Amber Olson, left, of M.O.R.E. Team Re/MAX Concepts, has helped Laura Gerlach of Nevada with her special SocKK Drive for the holidays.
It’s the time of year when “everyone’s spirit feels just a tad bit younger, music feels more cheerful” … and the warm feeling of giving is something “you wish you could bottle up and share 365 days a year.” These are the words of Laura (Kurth) Gerlach, a Nevada, Iowa resident for whom the holiday season is a chance to give back in a way that honors her late mother, Kimberly Kurth.
Kimberly wasn’t from Nevada, but Nevadans can now be a big part of carrying forth a mission that the eastern Iowa woman started. If you’ve seen the SocKK Drive flyers and collection boxes in several Nevada businesses, you’ll want to read the rest of this story to learn more about how the collection of new socks started and how it will help those in need and continue to honor the legacy of Kimberly Kurth.
“My mom was a court reporter in Iowa City, who worked primarily with juvenile court cases, and sadly saw a lot of broken families and trauma,” Laura shared. “For years she would buy small stuffed animals or toys that children could hang onto during court to help comfort them.”
Kimberly Kurth’s compassion also led to a sock drive she hosted alongside her co-workers, and the socks collected were given to a local shelter that housed those who were displaced due to domestic violence.
In February of 2021, Kimberly was diagnosed with cancer, and after a courageous battle, she was laid to rest in November of 2023. Laura said her mother’s friends gave the idea to her and her sister that they might continue her mother’s charitable sock drive in her memory.
Laura and her sister, Lacey, went all in, even naming it the SocKK Drive with their mother’s initials included, which was also a suggestion from friends.
During their mother’s time of doing the drive, a high of a little over 300 pairs of socks had been collected. The girls, who Laura said inherited a competitive spirit from their mother, collected a little over 1,400 pairs of socks in their first holiday season of hosting the drive. This allowed them to give to several shelters.
“Nothing good comes from losing someone you love so much, but my appreciation for giving has quadrupled, and it is my utmost honor to do so in her place,” Laura said.
Now a Nevada resident – married to Seth Gerlach – Laura has received support from Amber Olson of the M.O.R.E. Team Re/MAX Concepts to help spread kindness here in the Central Iowa area. Donation boxes for socks are available at the Re/MAX office as well as Sweet & Savory, Renn’s Café, Bricktown Bakery, State Bank & Trust, South Story Bank & Trust, the Main Street Nevada office, and also in Slater at Public House 421.
“We run the SocKK Drive for about three weeks starting the first week of December,” Laura said.
Laura is also a business person and the owner of Wild Features Collective, an online clothing and lifestyle store. She also supports the SocKK Drive through her business, 365 days a year.
“In May, I launched my very own line of premium, USA-made shirts (see photos at right) in a collection called ‘Collectively Kimberly’ in honor of my mom and to inspire all the other incredible women out there,” Laura said. “These tops were designed in conjunction with a local Iowa artist (Kaylee with Fruited Paint, Pella) and printed in Ames by B5 Branding. Each design has its own heartfelt personal meaning, and we then retain $3 from every shirt sold to go toward funding the SocKK Drive donations.”
In addition to the funds raised from the Collectively Kimberly shirts, Laura also retains $1 from every other order her business has throughout the year to go toward the SoKK Drive.
Laura Gerlach and Her Business
Laura is a 2013 graduate of Anamosa High School in eastern Iowa. She said Anamosa is a town similar in size to Nevada, which has helped her feel right at home in Nevada.
She attended Iowa State and majored in Animal Science with a minor in Entrepreneurial Business.
It was at Iowa State that she met her husband, Seth. After graduating in 2017, Laura stayed in Central Iowa, taking a job at Heartland Coop, and she and Seth reconnected in the summer of 2018 when Seth moved back to Central Iowa from Texas to work on the family farm. “We’ve been inseparable since,” Laura said. Married now, the two have a 1 1/2-year-old daughter, Daisy, and are expecting their second child in May.
Laura said her professional side was always torn between a love of agriculture and a love of fashion. Now, as a full-time farmer’s wife, she can have the best of both worlds. She officially started Wild Features Collective in the fall of 2021, launching the business publicly on March 4, 2022.
“I became underwhelmed by the amount of lower-quality, identical clothing from store to store,” she said.
Knowing a bit about business from her minor, and from the fact that her parents ran a large automotive shop in Cedar Rapids for over 20 years, Laura wanted to feed her fashion dreams. “Wild Features Collective is truly a brand for the ‘Authentic, Bold & Untamed,’” she said.
She describes the line of clothes she carries as “boho-chic styles with a western flare and contemporary edge.” She feels her clothing line can appeal to all ages. “I currently source my pieces from multiple brands, and additionally work with a USA manufacturer for pieces such as the shirts in my ‘Collective Kimberly’ line. My goal would be to work with a USA manufacturer that can create 100 percent custom pieces for styles you won’t find anywhere else. I want to keep the business here at home, and I want to reduce the mass production to be more intentional and as eco-friendly as possible.”
Laura has displayed her products offline at a few places and events locally. “I’ve been known to pop up at The Local Shake & Energy Bar, Something Blue, Pizza Pie Looza, Farmer’s Market in Nevada, The Milford Schoolhouse, and the Shipley Schoolhouse,” she said.
In addition to clothing, Wild Features Collective also sells accessories like jewelry.
This coming spring, there may be more news from Wild Features Collective with the addition of a “home” line of merchandise.
“I want my store to be known for creating special feelings for those special moments, whether it’s dressing you for the best or offering pieces that make your house feel like the home you love.”
Laura is passionate about supporting small business, and she has dreams to one day have a brick-and-mortar store. And if she does eventually have a store you can walk into, prepare for “an experience. The best sights, sounds, smells, etc. Somewhere that feels like a home away from home,” she describes.
In the meantime, Laura invites you to visit her business online: www.wildfeaturescollective.com, and she hopes you’ll consider donating a new pair of socks (or several) to this year’s SocKK Drive, which will only last a few weeks in December, before all those beautiful pairs go to shelters to warm the feet of someone in need. Reach out to Laura through Facebook Messenger if you’d like to donate financially to the drive.
–Written by Marlys Barker, City of Nevada