Aside from their combined superpowers to educate, entertain, and advocate on the Internet, brothers Hank and John Green have a multi-million dollar e-commerce side hustle.
A multi-million dollar e-commerce side hustle that donates all profits to charity.
The first product they offered was a sock subscription called the Awesome Socks Club, and then a coffee subscription called the Awesome Coffee Club. After that came Sun Basin Soap, and then Keats & Co Tea.
But a recent announcement makes the Green brothers’ original product available to a wider audience: Kids!
The Awesome Socks Club is now available in youth sizes and is the first explicitly kid-friendly product to hit the Good Store, the online platform where all of these products live.
Every item sold in the Good Store supports an ongoing partnership with Partners in Health, a global health nonprofit that provides vital medical care to areas facing poverty and inequality.
“The founding goal of the Awesome Socks Club was to support building the Maternal Center of Excellence in Sierra Leone, a hospital tackling medical injustice at its root,” the Good Store website reads.
“Since 2020, we’ve donated $8+ million dollars through Partners in Health for the construction of the hospital and comprehensive training and staffing.”
The kid’s sock collection will be no different.
Matching with the adult sock options, the kid’s socks will be designed by a different independent artist each month and produced by Pacific Manufacturing, with ethics and sustainability in mind.
Starting at $13.75 per pair, the Awesome Socks Club subscription allows bundle deals so the whole family can match while giving back.
Thanks to the support of Good Store shoppers, as well as annual fundraising events like the Project for Awesome, ground was broken for construction of the Maternal Center of Excellence in April 2021.
In a video in 2023, John said that Nerdfighteria (the online community most engaged with the brothers’ work), along with PIH, had raised $40 million for the hospital over the course of three and a half years.
“This will be the world-class healthcare center moms and kids deserve in Kono,” he said.
The MCOE will be a fully functioning maternal and pediatric teaching hospital in Sierra Leone’s Kono District, which has the world’s highest maternal mortality rates.
PIH has also improved existing maternal care available at Koidu Government Hospital, equipping the facility with 24-hour electricity, a blood bank, a fully stocked pharmacy for labor and delivery, and training for clinicians to improve their skills and provide better patient care.
A webpage for the MCOE shares: “With the support of John and Hank Green and their incredible community, PIH continues to expand this transformative work.”
As construction continues on this life-saving hospital, these “awesome” kid’s socks are just one way Hank and John Green hope to continue making a difference.
“To the thousands of you who donate monthly… and the thousands more who’ve made one-time gifts, to the people who’ve brought attention by sharing this project with friends and family: This is the change you’re making,” John said in 2023, from the building site of the MCOE.
“The kind of dignified, high-quality healthcare that everyone deserves is coming to Kono — and with it, generational change.”
Outside of the MCOE, Good Store products also contribute to other public health initiatives, like fundraising for accessible testing and treatment for tuberculosis, as well as cancer treatment, around the globe.
“You need socks, and you’re going to have to buy them from someone,” said Hank in a TikTok video promoting the Awesome Socks Club. “You might as well buy them from someone who donates 100% of the profit to charity.”
Header images courtesy of John Green, Good Store, and Hank Green