Sometimes the best things in life are free
This is nice, eh?
Topics: Happiness, Social Steps 
3 comments »
Fair wind wine
Ahoy Mi Hearties!! I see a great idea on the horizon! Sail ships, emitting one-seventh of the carbon emissions of traditional container ships, carrying goods and arriving there or thereabouts on time (depending on mother nature herself of course).
I think we’ll be getting in touch with the company behind ‘Fair Wind Wine’ or similar companies in the future to see if they have any space on their boats!
Would you rather our socks be shipped by sail ships? Leave us a comment and let us know…
Topics: Environmental Steps, Happiness 6 comments »
SFHP heads back to The Sock Drawer
There’s been many benefits of SFHP relocating to an idyllic Swedish Island for a few weeks, and one has the been the farmhouse in which we’ve enjoyed many a long discussion over green tea and umpteen cakes. But with the farmhouse, came the farm next door, and with the farm next door came the frolicking cows, and with the frolicking cows came the flies.
Admittedly they took some getting used to but after a while I found that giving them a good swatting wasn’t necessary - I learned to like the flies, and as such have had two hanging out with me for the last 3days here while I worked. But, SFHP in Sweden must come to a close as we head back Home to The Sock Drawer this weekend.
But I thought I’d say bye to Sweden, and the flies, by posting a note and picture in memory of the flies that didn’t make it off the sticky play mat on the window. Same time, same place, next year little ones…
Topics: India, No Work All Play!, Social Steps, Us Happy People No comments »
The Polyphonic Spree and Socks in Nirvana
The Polyphonic Spree and Socks bring you Lithium, by Nirvana
I guess it’s what you do on when there’s 43 of you on a tour bus…
Topics: No Work All Play!, Socks 3 comments »
Easy on the plastic now
Life without plastic pretty is hard to imagine now. Well, thanks to BBC journalist Christine Jeavans it’s about to get a little easier as she’s given up buying or accepting anything which contains or is packaged in plastic for the month of august.
It’s an interesting and important idea, and one that’s close to our hearts. When you look at sock packaging, for example, there’s nearly always that little black plastic hook used to hang the socks. In the great scheme of things it’s so small, and fairly easy to overlook as harmful waste. But when you consider that the U.S. alone buys upwards of 600 million pairs of socks each year then it suddenly is worth thinking about.
Our own packaging contains no little plastic hook, just recycled cotton waste printed with soy inks. It’s not a big step, but what a difference such a small change could make across the entire sector.
What do you think about plastic and packaging? Leave us a comment by clicking the word comment below…
Topics: Bamboo, Environmental Steps, Our Socks 4 comments »
Welcome to the world bamboo fans!
Get the bamboo ready, for there may be pandamonium!
Why? Well, there’s a few more hungry bamboo lovers just come into the world : )
Topics: Bamboo, Happiness 1 comment »
What’s the difference between a courgette and a sock?
Whoa! I’ve just picked the biggest courgette ever (in my life at least) from the Farther-in-Law’s garden here in Sweden. Look at the flippin’ size of it!
This locally grown fairly traded (and free!) beauty is also organic, which means no pesticides or chemicals were used to help it grow to this ‘bigger than a bodybuilders forearm’ size. It just needed well treated soil, a little rain and some southern Swedish sun, the way nature intended!
To highlight it’s size and natural goodness I thought I’d drape one of the striped socks I also picked up here over it. Some thought I was a little strange, but with this bright stripey number measuring 28cm long, i think it gives you a good idea of the courgette’s marvelous size.
However this sock differs starkly to the courgette (aside from it being a sock and that being a vegetable!) because the cotton it’s made from wasn’t grown organically. In fact, all of the cotton in our clothes (unless it’s organic) is grown using pesticides and chemicals since cotton fields the world over now rely on them just for cotton to grow. Unfortunately, these pesticides have ruined the land as well as the health of many of the cotton pickers, and since growing cotton is actually the single biggest user of pesticides in the world, we can get an idea of the scale of the situation.
This is one of our reasons for making bamboo socks because bamboo grows like crazy all on it’s own, naturally, without the need for pesticides or chemicals. So the next time you see or wear cotton, spare a thought for this hearty courgette as being living proof that the natural way is usually the best way. And if you’d like to know a little more about the cotton in our clothes just click here for some short video’s.
What do you think about cotton, or courgettes, or bodybuilders forearms? Leave us a note by clicking the word ‘comment’ below…
Topics: Environmental Steps, No Work All Play!, Socks, Us Happy People 5 comments »
Great Socks! Good Times!
Dear Jildau,
From today onwards our household will no longer be treated to your charming collection of bright socks** after your move back to The Netherlands. But the thing we’ll miss the most, even more than your bright sock collection, is your unwavering love of wearing them in odd pairs each and every day for no other reason than it made her that little bit happier! That made us a little bit happier…as it did your work colleagues and everyone else that saw them.
So take care Jildau, of yourself AND your socks. We’ll miss you all!
xxxx
*Pronounced ‘Yill-dawe’
**The socks pictured aren’t our SFHP socks, but more on them very soon!
Topics: Happiness, Socks, Us Happy People 1 comment »
Money can make a world of difference
With Tom away in Mongolia looking at Camel Hair socks for one of our social initiatives, I get to busy myself with all things official. Recently my specialist subject has been banking…..with an onus on the ethical management of our money.
Because if ‘money makes the world go round’ then surely it makes sense to choose to keep our money with a bank that helps turn the world the way we ourselves would like it to, and only works with enterprises that have positive social and environmental intension’s?
That’s why we’ve decided to go with The Co-operative Bank after a lot of happy hunting around (plus they happen to be very nice and personable too!).
In their own words they are ‘good with money’ and lead with serious ethical policies that ensure they use our money wisely without harming other people or the environment. To watch a 40 second video of what they’re about, click here.
It’s really worth considering how your own money is being managed, as the more money invested in making the world turn positively, the better.. Well, that’s what we think anyway.
Here are a few other interesting banking opportunities I came across:
And if you’d like to learn more about ethical banking just click here
Go on, leave us a comment by clicking the ‘comment’ button below
Topics: Economic Steps, Environmental Steps, Social Steps, Us Happy People No comments »
I’m not a smart man, Jenny…but I know the value of socks!
This weekend a few of us decided to watch an old favourite that we’d watched time and time again as youngsters. But in all those viewings I guess I never truly appreciated Lieutenant Dan’s wisdom and Forest’s brilliance.
This time I noticed Lieutenant Dan carefully explain to Forest and Bubba upon their arrival to Vietnam that the item of clothing with the utmost importance was “Socks!”, which really demonstrated the depth of research and quality of the scriptwriting - they don’t make films like this anymore, I thought to myself.
And credit to Forest, he didn’t half take L. Dan’s words to heart…..look at those snazzy stripes he’s wearing to perfectly compliment his understated suit! What style! No wonder he was such a success and people the world over had a soft spot for him : )
The importance and the power of socks…right there, plain as day.
Go on, leave us a comment! Click on the word ‘comment’ below and have your say
Topics: Socks 7 comments »