Our Sustainable Steps Initiatives

The perfect partners

Our factories

Almost all of our sock collections, including our flagship range Simply Sartorial, are made in a family-run factory in Portugal that meets all our quality and ethical standards. Not only are they experts at complex weaves, but we know that they are committed to running the factory in a socially and environmentally sustainable manner. They are working to reduce their carbon emissions by obtaining a significant proportion of their energy from renewable sources and currently follow energy-saving processes, such as heating the factory with heat from the machinery.

Our merino and cashmere ranges are crafted in Scotland, where all stages of the manufacturing process take place in Scottish mills. This means they minimise the carbon footprint of their finished products, while also obtaining 100% of their electricity from sustainable sources.

Quality first

Our materials matter

The quality and durability of our socks have taken precedence since day one. This is still the case. But so is minimising the environmental impact of the materials that we use. We have started to introduce more sustainable fibres into our collections and source even more responsible, premium yarns:

Scottish Lisle Cotton

Scottish Lisle cotton is obtained by mercerising the yarn, which strengthens the fibres and minimises the risk of shrinkage. This significantly increases the durability of our socks, helping the colours last wear after wear and ultimately minimising textile waste and energy usage.

Organic Cotton

Certified organic cotton is grown without using pesticides and fertilisers, ensuring that its cultivation and harvesting does not damage the land’s biodiversity, biological cycles and soil. The absence of harmful pesticides also protects the health of both farmers and consumers.

80% of organic cotton crops are grown in rain-fed farms which do not use irrigation, so they require much less blue water from lakes and rivers.

Lyocell

Lyocell is a very clever synthetic material that comes from renewable wood sources. It is as close to a no-compromise wonder material as you can get, which is why we chose it for our debut collection of boxer briefs. It is created using a closed-loop production process, which doesn’t create any harmful by-products that get released in the environment once the process is finished. It is importantly a quick and simple to create, meaning less energy and resources are used to make it.

RPET

This material is obtained by melting down existing plastic products – typically plastic bottles – and re-spinning the material into a new polyester fibre. Its production requires some energy and water in order to recycle the plastic products into new fibres, but the overall amount of resources required for this process is significantly lower than the resources used to obtain virgin polyester, reducing its carbon footprint. Additionally, using rPET helps keep plastics in a closed loop system, reducing the amount of plastic that goes to landfill and keeping them out of the oceans and rivers.

Our Packaging

As an online business, the way our socks are sent out into the world is really important to us. We want unwrapping our pairs to be perfect. But making sure that our packaging is easy on the eyes and the environment is even more important.

All our packaging is recyclable, and we use FSC certified materials for many of our gift boxes, as well as recycled plastic for our mailing bags. We are also increasing the use of post-consumer recycled cardboard in various elements such as our labels, with the aim to eventually make every single component of our packaging from recycled materials.

Final steps

Closing the Loop

When it comes to the end of our socks’ lives, our Sock Amnesty initiative is one of our sustainability pillars. Since its launch in 2018, we have collected over 14,000 pairs of unwanted socks from our customers and they have all been responsibly recycled or repurposed in order to reduce textile waste.

We’ve now taken this project to the next level by partnering with The Reclaimery. With a mission to transform fashion into a more circular industry while supporting positive environmental and social change, The Reclaimery works with local London communities to upcycle and repurpose clothing into new, fashionable and wearable pieces. With their help, we are turning thousands of unwanted socks into mittens and neck warmers for those affected by homelessness.

Not only are we able to create useful items for those in need by upcycling our socks, but repurposing textiles in this way is a sustainable way to reduce global CO2 emissions, water usage and other resources, by decreasing the need for new materials.

If you would like to know more about The Reclaimery, you can head to The Footnotes to hear from the founder, Juliet Herrera.

Sustainable Steps

Net Zero 2025

We’ve never shied away from big goals at London Sock Company and we are really proud that our ultimate mission is to become a Net Zero producer by 2025.

This concept of ‘Net Zero’ is all about balance. It’s about achieving an overall balance between our carbon footprint (the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced as a result of our activities) and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that we can help remove from the atmosphere.

But we want to go beyond the basic ‘offsetting by planting trees’ path. For us, the only way is to take a truly cradle-to-grave approach when it comes to the carbon footprint of our products. This means that we are accounting for the emissions produced across all stages of our supply chain – from the very beginning during cotton harvesting to end of life sock upcycling. This way we can calculate the true impact of our business on the environment – and we won’t miss any opportunities to make positive changes.