Story · 10 September 2026 · 4 min read
How to care for your socks
Wash cool, dry flat, rotate pairs. A practical guide to keeping naturally dyed organic cotton socks soft, shaped and odour-free for years.
Socks take more punishment than anything else in a wardrobe: heat, friction, moisture and a tumble dryer that shortens their life faster than any run ever could. A few small habits keep a pair going for years instead of months.
Washing
Wash at 30°C on a normal cycle with a mild detergent. Hot water is what tires elastane and fades plant dyes, and it does nothing extra for cleanliness at modern detergent strengths.
Turn socks inside out before washing. Most of the wear happens on the inside face, and washing them that way lifts skin oils and salt where they actually collect.
Skip fabric softener. It coats the fibre, which flattens the cushioning underfoot and stops the cotton from moving moisture the way it should.
Drying
Air dry flat, in the shade. A radiator or a tumble dryer shrinks cotton and hardens the cuff, which is what turns a snug sock into one that slips down the heel.
Reshape the cuff and the toe while damp. Thirty seconds of pulling them back into shape is the difference between year two and year five.
Between washes
Socks do not always need washing after a single easy wear. Air a pair overnight and turn them inside out; rotating pairs gives the fibres time to recover.
Rotate three or four pairs rather than wearing one favourite into the ground. Fibres recover their stretch with a rest day, and the whole set lasts longer than any single pair would alone.
Repairs
Darn a thin patch before it becomes a hole — a repair kit ships with every order. If a pair is genuinely finished, send it back to us and it goes into fibre recycling rather than landfill.