Design Preview Report: Sustainable socks

What and Why?

Problem: Textile waste is a huge contributor to overall waste and global warming. From the documentary ” The True Cost”,  Americans throw away 82 pounds of textile waste each year = 11 million tons. Additionally, the council for textile recycling states that Americans recycle or donate only 15 percent of clothing, making textiles one of the poorest recycling rates. As an everyday essential, we often buy socks in bulk and traditional synthetically manufactured socks contribute to this overall waste. Because of the amount of socks purchased and quick turn around time for throwing away socks, I wanted to find a solution to motivate people to recycle their socks.

Solution: For my project, I want to fabricate 100% biodegradable socks with seeds integrated in the design, so once the user is done with the socks, they can plant them and grow their own herb garden.

Inspiration and Design Ideas: I was mainly inspired by other sustainable clothing and the move to use biodegradable materials in clothing design. I am passionate about fashion and clothing design but struggle with the negative environmental impact that this industry has, so I wanted to explore ways for fashion and sustainability to coexist. For design ideas, I wanted to mix the homemade/DIY aesthetic with nature, sustainability and whimsy. For my socks, I want to use natural dyes to create a range of colors and stamp the socks with different prints to contribute to the whimsical/playful aesthetic. For the seeds, I’ve chosen to go for herbs because of their small size, relatively easy growth process and to motivate people to use the socks in their own home. I think there’s also something really cool about self sustainability that I wanted to promote with these socks.

How ?

Materials: The first step in the production process will be sourcing materials. I plan on buying either 100% cotton of 100% wool for the socks, making sure the supplier is GOTS (global organic textile standard) or equivalent for sustainability. The main issue faced is finding suppliers that sell 100% untreated textile on a small scale, but the easiest way to do this is to make sure the shop has some sort of sustainability certification. The next material I need to source is 100% biodegradable thread. Sourcing this thread is not difficult but one of the barriers will be price, some of these threads range from $60-$100s of dollars so it will be important to find a biodegradable affordable thread. Once the socks are fabricated, the next material will be natural dyes or homemade dyes. For the dyes, I have the option to buy natural dyes or use natural materials to dye the socks (avocado, onion skins, turmeric, etc). To ensure that the socks can biodegrade 100% , I plan on using natural foods and materials to dye instead of purchasing. If there is a time constraint, I always have the option to purchase instead. For the designs on the socks, I plan on stamping little animals or patterns onto the socks to create a more cohesive collection. I plan on buying stamps and using the dye to stamp it onto the socks to create a playful and fun aesthetic. Lastly, to source the seeds I will likely use amazon to buy herb packets in bulk, and match up the herbs with the different designs. I want to make 4-6 pairs of socks to create a range of different colors, plants and designs. Im hoping to connect all the socks together as a line of socks through similar themes or stamping (for ex, ocean themed socks; jellyfish, lobster, etc).

Timeline:

Fabrication Process:

1. source materials

• This involves doing research to find stores that reliably sell 100% cotton or wool fabric, biodegradable thread, stamp outlines and herb garden seeds

1. Plant prototype to monitor growth and decompostability

• Once the material arrives, its critical to plant a prototype sock with seeds embedded to monitor  the growth and decomposition over a few weeks

1. sew final pairs

• using either hand knitting, knitting machine or a sewing machine depending on time and materials gathered to sew the 6 pairs

1. dye final pairs

experiment using avocado, onion skins, turmeric, indigo and other natural dyes to create a collection of pastel/muted colored socks

1. stamp final pairs

use stamps and natural dye to stamp animal designs and patterns onto the socks for aesthetic purposes

1. design packaging

• design herb specific packaging for each sock using biodegradable material – cardboard, and laser cut labels on top

1. implement seeds

sew seeds into the ankle or rim of the socks, coated in protective material to ensure the seeds don’t sprout until planted

1. package + photograph final product

assemble final packaging, design and product for final pictures

 

Sources:

1. https://greenily.co/2016/01/21/got-lots-of-single-socks/

2. featured image – Pansy shop https://www.pansy.co/shop/short-socks?ssp_iabi=1683322678083

3. Knit socks Walmart https://www.walmart.com/ip/Knitted-Lounge-Socks/5738534288

4. https://in.pinterest.com/pin/1046453663403139246/

5. Earth.org, dec 2021 https://earth.org/how-can-the-fashion-industry-reduce-textile-waste/