sockdreams

[sockdreams]

Future Vision - Sock Dreams Style

We have now arrived at the final day of our 25th birthday celebration sale! Today we’re looking ahead to the future of Sock Dreams, and are excited to share some of our vision with you!

First of all, we’re going to be vending at Rose City Comic Con during the first weekend of September, and we’re looking forward to seeing some of your faces in person! We always have such a great time meeting old and new customers, and talking socks and comics with you.

We’ve made some really fun designs based on the feedback of cosplayers, so if you’ve got an idea for some socks that would really bring a character to life, don’t hesitate to let us know! 

On the website end of things, we’ve been cooking up a new feature that we think could really elevate the shopping experience for a lot of folks. We like photographing our socks on a variety of models, to make it easier for you to envision what something will look like on you. With this new feature, we’ll be showing side-by-side comparisons of what socks look like on our various models, complete with the measurements of each model!  

We’re also introducing model profiles, which include a list of favorite items for each model. The idea is that if you find a model with similar measurements to your own, you’ll then be able to see which items work for that model, making it easier to find styles that work for you! This feature is nearly ready to launch, and will be rolling out slowly as we get model data added to more of our Sock Dreams styles. We understand online shopping makes sizing tricky, and this is our latest effort to demystify the process. 

As you may have noticed, a big theme from these last three days has been the importance of customer feedback to our business model. We know you dream just as big as we do, and we want to keep helping to make those dreams a reality, so please, get in touch! We’d love to hear from you about everything from sock designs, to suggestions for donation partnerships and website features. The future of Sock Dreams is in your hands, and possibly your feet! - the Sock Dreams crew

[sockdreams]

Sock Dreams turns 25 today!

Welcome back to our birthday celebration! Today’s the big day – our 25th birthday! Yesterday we gave you the deep lore of our company’s journey over the years, and today we want to celebrate where we’re at today!

p.s. if you missed yesterday's sale announcement and lore post, we've got you: 20% off most items August 2nd through 4th, excludes gift cards, collaborations, donation specials, starter packs, stickers and regular sale collections.

Currently Sock Dreams consists of a team of fourteen Dreamers who manage all of our operations, as well as modeling all of our socks!

Also two dogs and a baby, who offer invaluable insight, HR consulting services, and moral support. This is probably the most harmonious group of colleagues we’ve ever had, which keeps employee turnover low and mischief high.

Continue reading for more Sock Dreams lore!

We see running this business as a collaborative effort, with everyone being given a voice in how we handle matters, rather than a typical top-down hierarchy. Most of us wear several hats, which keeps things from getting too monotonous, and makes the most of our varied skills and interests.  Like it or not, we now live in an era of megacorporations, outsourcing, and replacing jobs with AI wherever possible. We fall on the “not” side of “like it or not”, which is why we’re sticking to our principles when it comes to having our Sock Dreams brand manufactured domestically. We believe in the importance of employing genuine people to answer your calls and emails, so you don’t have to fight a chat bot or try to find your way through an endless series of phone menus to ask a question that only a human can answer. Heck, we still hand write “Thank you!” on every invoice!   

We’re really excited about all of the new styles and colorways that have joined our Sock Dreams brand this summer! From spooky circus-inspired stripes, to wool kilt socks, and bold new color combinations, it’s been one fun arrival after another. Several of these new colorways, such as the Pride Stripes Extraordinary Thigh Highs in AroAce colors, and XL Foot Longer Extraordinary Programming Socks in black and maroon, were specifically requested by our customers!  

We’d also like to draw your attention to our current line-up of non-profits that we’re donating to via our Donation Partnerships program! From larger organizations with the power to make big waves, to smaller, grassroots programs making a difference locally, we believe in the importance of what these groups are doing. We’re always interested in hearing about the causes you’d like to support! After all, this is a joint effort.  

