Sovereign Sandals raising money for sex trafficking victims

Sometimes good things happen when fashion gets political, and Sovereign Sandals most recent charitable endeavor is a prime example of one of those things. The online sandal brand, which launched in October 2014, will be dedicating 25 percent of their profits to Courage Worldwide, a non-profit organization dedicated to building homes for children who have been victims of sex trafficking. Sovereign Sandals, which is headquartered in Sacramento, California, was founded by Nick Elcock.

Elcock actually had no fashion or footwear experience before he came up with the idea of Sovereign Sandals. His real goal was to create a line of footwear that he felt embodied the West Coast lifestyle. Due to his relative lack of fashion experience, getting the venture off the ground did take a bit of time, 8 years to be exact.

Elcock's wife, Cari Elcock, along with a group of their friends who all shared a passion for Courage Worldwide, came together for this endeavor. Cari Elcock is a stay-at-home mother who handle compassion and outreach, while Nick Elcock works a day job in pharmaceutical sales. The company produces the sandals in Elcock's garage, and have sold 250 pairs to date. Their unisex flip-flop styles retail for 50 dollars.

While they began as a small self-funded venture, the Elcock's have recently raised 10,000 dollars in start-up funding during a kickstarter campaign that began April 11. Funding Courage Worldwide is just one of the company's objectives. Ideally, their next goal would be to provide work experience in the shoe company for sex trafficking victims.

As the company moves into summer, they plan on adding sandals with manmade uppers and a children's collection. It's fashion with a conscience, bringing attention to a very important issue. They might still just be a small company, but they are doing very big things.