Gombey socks and Bermuda flag socks have proven to be a surprise hit with customers of Home WorX Ltd in St George’s.

Now the shop is hoping to do it again with an exclusive range of Cup Match socks and T-shirts featuring the colours of St George’s and Somerset.

The cricket-themed items have just arrived at the store on York Street, and co-owner Kim Robinson is optimistic that they will prove as popular as the Gombey and Bermuda flag socks did earlier this year.

When an order for 300 pairs of socks featuring the Bermuda flag design arrived in April they quickly sold out. Some of the customers were cyclists and runners who proudly wore the nifty socks during the Bermuda Day road races in May.

Then, proving that demand for the Bermuda-styled clothing was no fluke, socks featuring images of Gombey Dancers created an equally exciting buzz for the shop.

“On the first day we sold 90 pairs,” said Mrs Robinson. It’s not just local customers who have been snapping up the socks. Customers have been sending in orders from as far away as Massachusetts and Ontario.

“People are getting them as souvenirs. They could end up being the new Bermuda souvenir.”

It was a customer in Florida who contacted the shop because he wanted to buy some Bermuda national team jerseys that suggested branching out into socks.

“He works for a promotional company that makes the socks and we worked in collaboration to come up with the designs.”

Some of the Bermuda flag socks were worn by some members of the Bermuda national football team during warm-ups ahead of World Cup qualifying games against Guatemala last month. While the Bermuda women’s under 17 national football team were pictured wearing the socks during a tournament in Haiti this month.

Now, as the Island gears up for Cup Match, customers of Home WorX have expressed keen interest in buying the new Cup Match socks and T-shirts.

The Cup Match line will fit in well with other Bermuda-centric clothing items available at the shop. There are T-shirts, windcheaters and Bermuda National Heroes T-shirts featuring the first five named national heroes.

“We are trying to focus on Bermuda apparel, we have a few products and we are going to see what we can do for some of the smaller sports clubs.”

The shop has been in business since last summer, and initially focused on eco-friendly kitchen items, food containers and children’s lunch boxes, which it still sells and distributes. The Phoenix Stores in Hamilton and at Collector’s Hill are the latest outlets to stock the items.

Elsewhere in the shop a new range of handcrafted cedar items is now on sale. The carved pieces created by Milton Hill and Mrs Robinson’s father Arnold Brown, include sailing boats, lighthouses, letter openers and a cricket game in miniature, housed in a glass display case.

Mrs Robinson is pleased with the response to the Bermuda-inspired items in the shop. She said: “My focus is on pushing and promoting Bermuda pride.”

Home WorX Ltd is located at 39 York Street, St George.