The South Street Seaport District was a backdrop to popular, consumer fan favorites: Big Gay Ice Cream and HotSox. The two brands hosted an event at Mr. Cannnon’s Speakeasy recently, celebrating a collaboration between the ice cream powerhouse and the fashion-forward original novelty sock line – with a launch of the Hox Sox x Big Gay Ice Cream limited-edition socks. The socks have the city’s skyline set against Big Gay Ice Cream’s signature motif with the words “Big” and “Gay” emblazoned on each sock.

Donny Tsang, @donny_tsang on Instagram for the BGIC Event

With its zany and iconic designs, the sock brand has maintained its pulse on pop culture and art throughout the years. Their collections include the Norman Rockwell line, the Artist Series for both men and women and now the wildly popular emoji designs. Growing up in New York City, I’d frequent Greenwich Village as a teen and would find the wildest and original patterns at their stores. With striped and polka-dot hosiery in my fashion arsenal: I was unstoppable in high school and college. The sock brand has been a beacon of self-expresion since it launched in 1971 with silkscreened bright opaque socks. Now HotSox is in 1,700 U.S. stores and can be found throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

Co-founder, Doug Quint of Big Gay Ice Cream has been a fan of the quirky and stylish sock brand and was approached by Hot Sox for a collaboration. Big Gay Ice Cream, with its high quality ingredients and untradational toppings has been around since 2009. You can spot their colorful trucks parked around New York City’s famous streets in the summer. In 2011, they set up a brick-n-mortar outpost in the East Village, a second in the West Village, and branched out into Philadelphia’s Center City with another store. They produced their first cookbook: Big Ice Cream: Saucy Stories & Frozen Treats in 2015. Quint and his business partner Bryan Petroff, have been approached by other companies for merchandising opportunities, but opted out to stay true to the brand until they relaunched their site with original products.

Donny Tsang, @donny_tsang on Instagram for the BGIC Event (from left-to-right, Doug Quint and Bryan Petroff)

When I asked Quint if these limited-edition socks were designed to advocate for the LBGTQ cause, Doug said although we do support and are active in the LBGTQ community and currently support the Ali Forney Center (an organization whose mission is to rescue homeless LBGTQ youth from the streets and place them in safe environments) their motive was to create a fun, durable, unisex sock to make people happy. And guess what? They do. When I put them on – they stay on – and if only for a brief moment, remind me of younger care-free years.

Whether you love history, art, geography, pop culture – or just fashion, check out HotSox latest sock designs and the limited-edition Big Gay Ice Cream x HotSox retailing for $12, here

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