Sock’n Roll

At the foot of Mt. Bagua sits the little town of Shetou, the sock capital of Taiwan. Once, by weaving socks, a husband and wife could buy a house and... More

At the foot of Mt. Bagua sits the little town of Shetou, the sock capital of Taiwan. Once, by weaving socks, a husband and wife could buy a house and raise their kids here, even start a factory of their own. Now, those dreams have been washed away on the tide of globalization. But Black Dog is unwilling to bow his head. A free spirit in his youth, Black Dog dreamed of becoming a national-level volleyball player. But a traffic accident ended his days on the court, and he turned to the textile trade instead. Channeling his passion into sports socks, he slowly gained a name, and attracted contracts from the top-tier big-league brands. His business was booming in 2011, but much to his surprise, the next year the name-brand orders from overseas vanished. At 45, with an injured back, he’s considered lying down on the train tracks and ending it all. Luckily, his caring wife and children are the force that holds him up. He starts studying how to make athletic socks with special functions. And the praise he receives gives him a glimmer of confidence. He decides to launch his own brand. But when it comes to marketing, Black Dog is a babe in the woods. And what if he loses what few contracts he has left? On a tightrope between success and failure, how can he forge ahead? In the cruel world of globalization, this is the story of a Taiwanese Black Dog who refuses to fall. Close