There are some things in life we don’t question; We just put up with them - traffic jams, bad coffee from the machine at work, supermarket sandwiches, uncomfortable socks. All these mundane things and joyless things in life…
My sock buying history can be told in a few lines….
5 pairs of cotton socks for £10 x 2. Wear out. Repeat.
My sock drawer depressing. Interspersed with the holey cotton socks was the odd token pair of novelty Christmas socks which somehow hung around like a bad smell. Marie Kondo would have a ball…. It never occured to me to do anything else…
Every few years there was a sock amnesty and the whole lot were replaced with yet more uncomfortable multi buy cotton socks. Does this sound familiar?
And then at the start of 2020 I discovered alpaca wool and what a revelation that was!
Alpaca wool is super soft, very light, and hard wearing which makes it absolutely perfect to make socks from. Wearing a pair of PAIRS Scotland alpaca socks feels a bit like having a foot spa all day - warm, comfortable and luxurious and makes you wonder why you ever wore anything else? In fact feedback from our customers is that they can’t wear anything else…. Anna and I were so hooked that we even decided to go into business together supplying alpaca socks….
So why is the alpaca wool so great for making socks? Well, alpaca wool is a natural fibre produced by alpacas. Alpacas are a wonderful looking animal which is native to the Andes mountains in South America. Their natural fibre is shorn once a year. The alpacas live in a harsh climate, up to 4000 meters high, which means it is very cold in winter and warm in summer and as such their fleece is super warm in winter and cool in summer. It’s warmer than sheep’s wool and yet one third of the weight.
The fleece is very smooth, which makes it super soft but is not itchy like sheep’s wool. The alpaca wool is also antimicrobial and hypoallergenic which means our socks don’t smell - even after a few days of wear. It also comes in 23 natural colours, which means that there is no need to dye it.
At PAIRS Scotland we have two collections of alpaca socks. We have a wonderful undyed collection for wearing everyday and we have some sumptuous bed socks. Both are super soft but also hard wearing. The bed socks are really a slipper sock and are so robust they can be worn in place of slippers.
