Recycled fibers, domestic production, local carbon offsets, and just all-around the comfiest dang socks you ever did don! We can't get over how much we love these bright, colorful, and oh-so-sustainable socks. (Take it from Krystina, who hates wearing socks, that these are the perfect balance of cozy without making your feet sweat. iykyk.)
If you've read our blog post on textile recycling, you know our super-high sustainability standards, and these socks meet 'em all. Each pair of socks is made from 62% recycled cotton, 22% recycled polyester, and just 16% virgin materials, and the carbon footprint of every purchase is offset through Native Energy - a Vermont organization promoting renewable energy, methane abatement, and fuel efficiency projects across the globe.
💙 Plus, our Ocean Turtle socks give back! A portion of all sales from the Ocean Turtle socks go directly to Ocean Blue Project, a non-profit dedicated to reducing and eliminating plastic pollution in our waterways.
We could go on about these socks all dang day, but the gist of it is this: these socks rock and you really gotta try 'em ✌
Recycled Fiber Socks Quick Details:
- Limited Release! Only available during the holiday season.
- Intentionally mismatched for extra whimsy!
- Super cozy and breathable
- Made from recycled materials with zero additional dyes or chemicals
- Made in North Carolina by people earning living wages with generous medical benefits
- Each pair of socks saves 324 gallons of water, 2.64 square feet of landfills, and 2.24 pounds of carbon dioxide
✨ Don't forget to grab a jar of our all-natural laundry detergent and a set of wool dryer balls to keep your new socks in tip-top shape for many years to come!
Sizing Chart
| US Shoe Sizes | S | M | L |
| Women | 6-8 | 8-10 | 10-12 |
| Men | 5-7 | 7-9 | 9-11 |
Materials
62% recycled cotton, 22% recycled polyester, 15% virgin nylon, 1% virgin lycra
Care
To keep your socks in tip-top shape for as long as possible, we recommend machine washing on a gentle cycle with cold water and drying on a cool setting. For extra-sustainability, hang dry your socks instead! Do not use bleach.
Packaging + End of Life
Each pair of socks will come unpackaged with just a small cardboard hang tag. The hang tag is attached to the socks with one of those plastic tag things, which should be thrown away. The hang tag can be recycled.
A note from Krystina: When I received my pair of socks to test out a few months ago, I was initially a little disappointed about the plastic tag thing, and thought about reaching out to the vendor to see if they could ship the socks without the hang tag altogether. But the more I thought about it, the more the tag made sense. It keeps the sock pairs together with the least amount of space (aka more efficient packing and shipping), and has important care instructions on it. In the end, I decided that the plastic tag was worth it, given all of the other sustainability benefits these socks offer. But you know I'm all about transparency, so I want you to have all the information you need before making a buying decision.
Origin
Made by a small, woman-owned business in Hickory, North Carolina.
Ethical Guarantees
Give-Back Program
Made in the USA
Vegan
Woman-Owned
🌎 You care about the planet. So do we.
Look. I get it. It’s HARD to be an EcoWarrior. Someone who cares about the planet and wants the most sustainable products available - from the ingredients to the packaging to the way that product gets to your hands.
It seems like everywhere we turn, someone, somewhere, is greenwashing us.
But our superpower at A Drop in the Ocean is sorting through the BS, calling it out, and making sure our products are the absolute most sustainable and truly zero waste products we can find.
So on top of all the things we mentioned above about what makes our recycled fiber crew socks so sustainable, here’s a few other things you should know:
- We’re actually practicing what we preach behind the scenes. In 2022, we saved all of our trash for four months, and wrote a whole blog post on it. The tl;dr version is this: in four months, we only produced two pounds of trash. Everything from the packaging our products come in down to the Sharpie we use to write “Fragile” on your box is zero waste to its core.
- We’re an online-only zero waste store - which is highly intentional. It may seem counter-intuitive, but online shopping is actually more sustainable than in-person. I’m a data nerd at heart and I love diving into the research, and there are countless studies that have shown that online shopping is the most sustainable way to get your everyday essentials. Don’t believe me? Check out our whole blog post on the sustainability of online shopping.
- We ship ugly boxes. Your order from A Drop in the Ocean is not going to arrive in a pretty, branded box. It’s gonna show up in a reused tea box, or a donated Amazon box, or maybe even an inside-out Girl Scout Cookies box. All of our shipping materials are always 100% plastic-free and reused as much as possible, with curbside-recyclable paper tape and a post-consumer recycled paper shipping label. It won’t be pretty, but it will be zero waste.
Got more questions about our zero waste products or our practices behind the scenes? Just send us an email! I’m always happy to chat all things eco.
sustainable packaging
We ship ugly boxes
Our commitment to sustainability doesn't end when you press that checkout button.
We pack all of our orders in reused boxes and envelopes, with reused paper packaging, post-consumer recycled paper labels, and even paper tape.
You may not get an IG-worthy unboxing, but you will get the most sustainable packaging we can possibly find.
Oh and did we mention our shipping is always carbon negative?