Why Woven Socks?
If you go into your sock drawer and pull out your favourite fun socks, I can almost guarantee you’re holding a pair of woven socks. There are many reasons for this: the pattern is clear, the colours are crisp, and they look as good when you first saw them flat as they do when you pull them on. For 99% of cases, we recommend our woven socks as we know they’re going to be your new favourites.
Sublimation vs Woven
For the remaining 1%, there is an option called sublimation printing – this is when a flat pattern is transferred onto a blank sock. There are circumstances when this is the best option, like with incredibly detailed patterns or designs with many colours and gradients, but the nature of this process can be its disadvantage as well. Socks are stretchy, they move along with us in our day, but when a pattern is printed on, it is done so on an un-stretched sock.
This means they are going to look exactly as you want them when you see them flat, but when worn you run the risk of distortion. That’s not to say that sublimation socks are inherently bad – they have their time and place.
So this leads us to our custom woven socks – the crème de la crème of the sock world. As opposed to having your design printed onto a generic blank sock – your entire design is stitched into the sock as it is knitted, from toe to cuff. This process is much more laborious, and for good reason. All of our designs go through a process with our production artists in North America that prepares your designs for our knitting machines in Italy. Learn more about our Italian sock factory.
There’s a reason not all companies can offer this premium service – it takes specially trained designers, technicians, and production artists to go from design to finished sock, but the process is so worth it. Each thread in your design is hand picked to match your Pantone colours, and each design is attentively cared for through each step. It really is a labour of love, as it is so satisfying to see the hard work come out in a top notch custom sock.
Sock Designs Become Reality
The process itself is just like a knitted sweater – where every stitch makes up the greater whole. Due to this a slight pixelation occurs when a sock goes from design to sock, as you can see in the figure above. The important takeaway from this: if you are designing your own custom sock, keep detailed images, texts, and symbols larger so they stay legible and clear. It can be a hard balance to perfect, which is why our team of sock specialists are always available to help you understand the process. Alternatively, we are always more than happy to provide free mockups!
And that’s it! All that is left is to show off your own custom woven socks to the world, which is worth the labour and expertise that goes into their creation. We’re kind of experts on making custom socks easy 😉 . Ready to get started? Have more questions? Reach out to info@sockrates.ca today.
