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Alpaca Wool Socks (how to make them last years)

by Lucas Darway March 06, 2015

We sold out of our Alpaca Wool socks 4 times during the time between our August launch and the end of the holiday season. It was bonkers. So, so many people show us their socks in passing (oodles of our customers are local natives at our church Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia), and the smiles and comments of absurdly warm feet pour in. We are thrilled to hear the great feedback.

Recently, however, a customer gave us a heads up that they had holes in their heels, and have only had their lonely pair since Christmas. After a little digging, we learned that they were wearing them like slippers (i.e. in the house 24/7 without shoes on), and it seemed that the carpeting in their home got the best of the beastly socks.

We want to encourage you to take care of these socks as you would a fine sweater (not that they can't take a beating, we wear ours on the trail and rotate through only 4 pairs regularly), and use them when needed most. They are tested to the extreme. Wool socks need two simple steps to make them last:

1. Always wear them with shoes, and..

2. Wash them on a gentle cycle (inside out)

The wool fibers will outlast cotton, but they do not take direct friction from outside surfaces well. If you scrubbed your favorite wool sweater on your carpet, which should last for years, the same thing would happen. The fibers would unravel and your sweater would be kaput. Wash them on a gentle cycle, air dry them, and wear them with shoes that fit. We field tested our socks (2 pairs for 2 years each.. we purchased from our vendor long before Arcane was even founded) and wanted to share these simple tips.

The only thing worse than Alpaca wool socks getting holes in them after 2 months is not letting us know that your socks have holes in them. Please shoot us a note if you goofed up and ruined your (obviously) favorite socks!