real life, because that’s where transformation happens. Human connection is the operating system. The pinksocks are just the login screen.
Jane S-K: As one of my work-hats is to forecast and help health/care stakeholders to effectively plan ahead, I’m wondering: what can you envision for Pinksocks in 2030?
Nick: Over 300,000 pairs of pinksocks have already been gifted around the world. By 2030, I see Pinksocks as a global language of human connection…..not a brand, but a shared practice. I see kids growing up with it in schools and carrying it into their careers (Chapter 5 “The Teacher”). I see health systems using it to design more patient centric care, and to help reduce provider burnout. I see policy conversations framed around dignity, diversity, and inclusion. I see corporate cultures measuring success not only in output but in how people feel showing up to work. And most importantly, I see millions of micro-exchanges…..gifting a pair of pinksocks, offering kindness and compassion in the moment, sharing space for each other’s heart speak, reminding each other that we belong. 2030 isn’t a destination, it’s just more steps on the path of remembering who we are…..that we are all in this together. Our daily reminder that: The world is full of good! When you believe it, you see it. Keep doing that!
Health Populi Hot Points: That’s Nick and me at Babel Beerhouse in London on that sunny Saturday April afternoon in London…Loving More, for sure.
Let me reiterate something Nick said above in his weaving the growth of AI into daily life into what that means for Pinksocks.
“We’re entering a moment where technology is scaling faster than our capacity to stay grounded in true authentic human connection. AI can automate tasks, generate knowledge, and accelerate workflows…..but it can’t replace presence. It can’t look someone in the eyes and say, “It’s good to see you!” and generate the same neurochemistry as human to human connection does. As AI becomes more integrated into daily life, Pinksocks becomes the counterbalance…..a reminder that our greatest value isn’t in what we produce, but how we show up for one another.”
As you convene with people you love today, and throughout the December holiday season, remember that we have many models of “showing up” for people in the rituals we celebrate in these days. While the mission and message go back to 2012, it feels just right, right now, to embrace the spirit of Pinksocks.
To learn more about the book, check out the website: https://pinksocks.life/book/
The post Giving Thanks for Pinksocks Today and Every Day….celebrating the book! appeared first on HealthPopuli.com.