As a group of people who probably wouldn’t thrive in a more corporate environment, we’re so grateful to have the continued opportunity to do what we do as a small company. It’s because of the ongoing support of our community of customers that we’re still here to celebrate this milestone, and so, as we say on your invoices,

THANK YOU! 

- the Sock Dreams crew

[sockdreams]

Celebrate 25 years of great socks!

Greetings, Dreamers,

Sock Dreams is turning 25 tomorrow, and we wanted to take this opportunity to look back at our humble beginnings, as well as how far we've come!

More Sock Dreams lore behind the cut

We started out in 2000 with nothing but a dream and a website, built by our Dreamer in Chief, Monique, AKA Niqkita, AKA Niq. From the very beginning, when Niq was the person answering emails, customer feedback has been essential to our business. Initially she ran the business out of her own home, until the operation grew big enough that it required its own building, and even a handful of employees.  

In the beginning we retailed items produced by other manufacturers (and still do!), and in 2004 Niq started working with an American sock mill to design our debut brand: DreaM Stockings! The small, family-run mill knits socks on antique machines, and Niq collaborated with them to develop longer, wilder socks than they’d ever knit before. Some of those first creations are styles we still carry today: Ribbed M Stockings and M Stripes. It turned out that there was an enthusiastic audience for these unique designs, and thus began Sock Dreams’ journey as a manufacturer. 

As the company grew, both in the number of employees and the number of styles we stocked, it moved from location to location. Our DreaM Stockings line expanded and evolved over the years, and in 2008, Dara, who manages our U.S product development, partnered us with another American mill to create our Dreamer Socks line. These socks were made on modern machines, with a high needle count, and she was able to work with the mill to customize them, to make socks with improved stretch. 

For many people our Extraordinary Thigh Highs (the flagship style of our Dreamer Socks line) were the first thigh highs they’d found that comfortably fit their legs! The feedback we received from that first run of Extraordinaries proved that there was still room for improvement, though. With that feedback in mind, Dara, now a part-owner, continued to work with the mill over the years to improve their design and stretch. We’d still like to create even stretchier thigh highs, but have yet to find the technology in the US that can make that hope a reality.  

We’d never heard of “slow fashion” when we launched our DreaM Stockings and Dreamer Socks lines, but we naturally fell into this niche clothing market. From the start we’ve been dedicated to domestic manufacturing, and have a strong preference for styles that will endure – both structurally and stylistically – over the years.   You may have noticed from our minimalist packaging that we don’t like waste, and it’s the same ethos that inspired us to blog about mending techniques, like darning and needle felting, to help keep beloved socks in circulation. This might not be the best move business-wise, but we’ve always had priorities that go beyond the bottom line.  

25 years is a long time for a small business to be around these days, and we couldn’t have done it without all of you! Not only have you literally kept the lights on through your patronage, but so much of what we do and love about our work has been made possible by our community of customers.

With that in mind, on the eve of our 25th birthday, we’d really like to celebrate all of you!

[sockdreams]

'Kay, can we all take a moment to gush over how aesthetic these AroAce Pride Stripes are in their unpackaged raw form?

Any guesses how many pairs there are?

[edit to add alt image text]

[sockdreams]

Ah yes, a link... to the product. Whoops! @thecagedsong Thanks for sharing the link to the socks @improbablescience. @capricorn-0mnikorn - We are all stoked to hear that our sock design does the Disability Pride Flag justice! We really love this design.

Disability; Awareness & Representation

Join us in bringing attention to Disability Pride Month and celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Disability Pride is incredibly important, because in a world that's often ignorant or hostile to disabled people's needs, it can be really hard to recognize, advocate for, and receive the accommodations you need to participate fully in society.

@capricorn-0mnikorn's Disability Pride Flag design resonated among our Dreamer Crew and our community, inspiring us to put our thinking caps on.

Our end goal -> Create a damn comfy sock for the folks who the flag represents while staying true to the original flag design. This can be tricky for us, as working with a limited color range can make or break a design, not to mention having diagonal stripes on an L shaped sock.

