RGIII's Super Socks Prove Super Elusive

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A detail view of Heisman Memorial Trophy Award winner Robert Griffin III of the Baylor Bears showing his Superman socks during a press conference at The New York Marriott Marquis.

Robert Griffin III set the Twitter world on fire Saturday night when he raised his pant leg to reveal a heroic choice in hosiery before he went on to win the Heisman Trophy. The big reveal resulted in Twitter timelines filled with screencaps of his Superman Cape socks and sent many scrambling to buy the item online.

Unfortunately, the socks were as elusive as RG3 is on the gridiron. Superman Knee High Cape Sock shoppers were greeted by bold letters that read “currently unavailable” or “item is out of stock” when they found potential online retailers following a Google search.

The company behind the socks is Irving, Texas-based Bioworld Merchandising Inc., which started by designing and distributing licensed headwear in 1999 from popular beer brands to cartoon characters to comic book heroes.

The inventory issue is related to the item being a “test flight” this past summer and demand grossly exceeding supply. The initial stock lasted less than six weeks.

“The Superman socks were part of a series of caped socks created by our in-house design team and we were absolutely blown away by the success of the item,” said April Renee Graves, brand, marketing and e-commerce manager at Bioworld. which has distribution deals with the likes of Walmart and Target. “We were very honored and proud to see that Robert Griffin III wore one of our products to the Heisman awards ceremony. We have a number of Baylor alums and football fans on our staff, so it was that much more special for our company.”

RG3 is a known ‘sock aficionado’ (he claims that he can wear a different pair every day for two months) and didn’t disappoint when he donned a bright red pair featuring Sesame Street’s Elmo, also a Bioworld item, during his SportsCenter interview with Hannah Storm the following morning.

The Superman Cape socks, ironically enough, have become the Tickle Me Elmo of the 2011 Christmas season for college sports fans, with many tweeting that they’ve since added the socks to their holiday wish list.

For those looking to purchase the socks, there’s good news and bad news.

The good news is that the company has committed to producing another run of the item and is currently doing so; the bad news is that it will be a limited edition stock refill and will be distributed to their retailers on January 10 (shipping to customers on January 15).

Bioworld recommends pre-ordering the socks on their partners site The Hush Radar because the website is already taking pre-orders, and seemingly capitalizing off the buzz created by RG3 by including the following line in the item description: “The stuff Heisman Trophy winners are made of...Superman cape socks that is.” The caped socks retail for a reasonable $14.99 and come in four different superhero varieties: Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Robin.

And if you have deep pockets and want the item in time for Christmas, you can score a pair of the Superman socks through eBay auctions that will ultimately cost you $50 and up to win.

So, does the Texas-based company see any future partnerships with the sock-obsessed Baylor QB?

“We’re trying to get in touch with him,” said Graves. “Our company motto is… who knows what the future holds. Our world is full of possibilities!”

And from what we understand, there’s no truth to the rumor that Superman wears Robert Griffin III socks.

Nick Begley can be found on Twitter @NickBegley.

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