Meet Vanessa Tse, the Founder of Fazl Socks

Fazl has been picked up and featured in British Vogue, UNICEF, Anthropologie, The Drew Barrymore Show, and many others – she has yet to stop levitating with happiness about it! She has a BA, a B.Ed., and a MA with a focus on resilience.

Vanessa’s journey as a CEO and her passion to help women and children began long before the creation of Fazl Socks. As a young college student, Vanessa’s initial goal was to attend university for a degree in neuroscience and eventually become a neuroscientist. However, she realized early on that leading a life of servitude and working in a job dedicated to helping others was her real desire. Following this realization, Vanessa attended the University of Victoria and pursued a degree in English Literature and briefly became an elementary school teacher due to her love for children. She later expanded on her interest in education and was part of a research team at Victoria University that researched transformative learning, which focuses on the idea that learners can adjust their thinking based on new information. This involvement in research inspired Vanessa to climb the ladder further and go back to university for her master’s degree in the arts, specifically in curriculum, instruction, and social-cultural foundational studies in education. At first, Vanessa didn’t think she would pursue a master’s degree, however, her background as an education major made her more interested in the subject and well-versed with the concepts of children and notions of wealth. While doing her master’s, Vanessa specifically expanded and explored the educational processes different from the traditional structure that was implemented in schools.

From here Vanessa took a mission trip to India to volunteer and follow her passion for service. This trip would become truly a transformative experience for her as she would soon realize that her heart was meant to be dedicated to helping those children. Not only did Vanessa find her love for service in India, but she also found her love for her husband. On the trip, Vanessa met a man with similar values and ideas as her and they quickly grew close, started dating, and soon got married. After this trip, Vanessa realized her passion to help and serve women and children far outweighed her previous job in Canada. She was inspired by the resilience of the children in the children’s homes and was interested in starting a job to help their situation of poverty and alleviate the circumstances they were forced to live in. Vanessa and Mike had noticed the conditions and lack of financial support the local population of women and children resided in and wanted to form a company that had a large emphasis on helping them. They looked for inspiration at TOMS, a company that gives away shoes to children in need for each pair they buy but were not successful in expanding the idea. Vanessa and Mike’s trips to the local bazaar would be the main match for their flame, and would later inspire them to come up with their company idea. After a long brainstorming conclusion, they came up with the idea to make a company that sold knit socks. This company wasn’t any ordinary knit product company, it would employ local women artisans that would receive a fair-trade wage to handcraft beautiful handmade knit socks covered in indigenous Himalayan designs, and so, Fazl Socks was formed. From here, they created their “guiding stars” or mission, with two goals in mind: 1. Support the children 2. Support the ladies. These guiding stars have played a factor in every decision Fazl makes, and the company even turned down making these socks in factories because sustainability is so important to them. Vanessa and Mike’s product launch was one filled with trial and error, however, their dedication and focus on their core value of service is what brought them the massive success that followed.

Fazl’s mission became hyper-focused on providing economic support to the local population of Northern India. Children in these homes didn’t have many material goods, however, the relationships they created and the support they received from the Children’s Home made their lives rich with love. Most of the children that leave the children’s home in Vanessa’s village pursue secondary education and can break the long-drawn cyclic poverty. Fazl Socks plays a large role in breaking this cycle as a large percentage of their profit is dedicated to helping children receive access to education. The situation for women in the area is slightly different. India has a rigid caste system, which now has faded in some developed parts of the region, however, still strictly applies in certain villages and most harshly affects women of the lower caste. These women are unable to get jobs and move out from their situations of poverty due to the prevalent stigma that exists in the area. However, Fazl Socks has been able to change this by employing women and providing them with fair working conditions and flexible schedules that help them have a good work-life balance. Fazl Socks transformed the concept of knitting and made it into a community, a group of individuals that care about the sustainability of their products as well as the lives of their workers, and has supported thousands of women in the area by providing them with a stable source of income.

Vanessa additionally deeply cares about celebrating products that are not traditionally from the West. Her background education in Non-Colonialism inspired her and Mike to make their company focused to celebrate the culture and values of the region, rather than simply westernizing their products like neighboring corporations did. Vanessa’s homes in both the Himalayas and British Columbia were known to be cold, and she wanted to sell the socks in the market in both places while keeping the cultural significance of the designs. Mothers, daughters, and families pass these designs down, which preserves their culture. Due to the isolation of the mountains, these designs are known to be unique and creative as well as advanced in production. The women artisans that create them will occasionally use 3-4 needles, and girls as young as 7 know how to make extremely fast knitted creations in record time.

A lot of the obstacles that Vanessa faced were from unforeseen circumstances. Due to the Himalayas’ isolated location, the infrastructure and transportation capabilities of the area were very undeveloped. This lack of technological support prevented Vanessa from speeding up her production capabilities and was a massive roadblock that she had to encounter. Additionally, since Fazl’s products were fully handmade by the local women artisans in the area, the products were made at a significantly slower rate when compared to larger corporations that dominated the market. The problem wasn’t the fact that the socks were handmade, it was the disparity in the production speed that slowed down Fazl’s take-off. As a female founder of Fazl Socks, Vanessa also faced some unprecedented issues which she explained, continue to this day. Oftentimes, Vanessa is the only woman in the room, and more frequently than not, she’s the only woman of color. Her biggest advice for being a female entrepreneur was to not be intimidated by the unpredictable and scary situations that we could all be placed in and to seek out support in our local communities. Vanessa always preaches support for systemic change in the entrepreneurial world, she hopes that women will continue to speak out, voice their opinions, and start the businesses they want with no fear. She wants more individuals and young women to join the business space, to rock the boat, and to always challenge those who are intimidating. Most importantly, however, Vanessa places a strong emphasis on employing local individuals and women of color. Fazl Sock’s partnerships are largely with local Asian entrepreneurs, most of which are women. Vanessa’s passion to continuously break the boundaries of entrepreneurship and face her fears is what has made Fazl Socks into the inspiring company it is today.

You can support Fazl and Vanessa’s work by following their social media, including their Instagram @Fazlco, and by buying goods on their website shopfazl.com. Vanessa’s store contains not only socks, but also, other clothing, jewelry, art, and tea. All the goods are made sustainably and a large percentage of the profits go to the local orphaned children in the area to help them break the cyclic poverty they live in. Rather than buying something at the store, we encourage you to support not only this business but the women who work to hand-make these goods and the children that the profits go to.

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