The process of how socks are made has evolved from an outdated, hand knitting process you might have seen in the 1900s into an efficient, optimized process.
Sock manufacturers may have different sources and slightly different processes, but largely, the process looks very similar across the sock making business.
We wanted to give you a look into our sock factory, to show you what our process looks like, and how we are able to produce custom socks fast, and at an affordable cost.
How Socks Are Made: A step by step guide
How socks are made can be broken into (insert number) steps, starting with a design and finishing with the arrival at your doorstep. Each step is very important, and has many of it’s own sub-steps for completion. But, let’s start with an idea behind the socks.
Designing the socks
The first step in how socks are made starts with an idea or a design. Maybe there is an upcoming event, a team’s season is starting, or a company just wants to give their employees a unique, practical gift this holiday season.
No matter the reason, we need to figure out what the socks are going to actually look like. The customer needs to provide some sort of design, emblems, and color scheme so we can create a prototype. When you work with Custom Sock Lab, this can be done a number of ways.
The customer can either tell us their idea in words over the phone, and we can work through the details together that way.
Or, if they already have something more concrete in mind, they can send us over a sketch to go off.
Ideally, though, the customer would have a formal design file (either jpeg, .png, .psd or .ai). This allows for the greatest accuracy when making socks.
Choosing a sock style
Once we have a design to work off of, the customer can pick the style of socks they’d like. At Custom Sock Lab, we have a few different options to fit most people’s needs.
Standard Dress Casual socks are derived from supima cotton, and work great for work or business casual environments. Another great option for everyday wear and casual athletics is the Cotton “Everyday” Athletics sock type. These are spun from combed cotton.
The highest price style is our Performance Yarn Athletics stocks, which are derived from polypropylene. As you may have guessed, these are best for teams or performance training.
Once you’ve hammered down the design and sock type you want, we move onto the next step: creating a prototype
Creating a prototype
We take the design given to us and create a pair of socks on our industrial sock knitting machine.
We take this sample and send it off to the customer for approval. Sometimes there is a bit of back and forth honing in the details, which is totally fine. After all, our goal is to provide you with custom socks you love!
Once everyone is happy with the prototype, we acquire the raw materials and start mass production.
Raw materials
Once we confirm the prototype we need to go and get all the materials we need to make the socks. This isn’t as complicated as you may think, because unlike most sock factories, all our partners are right here in the US.
We don’t purchase socks from China and then simply resell them here in the US. We are actually the 1% of the sock making business that is USA based, which allows us to get the yarn we need quickly so we can get our orders fulfilled faster. After all, a quick turnaround is important!
The manufacturing process
Once we have the materials we need, we begin mass production. We first dye the yarn whatever color your socks are. Then, we spin the yarn into socks.
These days, socks are spun using an industrial sock knitting machine. This allows for the ultimate efficiency and productivity, and allows us to keep our socks production cost as low as possible.
After the socks are spun, the seams need to be sealed. This is because the industrial sock knitting machine just creates a tube. We still need to close the toes!
After we seal the seams, the socks are just about done. All that is left to do is to steam the socks to help create their shape. This also helps kill any bacteria that may have been on the yarn or produced throughout the manufacturing process.
The final step in the sock manufacturing process is to let the socks dry overnight.
Quality Control
Once the order is complete, we quality control our socks for defects. The last thing we want is to send out an order and pay for the shipping, just to find out there are problems.
If we can sniff out issues before shipping socks out, it saves everyone a ton of time and money, while allowing us to keep our reputation as a reliable, high-quality sock making business.
Order delivery
Finally, the socks are shipped to the customer well within the lead time we originally stated within the order.
At this point, the sock making process is complete, and another satisfied customer has custom socks that will be the talking point of their next marketing event, charity fundraiser, or gathering!
Final thoughts on how socks are made
Now that you know how socks are made, you might be wondering how you can get your hands on a bulk order of custom socks for your organization.
We make this process easy, and more importantly, fun. You can start your order here!