Our Commitment to the Environment
We believe in the importance of running our business in an environmentally conscious way, from our design ethos, to our manufacturing process and daily operations.
The majority of Sock Dreams brand socks are made with regenerated cotton blend yarns, which are created by recycling cast off cloth scraps and clothing production waste. These materials are broken down and re-spun to create regenerated yarn. While this doesn’t account for 100% of our product line, we do source all of our yarns from within the United States. We also have our socks knitted at domestic mills, so that we aren’t sending materials and socks all over the world before they even arrive at our headquarters.
We have always made an effort to produce socks that will endure many years of wear, both in terms of structural integrity and style. This was largely motivated by our personal preferences in the beginning, but with the rise of "fast fashion" styles, we've realized that this approach is also a good way of preventing unnecessary waste. You can read more about this ethos in our blog on "slow fashion".
We choose to use minimal packaging for our socks, using recycled cardstock instead of plastic, so that you can simply recycle it once you’re done with it. All of our invoices and poly mailers are made with recycled materials as well.
When it comes to our business operations, we believe in the old slogan of “reduce, reuse, recycle,” ideally in that order. With reduction in mind, our headquarters building is 100% powered by renewable energy sources. And while we choose minimal packaging for our products, we also ask our suppliers to omit as much unnecessary packaging as possible from our orders.
We choose recycled paper goods, and environmentally friendly cleaning supplies at our headquarters, to protect our waterways, as well as the health and safety of our employees and pets. We also help to cover the cost of employee bus passes, to incentivize the use of public transportation.
Since we are already receiving shipments in cardboard boxes, and sometimes bubble wrap and similar packaging materials, it makes sense to us to reuse those items, rather than purchasing them new. We repurpose these boxes for the wholesale end of our business, while bubble wrap comes in handy for items like Sock Glue, which can use some extra padding to prevent the bottles from cracking in transit.
Our headquarters building is largely furnished with used items, including some great vintage pieces that add character to the building. Even our cubicles were purchased second hand. We’ve been lucky to find good quality, solid wood options for the same or better prices as new, particle board furniture, which tends not to last very long.
While we believe that recycling should come last, after reducing and reusing, it is very difficult to run a business without ending up with various materials that either need to be recycled, or thrown away. Some types of plastic are harder to recycle than others, but thanks to Green Century Recycling, we’re able to recycle the vast majority of the plastics that we end up with. They also take our used fluorescent light bulbs, styrofoam, and batteries (though we use rechargeable batteries wherever possible).
When it comes to used electronics, we donate ours to Free Geek, who are able to refurbish them, to be donated or sold at low prices to members of our community. What they can’t reuse, they safely recycle. Free Geek also does great work teaching information technology skills to vulnerable community members, in pursuit of digital equity.
We believe that it’s our responsibility to leave behind a planet that is not just inhabitable, but as beautiful and biodiverse as what we’ve been lucky enough to experience in our lifetimes. Our power as individuals may be limited, but we’re committed to doing our part to care for the earth, however we can. We’re always open to ideas and suggestions, so drop us a line if you have thoughts on more ways in which our small business can contribute to a sustainable future!