Washington State University Cougar fans are going to want to spend a bit of time staring at their feet this morning.
Bartell Drugs issued a recall this week for an $18 Christmas pair of Strideline WSU College “Cougar Socks.” The red-and-white socks have a not-so-Cougarish slogan printed on the inside cuff. It reads, “Go Dawgs.”
Strideline is a Seattle company known for its collection of collegiate socks, as well as pairs that are uniquely Seattle, depicting the Space Needle and other landmarks. The company shot to success in the past few years, inking distribution deals with Nordstrom, Macy’s, Costco and others.
Using the rival University of Washington’s “Go Dawgs” slogan for WSU socks was a quality-control error, co-founder Jake Director said. The company’s designers use templates to create socks for hundreds of colleges, and it seems someone forgot to switch out the UW design for WSU.
“It’s pretty unfortunate,” he said, though he admitted he can see why some might find it funny.
Strideline has become popular for socks that depict the tone of a city or a current event. In October, it rolled out a “Bone Zone” sock in honor of Kenneth Bone, one of the more memorable figures able to ask questions during the presidential debate.
Conspiracy theorists might point out that Strideline founders and Issaquah natives Riley Goodman and Director are both UW graduates, but Director said that had nothing to do with the mismatched sock.
“We’ve got a bunch of Cougs on our team,” he said. “It’s not just a company of a bunch of Husky fans!”
Director said affected customers can contact the company and Strideline will send them free pairs of socks and/or gift cards. Strideline can be reached at 206-734-6870 or salesstrideline.com.
Bartell’s said it had sold about 245 pairs of the socks, which were created to be sold specifically at the drugstore chain. Customers can return their pairs in any condition for a refund.
