P.M. BRIEFING : Sock Shop Steps Into Trouble

Sock Shop of Britain, a corporate success story of the 1980s that helped create a new market in fancy footwear, appointed outside administrators today to run the troubled business.

Its French-born founder, Sophie Mirman, made the move after the business, which made buying socks and hosiery as easy as picking up a newspaper, incurred big losses after an unsuccessful attempt to break into the U.S. market.

Mirman, whose motto was, “Where there are legs, there is Sock Shop potential,” helped reshape the image of socks as fun gifts featuring such whimsical designs as tartan plaids and animal motifs.

A former secretary, Mirman conceived the idea of opening her own outlet when she combed London on a cold winter day in search of cream wool tights.

She opened the first Sock Shop in 1983 in a subway station near London’s fashionable Harrods department store and in a few years had 70 shops throughout Britain.