From fashion designer to global superstar – Tanja Filipovska’s highly acclaimed odd sock business MADMIA has strutted down the road to success at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. After attracting massive crowds at the 2019 Show, the brand is fast becoming a new Show classic for Showgoers young and old. Following its claim to fame at the Show, the exhibitor’s brand name has now travelled abroad across international stores, including Disneyland Paris and Smyths Toys in the UK.
MADMIA is one of many exhibitor success stories at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Learn more about Filipovska’s road to riches, and how one make-or-break decision changed her life and her business forever.
Both Filipovska and MADMIA had humble beginnings. Long before taking the lead as Managing Director, Filipovska arrived in Sydney from her Macedonia home country to pursue her Masters studies in fashion. In her graduate years, she worked tirelessly as a fashion stylist and designer in both Australia and later abroad in Bulgaria, before returning to Sydney to work at MADMIA in 2013.
Hired as an in-house designer, Filipovska was MADMIA’s only employee – back then, the brand entered the fashion world as a start-up led by a silent investor. The briefs were simple enough: to design pairs of socks that kids would love. In its fledgling years, the first line-up of socks rolled out with much simpler designs, as Filipovska shares to Who magazine: “It started as a generic range of bright socks, meant to stand out and empower kids.”
But the eye candy opened a foundation for something new, as Filipovska was interested in pushing these socks into more than an accessory. In an interview on SHE-TALKS, she understood its potential to become a new lifestyle brand for kids and families. “We need to bring the socks to life,” she says on the podcast, “and we need to create the brand [and show] that it’s not just about socks … it’s a lifestyle brand that people will be obsessed [with] and talk about.”
It wasn’t long until Filipovska innovated MADMIA’s sock designs with a unique spin to the knee-high kids’ socks. Accessories like shoelaces, wings, tulle and ribbons were added at the rim to give a playful sense of texture. As Filipovska reflects on the experiences in Alinga magazine, she admits that the sales didn’t come straight away: “At the beginning, it was really, really hard. I remember the days where we were selling one pair of socks a day, but I was still so happy, because I was like, there’s one person in the world [who] believes in what I do.”
By 2016, Filipovska was appointed the new Managing Director of MADMIA after offering to buy over half the shares and taking over the business itself. The previous Director always had faith in the aspiring designer from the beginning. “He always said from the start: ‘Tanja, this is your baby. One day, hopefully it’s going to be yours’,” she shares to Alinga. “I thought ‘I can do it better my way.’ And I have.”
In 2019, Filipovska took her greatest leap of faith at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. With only $10,000 left in her bank account, the fashion designer spent over half her remaining income on a $7,000 stall at Kids World, next to the Pet Pavilion, with walls adorned with IKEA décor and signage. This life-changing decision, according to Filipovka, was a “make-or-break moment” for her and her business. “It was my absolute baby. I’d put all my heart into the business.”
But the hype spread quickly around the grounds. On its first day of exhibiting, the MADMIA store broke even at lunchtime, with Showgoers lined up at the stall from A.M to P.M. “I had to call my family and everyone to come and help serve because it was just me there,” she recalls to Who. “People were buying bags and bags of socks.”
Unable to keep up with the crowd at first, Filipovska took this as a sign of success for her business. “The Easter Show was my ‘wow’ moment. The website went wild after that. The brand went viral.”
It’s no surprise that MADMIA would make its comeback at the Show in 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic, this time earning a second spot in the Fashion & Lifestyle Pavilion.
So what made MADMIA a success at the Show? Its deliciously technicolour designs offer the perfect crowd attraction to travelling families, especially for long weekend Showgoers looking to make the most of their school holidays. MADMIA also keeps its finger on the pulse with the most popular trends, keeping its eyes peeled especially for megahits in children’s films and television shows. This year saw the new line-up of socks featuring characters from the hit Netflix animated film, KPop Demon Hunters, in a gorgeous neon-soaked palette of purples and pinks.
And just like the classic Showbags, MADMIA’s socks fill their racks with an eclectic range of both franchise and non-franchise items, making the perfect wearable Easter Show memento for families.
There’s a wealth of labour and love that goes into a pair of MADMIA socks. According to Filipovska on SHE-TALKS, it takes three months to stitch these socks together from scratch – each batch travels across seven different factories, from knitting, dyeing and colouring, down to supplying the plush and packaging. Filipovska also shares that 99% of all socks glow under UV light with a set of custom dyes and yarns, making it the perfect accessory for school disco nights and mufti days.
But what makes the MADMIA sock a coveted staple is its design as an odd sock. Nearly every pair of socks are purposefully mismatched, be it in their character art or popping colourways. The mix-and-match premise of these products opens new possibilities for both children and parents to wield their creativity as in-home fashion gurus.
Taking care of a family of three has largely influenced the 3D elements in Tanja’s designs. “I started buying all these plush toys for the kids,” she explains, “and I’m like ‘Oh my goodness, how about we try to add some plush accessories.’” From giant bunny ears and fluffy pom-poms to dressy frills and angel wings – these flares of texture step up and elevate the extraordinary factor of each odd sock.
Filipovska also understands that MADMIA’s global acclaim would attract copycats from other businesses looking to bank on their success. While plagiarism poses a threat to the company, she knows that these imitators cannot replicate the high-quality from every product – each sock is made from a premium 200-needle machine in their factories, followed by rigorous quality assurance tests. It’s precisely the type of quality that can only be offered at their exclusive Easter Show stalls.
MADMIA has since returned to the Easter Show every year. Keeping to their roots, the business continues to sell at the Fashion & Lifestyle Pavilion for devoted style aficionados. At more recent Shows, their second stall moved from the Pet Pavilion to the buzzing and bustling streets of Grand Parade outside ENGIE Stadium. The store lives next door to the classic Kewpie Doll stand, whether both old and new Show classics exhibit together at the grounds.
With a refurbished storefront that bursts with pastels, it’s nearly impossible to miss MADMIA amidst the busy crowds. The stall also doubled in space, making it the perfect step-up for the business to showcase new releases at the Show.
The biggest ripple effect has emerged from MADMIA’s global expansion as a sock company. Its popularity became so immense that Disney even reached out to Filipovska for licensing agreements, granting her permission to use their film characters for her products. “Disney is now our most popular range,” she shares with Who. “The new Stitch socks have been doing incredible numbers, and Disneyland Paris has just approached us. We will be the first Australian brand to launch there.”
Alongside Europe, MADMIA has been stocked globally across major retailers, including TK Maxx, Toyz R Us, FAO Schwartz and WH Smith. On average, the company sells up to ten pairs of socks per minute (nearly 600 socks per hour!), prompting them to open new warehouses across the United States and Bulgaria. International recognition also looms large in international media – the odd socks made its appearances on Good Morning America not once, but twice.
MADMIA continues to build strong partnerships with companies by the likes of Nickelodeon, Warner Bros., Mattel, Marvel and MGA Entertainment. Online, they maintain an active social media presence on both TikTok and Instagram, their videos reaching up to millions of views. And today, Filipovska’s brand of decorative odd socks has grown with the Easter Show as a new Show staple every year, standing out as one of the biggest and brightest talent taking the fashion world by storm.