*drumroll* Itchy, irritating toe seams? Gone. Restrictive ankle cuff? Gone. Meet our Disability Pride Roll Top Crew. $1 per pair sold is being donated to ACLU.

Sizing Info & Fiber Content: Small/Medium: 6-12 women's, up to 10 men's Medium/Large: 7-13 men's, 9+ women's Stretch, around leg: 18 inches Made from 65% recycled cotton, 25% acrylic, 10% spandex

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Disabled activists and allies have put decades of hard work into the progress and visibility we've gained today. Advocacy for the Americans with Disabilities Act - culminating in the Capitol Crawl demonstration in DC - eventually led to the ADA becoming law in 1990, providing aid and removing barriers to entry for people with disabilities from employment, public accommodations and services, transport and telecommunication.

Even as current events show how many challenges still face us, community connections and building on what's come before are going to remain vital in the fight for disability rights.

Disability issues are human rights issues.

The more awareness and visibility we gain, the easier it becomes for all of us to access what we need, from basic necessities, to being able to participate in activities that other people take for granted.

Helpful Resources:

Disability Together

Models of disability

Neurodiversity Rights

ADA - Know Your Rights

Job Accommodation Network

Disability Rights Oregon - for local Oregonians

Disability Rights Washington - for our Washingtonian Neighbors

Disabili-Tease Festival

Frillability - Resources for the intersectionally identified who are interested in adaptive living

Leave us a message or tag other groups, organizations and individuals that have positively impacted your life, we would love to know! We are interested to hear from you <3

[sockdreams]

Disability; Awareness & Representation

Join us in bringing attention to Disability Pride Month and celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Disability Pride is incredibly important, because in a world that's often ignorant or hostile to disabled people's needs, it can be really hard to recognize, advocate for, and receive the accommodations you need to participate fully in society.

@capricorn-0mnikorn's Disability Pride Flag design resonated among our Dreamer Crew and our community, inspiring us to put our thinking caps on.

Our end goal -> Create a damn comfy sock for the folks who the flag represents while staying true to the original flag design. This can be tricky for us, as working with a limited color range can make or break a design, not to mention having diagonal stripes on an L shaped sock.

*drumroll* Itchy, irritating toe seams? Gone. Restrictive ankle cuff? Gone. Meet our Disability Pride Roll Top Crew. $1 per pair sold is being donated to ACLU.

Sizing Info & Fiber Content: Small/Medium: 6-12 women's, up to 10 men's Medium/Large: 7-13 men's, 9+ women's Stretch, around leg: 18 inches Made from 65% recycled cotton, 25% acrylic, 10% spandex

--------------------------------------------------------------

Disabled activists and allies have put decades of hard work into the progress and visibility we've gained today. Advocacy for the Americans with Disabilities Act - culminating in the Capitol Crawl demonstration in DC - eventually led to the ADA becoming law in 1990, providing aid and removing barriers to entry for people with disabilities from employment, public accommodations and services, transport and telecommunication.

Even as current events show how many challenges still face us, community connections and building on what's come before are going to remain vital in the fight for disability rights.

Disability issues are human rights issues.

The more awareness and visibility we gain, the easier it becomes for all of us to access what we need, from basic necessities, to being able to participate in activities that other people take for granted.

Helpful Resources:

Disability Together

Models of disability

Neurodiversity Rights

ADA - Know Your Rights

Job Accommodation Network

Disability Rights Oregon - for local Oregonians

Disability Rights Washington - for our Washingtonian Neighbors

Disabili-Tease Festival

Frillability - Resources for the intersectionally identified who are interested in adaptive living

Leave us a message or tag other groups, organizations and individuals that have positively impacted your life, we would love to know! We are interested to hear from you <3

[sockdreams]

98 Days Till Halloween

Throwback to the time our Dreamer crew became Striped Ghosts for the day! Oooooh, much spook, very cozy. Yes yes.

