Here at Socks in a Box we know there’s a lot of work that goes into making your colourful, all-cotton monthly socks!
08/02/2018
To the untrained eye, a pair of socks may look like a simple garment but here at Socks in a Box we know there’s a lot of work that goes into making your colourful, all-cotton monthly socks! So for this blog post we thought we’d give you a sneaky glimpse into the wonderful world of sock manufacture and show you just what goes into creating the contents of your sock subscription box.
Obviously the days of knitting socks by hand or on a loom are long gone and in these modern times socks are made using an industrial circular knitting machine. A circular machine enables the manufacturer to create a tubular shape that doesn’t require a bulky, unsightly or uncomfortable side seam.
Whether you’re an existing sock subscription holder or you’re just here to gain a little sock knowledge, you’ve probably noticed that Socks in a Box products come in a wide range of colours and designs. Socks like ours generally need a more advanced knitting machine which has been designed to specifically manufacture socks of up to seven different colours.
Of course there are quite a few steps that need to happen before a sock makes it to the production line. We create our own designs and what starts life as an idea in our evil genius sock designer’s mind becomes a rough sketch and then a pattern which is drawn using specialist software before being relayed to the knitting machine.
Once we have the design, the yarn (we use cotton for its strength as well as its softness and ability to hold colour well) will need to be dyed before the sock is created. Once that’s done the knitting can begin - it usually takes a couple of minutes to make one sock. When they have taken shape the socks will be sent to the factory’s seam-linking department to have their seams sealed.
The socks from Socks In A Box have that little bit of extra comfort and quality as we use a technique in the toe area which is called “hand-linked toe”. This required a high degree of skill by the operator as each stitch is linked together by hand to create a toe seam that is totally flat.
Finally, the socks will be placed on individual metal plates and sent to a machine where they will be steamed at a high temperature for a few hours. This helps to kill any bacteria and also set the shape of the socks – luckily cotton retains its shape well. After steaming, the socks will be left to dry before being packaged ready for delivery to Socks in a Box. We’ll modestly admire our handy work then inspect the socks to make sure they’re of the high quality we insist on before posting them out to our lucky monthly sock subscription recipients!