Ben Fogle
and Fogle team up
Ben Fogle is widely recognised as one of the nicest men on TV – but he’s not your average celebrity, with endorsements left and right. He’s just put his name to HJ Hall’s new range of socks, and he explained why to SGB Outdoor…
B
en Fogle is adamant about one thing – he does not lend his name to any old thing. That’s why some eyebrows were raised when HJ Hall announced he was endorsing their new range of socks; what changed Fogle’s mind? Well, as he explained to SGB, it’s simply something he feels passionate about.
SGB: How did you become involved with HJ Hall?
Ben Fogle: I’ve had various socks of theirs over the years – some of their trekking socks, their city socks… I was aware of the Peter Jones collection they’ve done, for example. I was quite keen to team up with them. Socks are something I value more than many people because of many of the things I do in the outdoors. The importance of the feet, especially on some of my expeditions for months on end – if you lose the ability to walk, it’s akin to having burst tires on your car, you won’t get very far. I’ve always been interested in socks and sock technology, and given that I knew about HJ Hall and have used their socks over the years, I thought it might be interesting to team
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SGB OUTDOOR MAY 2010
up and see if we could come up with something different, a unique range of socks. I don’t have any other products as such – but there is something about socks that’s actually pretty exciting. Socks are under-rated, they’re the last thing people think about often, but they’re something I feel quite passionate about. HJ Hall is a really nice, salt of the earth company with great heritage – it’s very important for me to work with a UK company.
SGB: We remember James Cracknell’s feet during one of your expeditions [the South Pole Race, as televised in On Thin Ice]…
BF: That’s a good example of what can happen to your feet; it’s more than just your socks in a case like that, it’s about overall foot care – but it effectively starts with the socks. Most people don’t realise the importance of choosing the right pair of socks. The blistering James got was in part due to that.
Some people might look at a pair of socks and think, well, they’re quite expensive, is it worth forking out that extra bit? But as I’ve discovered
over the years, it’s really worth making that investment.
SGB: Many endorsements are purely about financial gain, but I’m getting the impression there is more to this than just your name on HJ Hall’s socks…
BF: I don’t get in to things unless I am fully involved. I value my own name and I don’t do endorsements. So for me to get involved, the key was to pro-actively help come up with some of the designs. Technologically, obviously I am not an expert, so all the technology that goes in to the socks is from HJ Hall; I’ve been up to meet the team many times, and my input has been about communicating the different environments and what I feel would benefit a user in various environments: countryside, dry, cold, hot… I’ve given them feedback on the things that I wish I could have in a sock those environs, and they have come up with the technology. It’s been a real collaboration. It’s not been a case of me handing over my name and saying there you go, put my picture on them.
HJ Hall
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