The concept of taking hard and crunchy plastic and turning it into soft fuzzy fabric is a little hard to wrap your mind around, at first. Did you know that polyester thread and plastic bottles are actually both made of the same substance? It's called polyethylene terephthalate. Uhh, what? No worries, its nickname is a lot easier to pronounce: PET. We want to help you understand how this works and why we do it. Plus, the process of creating the fabric is pretty neat! Keep reading for the deets.
The Recycled Polyester Process
Our socks at swaggr are soft, stretchy, and are naturally moisture resistant (pretty much everything you look for in a sock, right?). They also are made from recycled plastic bottles, which in this day and age, is a must. On top of the fact that we can help to eliminate the excess of plastic floating around in our ocean, we also do it because the fabric is such a fantastic performance yarn. Here is how it's done:
Step 1. When the bottles first arrive at the facility in North Carolina, they are shredded into flakes. Moisture is very bad for the recycling process, so the shredding part is important because it helps get rid of the moisture that collects in the recycling bins.
Step 2. The flakes of plastic are sorted by color. We want clear bottles for socks. The clearer the bottle the more pure white the thread will be. Which, in turn, will allow us to dye the yarn in a variety of colors.
Step 3. Now the plastic takes a bath to make it nice and clean, followed by about 10 hours of drying.
Step 4. Once dry, the plastic is melted down and poured through tiny holes to make filaments. This results in thin threads that are 5 times finer than human hair.
Step 5. Now we're almost there, but in order to make legit recycled polyester, you have to tear it up one more time. This creates a fluffy material that is then strengthened into the recycled polyester thread.
And those are the basics of how your trash can become your next piece of clothing.
What Makes swaggr Socks Unique
There are a lot of companies that create socks, some pretty great ones at that. However, we have made sure that our socks are exactly what people are looking for AND that they help the environment. Some of the best features are:
- Each pair contains a minimum of three recycled plastic bottles.
- The yarn is OEKO-TEX 100 certified (the highest standard of safety).
- Each pair fits a kid’s size 2 shoe through a men’s size 16 - seriously!!
- All packaging used is made from recycled paper.
- Extra cushion from the heel all the way to the toe for maximum comfort.
- Naturally moisture resistant to keep blisters, bacteria, and any other discomfort from occurring.
Haven’t tried out our socks yet? Get 15% off your first order by checking out the site.