Keep an eye out for more fun Socktober content as we get fired up for Halloween, Sock Dreams style. <3

[sockdreams]

Sugar Rush, Baby!

This week we're offering a discount on an assortment of styles inspired by one of our favorite concession stand treats: cotton candy!

We're so fond of the combination of soft pinks and blues that we've formulated four different takes on the concept of spun sugar. And like all of our Sock Dreams brand styles, these are knitted up for us by small, family-run mills in the USA!

If clean, solid stripes and Extraordinary construction are your thing, then look no further than our Cotton Candy Stripes Extraordinary Thigh Highs! With alternating stripes of light blue, pink, and cream, these make a great baseline cotton candy style, for the cotton candy purists!

For those who like a little more texture, though, our Marled Cotton Candy Stripes are sure to be a hit! These wider stripes feature a chunkier, sweater-like knit, which is perfect for scrunching. Creamy slub-textured yarn in marled together with each color, softening and lightening the colors for a more pastel take on this sweet color combination. Take your pick between thigh highs (available in two foot sizes!) or warmers, or just go ham and try them both!

Lastly, but not leastly (unless you're going by the amount of sock, in which case these are definitely the smallest), our SD Cotton Bootsocks in Cotton Candy feature a subtle marl of pink and blue, which blend together so that they read as a dreamy pale purple when viewed from a distance. A shorter, ribbed style, these are perfect to wear pulled up as knee highs, or scrunched down as crews!

Not only do we love this color combination, but we're huge fans of the way each of these styles are constructed, which is why we want to share them with you at a discounted price.

Do you prefer the flat knit Extraordinary Thigh High style? The textured sweater knits of our marled styles? Or perhaps it's the classic slouch socks that do it for you!

As always, we're eager to hear what you have to think!

[sockdreams]

The Aromantic Asexual Pride Flag Colorway is here~

Many of you have asked us to add the aroace flag (designed by @aroaesflagsflag ) to our line-up of pride flag themed socks:

"Would you guys consider adding an aroace colorway to the pride line? absolutely love your pride socks, it would be like a dream for me haha" "I saw you have thigh highs for Asexual or Aromantic, by any chance would you make aroace thigh highs for a suggestion? :D" "Your pride collection is wonderful! Do you have any plans to add the aroace colors (medium blue, light blue, white, orange, yellow)?"

After wrestling with our limited color range, we are pretty stoked to add this to our Pride Stripe Extraordinary collection!

While we're limited in the stripe combinations we can produce by our yarn options, we're always interested in hearing your suggestions and feedback!

Sizing info:

US Shoe Size: 7-14 women's, 5-12 men's Stretch, around leg: 27 inches at cuff, 24 inches mid-sock Length, heel to top: 24 inches, unstretched

[sockdreams]

[sockdreams]

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 🩷❤️

[sockdreams]

꧁ Slouch Socks = Comfy Socks ꧂

We're back with another weekly sale, this time on some of our most loved and comfy socks. Take 20% off our Slouch Socks Collection until July 13th, no code needed!

While we are known for our thigh highs (including some super scrunchy ones, looking at you Great White Socks), our slouches are another specialty of ours that many people return for, year after year!

Each style in this new collection sits below or around the knee, and features the type of deliciously chunky ribbing that is so perfect for slouching and scrunching.

And of course, they're all made in the USA!

These slouchy styles are also amazing knee / over the knee socks, depending on your leg shape. Below are side-by-side comparisons of our slouchy socks on two different bodies, unleashing their versatility!

Slouch Sock Comparisons:

[sockdreams]

And now for something completely different: Just Black Socks.

An unexpected addition to our eclectic and vibrantly colored offerings, in an absolutely essential color for everyone's wardrobe: Just Black Socks! These classic cotton crew socks are knitted in the USA, and feature ribbing through the ankles, to ensure a close fit. Their flat knit feet feature cushioned foot beds and linked toe seams, that won't rub you the wrong way.

