PASSENGERS going through security at Manchester Airport now have to take their shoes off when being searched.

Apparently, many have been embarrassed to find they have holes in their socks and delighted to discover that yards away from the security check-in a new Sock Shop has opened.

Alok Ruia is one of four brothers and a cousin who have darned the economic hole in the once-mighty Sock Shop empire since they bought the brand three years ago.

Now, with the success of the first Sock Shop at the airport, the family, who run operations from Bolton, are aiming to open a second store.

Mr Ruia said feedback from the shop suggested those passengers who found their socks wanting were delighted to be able to buy fresh pairs from the new shop.

The family bought the Sock Shop brand after it went into administration and have developed the business online.

Since then, the acquisition sales have increased tenfold to £750,000 and, with the online store seeing steady double-digit growth, the Ruias hope the airport store will be the first of at least 10 outlets at airports in the UK over the next five years.

The brothers — Vimal, Alok, Sunil and Raj — along with their cousin Amit Ruia, are the second generation to run their family business.

The family name Ruia means “cotton” in Hindi and they have been involved in textiles since the 1950s, when their father and his brother set up the business in Manchester, growing steadily ever since and able to take on the Sock Shop brand.

The original Sock Shop expanded rapidly in the 1980s. It became a high-profile victim of its own success and the Ruias are determined they will not make the same mistake.

Alok said: “We take a cautious approach to growing the business and want to grow it organically with good partners like Amazon.

“We have been making socks for the wholesale market for 30 years and the Sock Shop at the airport will hopefully be one of many. But we will grow the business slowly and carry on selling online as well as wholesaling the Sock Shop brand to retailers.”

About half the Ruia Group business is based on supplying linen to the hospitality trade, with the other half concentrating on the import and distribution of socks. The company’s main operations are at two Victorian mills in Bolton, Dove Mill, off Deane Church Lane, and Kearsley Mill, Crompton Road, in Stoneclough.

The group employs 320 staff with turnover of more than £50 million. It has has seen a steady growth in profits over the past 15 years.

The second generation took over in the 1980s and the family business developed into importing finished articles from bed linen to underwear. The family owns the sock and hosiery licence for Elle, sock and underwear licences for Pringle, Farah, Jeff Banks and Jeep, as well as a recently signed sock and underwear licence with Kickers.

The company also owns Glenmuir, the Scottish golfwear brand worn by the European Ryder Cup team, which it bought from Edinburgh Woollen Mill in 2002, and has a joint venture with Sir Steve Redgrave, the Olympic gold medal rower, to produce the FiveG men’s casual clothing brand sold through Debenhams.