Georgian startup companies – AlterSocks
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Tuesday, April 16
It’s been more than three years since Nina Menteshashvili and Rezi Beselashvili founded one of the much-loved companies in Georgia, AlterSocks. After three years, AlterSocks managed to make Tbilisi’s streets more colorful, happy and diverse.
As co-founder of AlterSocks, Nina Menteshashvili says - “AlterSocks means alternative socks. Cheerful, colorful and funny alternative to everyday, dull ones.”
“Rezi and I have thought a lot about this idea. When we decided that we wanted to start our own business, we were full of new and great ideas, but AlterSocks was the best one.” – Reveals Nina in our interview. As she says, AlterSocks does not only have a great potential to grow but can also be incredibly exciting to work on it.
AlterSocks is trying to show the world a part of the Georgian culture. They have various socks with Georgian themes, among them are paintings by the brilliant Niko Pirosmani.
Petre Otskheli was a Georgian modernist set and costume designer and AlterSocks reintroduced him to the Georgian youth by creating two beautiful socks of his artworks.
AlterSocks has everything for everyone. From beer lovers to art lovers, you can even find socks with Georgian food on them, which are one of the most popular socks from the shop.
“One of the best-selling socks are the ones with the print of Khinkali. Tourists, as well as Georgians, especially like it. Also, socks with famous paintings are well-liked too.” – noted Nina.
Nina revealed that only she and Rezi make the design of the socks. “It makes us happy that people like our socks so much. Every day hundreds of people are texting us on our social media and are expressing their love towards our socks.”
A few days ago, pictures of new socks were posted on their Facebook page. As announced, the new collection will be available very soon. In honor of Georgian Language Day, it was revealed that one of the socks would have Georgian Alphabet on them.
During our interview, we also talked about startup companies, as Nina noted – “One of the major reasons why startup companies are so important for our country’s economy is the fact that they pay a huge amount of taxes for the businesses they are doing.”
Nina told us that she has already written an article about this matter, where we read her saying “Startups can be beneficial for the big corporations that are already present on the market. Most of the times, startups can’t compete with these large companies, because they don’t have mass production and enough resources. Instead of competing, big corporations can collaborate with startups. It is a common practice in numerous countries, where startups create various production components, which are used by large companies to create a complete product.”
We have also talked to people who work for AlterSocks. “I have been part of AlterSocks family for two years now. Nina and Rezi represent the best example of how employers should be. They started from nothing and became one of the most successful startup companies in Georgia.” The noted new manager of the AlterSocks, Nino Gagua. “It is a great feeling when you have a chance to grow, and I certainly did. I started from being a store consultant and today I am a manager. I’ll always be grateful for the opportunities that Nina and Rezi have given me.”
We will continue to showcase other success stories like AlterSocks that are essential for the Georgian economy and the popularization of Georgian products.