These babies are on sale for 20% off with code PAINTITBLACK - July 3rd through 6th

Sizing Info: Medium: US Shoe Size: 7-14 women's, 5-12 men's Large: US shoe size: 9-14 men's, 11+ women's

Fiber Content & Care Instructions: 85% regenerated cotton/acrylic/polyester, 10% nylon, 5% spandex Machine wash in cool to cold water, tumble dry low or hang to dry.

If you have questions about our products or would like help with sizing, send us a message!

[sockdreams]

Meet our 200+ inch long sock - The Great White.

This absurdly long sock was originally only available in white, but due to popular request we added black to the lineup! The material is knit to allow for a slouchy, loose sock look, popularized by iconic Gyaru fashion. Made by Sock Dreams using recycled cotton, sourced and produced in America.

These baddies likely need a little additional help to stay in place, especially if you want to wear them as a thigh high. I recommend going for a proper suspender garter belt to help prevent the weight from pulling the cuff down. Gravity can be a real bitch sometimes.

Fun fact, these socks are so long that it takes at least 6 people to hold it at full length. And yes, we did put that to the test!

Curious to know the sizing info? Here it is: US shoe size: 6-10 women's, 4-8 men's Stretch, around leg: 25 inches at cuff, 20 inches mid-sock Unworn length, heel to top: 200+ inches

Would you rock these? Let us know!

[sockdreams]

Prepare to bamboozle!

Our super soft bamboo yarn is perfect for summer, with its silky texture and excellent breathability. The "knockout" openwork pattern of these styles adds extra ventilation, along with a gorgeous geometric floral motif. These American made socks are available in a range of sizes and lengths, so you can choose your own bamboo adventure!

Sale Details -> 20% Sale runs June 26th - June 29th with the code BAMBOOZLED

↗ Knockout Bouquet Bamboo Crew ↖

Sizing Info: US shoe size: 6-10 women's, 4-8 men's Stretch, around leg: 16 inches at cuff Length, heel to top: 6.5 inches, unstretched

↗ XL Foot Knockout Bouquet Bamboo Crew ↖

Sizing Info: US shoe size: 11-14 women's, 9-13 men's Stretch, around leg: 16 inches at cuff Length, heel to top: 7.5 inches

↗ Knockout Bouquet Bamboo Knee High ↖

Sizing Info: US shoe size: 6-10 women's, 4-8 men's Stretch, around leg: 19 inches at cuff, 18 inches mid-sock Length, heel to top: 13 inches, but may stretch longer when worn.

↗ Knockout Bouquet Bamboo Knee Sock (over the knee length) ↖

Sizing Info: US shoe size: 6-10 women's, 4-8 men's Stretch, around leg: 19 inches at cuff, 18 inches mid-sock Length, heel to top: 18 inches, but can stretch longer when worn (see images).

If you have questions about our products or would like help with sizing, send us a message!

[sockdreams]

Summer Solstice - 20% Off Fishnets

Today marks the official start of summer, and when it comes to breezy accessories for your hot weather looks, we've got you covered! Friday June 20th - Saturday June 21st, get 20% off our entire fishnet collection with the code SOLSTICE!

-> Click here to browse our Fishnet Collection <-

Perfect for layering under shorts or skirts, fishnet adds a striking touch to any outfit, without adding to the heat! From simple classics to innovative new twists, we've got just the tights (or thigh highs, or knee highs, or sleeves) for you!

[sockdreams]

In honor of Juneteenth, we're doubling our Donation Partnership in support of Portland's own Black Resilience Fund!

That means that for every pair of Longer M45 Thigh Highs (see photos below) we sell, we'll be donating $2 to the program.

The Black Resilience Fund is a program dedicated to fostering healing and resilience by providing immediate and direct financial assistance to Black Portlanders.

The fund is a project of the Portland-based non-profit Brown Hope. Thank you to those of you who have already helped us to support their vision!

You can learn more about our Donation Partnerships program, and the causes it supports here!