Favourite Thing Friday

is socks.  You heard me.  But, not just socks - Smartwool socks.  I will tell anyone that I talk to that I.love.these.socks. 

I first found these socks at the discount clothing store where I occasionally shop, Gabriel Brothers.  The socks were priced at $3.99 for a pair, a deeply discounted rate from the usual $15.95 - $22.95 a pair.  I know this is a little pricey - but let me tell you - if I could only afford one pair, I would still buy them and simply wash them every day.  I love them this much.  I actually find them a little less expensively [than retail] when I buy them from Sierra Trading Post. 

I copied this from the Smartwool website, I think their history is very interesting.   Smartwool is not a small company any longer, but I love the story behind their products and I love the fact that every pair of socks that I have bought for myself or someone else is stamped, "made in the USA". 

History

SmartWool was born with comfort in mind. Our founders were New England ski instructors struggling to keep their feet warm. After trying a variety of materials, they rediscovered an age-old classic: wool. But while these socks may have been warm, they were itchy and shrank. So they worked on a process to make them soft and easy care. SmartWool was born on a simple belief: keeping feet comfortable on the slopes. 

But it was a difficult sell. Try as they might, they couldn’t initially convince others of the material’s merits. No one believed that a wool sock could be anything but itchy. Out of frustration, they finally challenged people to try them. And this simple tactic changed the course of SmartWool forever and pioneered a new market transformation for wool performance products. The instant people tried them they were awestruck with SmartWool’s soft luxurious feel. They were even more surprised that their feet stayed comfortable for extended periods of time in mixed weather conditions. Instead of getting clammy, the SmartWool socks stayed dry, soft and comfortable. The founders then realized that they had to get their socks on as many people as possible to let them speak for themselves.

And a funny thing happened once people started trying SmartWool: word about their comfort and performance spread like wildfire. Fueling this was the company’s commitment to using only the finest wool in the world: New Zealand merino, which produce the softest, strongest and whitest wool on the planet. The company has built intimate, long-standing relationships with its growers, who are in tune with their land and sheep and have become great partners in growing the best wool possible. 


We have skiied in these socks, we have run, biked, and hiked in these socks.  The best thing, though?  Sitting around the house.  Our house, built in 1955, has forced hot air heat.  Our house is drafty, big time.  We have mostly hardwood floors and ceramic tile.  It gets cold and I hate cold feet.  When I wear my smartwools, I have warm, dry feet.  The socks are comfortable, not itchy.  As you can see, I have several different styles of smartwools - I love them all. The company now makes apparel, clothing, hats, etc. 

So, the moral of the story is, my favourite thing for this Friday is warm feet. 


If you'd like to splurge and buy yourself a pair - here is the link to Sierra Trading Post - a selection of women's smartwool socks, to be specific.  There is a promotion that for a first-time customer, if you give them my name as a referral, you get a $10 gift card and so do I.  If you're interested, email me and I'll give you more information.  By the way, I checked, and Sierra Trading Post ships to 92 other countries, in addition to the US.  I will be highlighting Sierra Trading Post as a FTF in the next month or so - I love this company and the products they sell  [wholesale] as much as Smartwool.  I simply have to find the gumption to photograph all of the things we've purchased from them!