Occasionally, we get asked by our customers where our socks are made. When I reply China, the response is either neutral or entirely negative. The phrase "Made in China" often carries negative connotations or is perceived as being a low quality product.

This blog post aims to explain why we decided to produce our socks in China & our journey so far.

Sampling & Product Development

You might think creating socks can’t be a big deal, I mean after all they are just socks, a relatively simple product right?

However, socks and especially performance sports socks are not created equal. They need to be able to last through tough workouts, withstand high friction and stay comfortable to prevent you from getting blisters and overheating.

We started by having a look at what’s currently out there, we’ve tested socks from many other brands. Darn Tough, Smartwool, Icebreaker, Injinji, Nike, Adidas, Lululemon, Bombas and more, just to name a few. We wanted to make sports socks that are superior to anything that is available in the current market.

We searched for sock factories around the world who are able to work with pure silver yarns. It might surprise you, but there’s only a handful of them in the whole world!

Initially we found 10 different factories, 7 of them in China. Not all of them were thrilled of working with us. Most sock factories are used to produce large quantities of socks at a low price, most don’t want to deal with small orders and invest time on making a new product that's significantly more complicated than anything else they are currently producing. We found this to be the case with all the factories outside of China. Most factories in the US for example are producing under government contracts or for large corporations. Those factories are close to capacity on year-long contracts and don’t want to sacrifice guaranteed work for a small “test” order from unproven, first-time entrepreneurs. 

Further to this, we carefully selected factories who were producing ethically made products. This was an absolute necessity. All the factories we approached are BSCI certified and our current factory has been continuously reviewed using third party inspections to ensure:

• Fair Wages
• No Child Labour
• Fair Working Conditions
• No Forced Labour

Many of the factories we reached out to were therefore not even willing to even produce a sample for us. In the end, we managed to secure samples from 3 different factories in China who were able to work with silver yarns.

Our first sample was a basic nylon blend athletic sock with silver yarns. We continued working on developing what eventually would become the Element 47 Socks after another 6 revisions in the design.

We ensured only the highest quality of silver yarn was used with 99.99% pure silver threads to give superior anti-bacterial performance. This pretty much decided for us which factory we would go with to develop the final design. In the end, there really was only one factory that had the ability to make the product we wanted and was willing to work with us.

Most sock factories are not able to make Element 47 socks because the sock knitting machines that are capable of working with silver yarn have only been available for a few years.

State of the art sock machinery that were used to create Element 47 socks.

Element 47 V1

After the search which took longer than we expected. We found our factory to make the first production batch and developed the final design following 6 prototypes.

We started out by making a small pre-production batch of 100 pairs. We sent them out to people interested to test them in the real world. This is how we gained our first few fans and knew we were onto something. Many customers told us these were the best socks they ever had. This was our minimum viable product.

The first pre-production batch of 100 socks.

Dua Shkara, Founder of Element 47, with the first samples of Element 47 Socks.

Element 47 V2: Regular Production

We have since made further alterations based on customer feedback which has bought us to the Element 47 sock we all know and love today. We continue working with the same supplier we found in our first search because of their stellar product quality & service.

Here are some more reasons as to why China is the best place to produce our socks:

China Has the Best Supply Chains

Of course, we are aware of objections to manufacturing outside of the US generally and in China specifically.

Since we’re asked so often about where we make our socks, we wanted to share both where we make Element 47 socks and why.

China is the best place in the world to manufacture soft goods such as apparel. In China there are large clusters of companies making similar goods within a relatively small area.

Chinese factories have access to every component, material and fabric, in any size and color. All within driving distance.

Such a concentrated cluster creates a huge ecosystem of factories and suppliers. This means Chinese factories have better access to supplies during production than factories in other countries like the US.

If we were to produce in another country we would still need to source some materials from Asia.

Lastly, China has probably the best transportation infrastructure in the world, with easy access to shipping ports, and fast access to other East Asian and South East Asian suppliers like Vietnam and other countries.

High-Quality Goods Made in China

Many people believe or perceive goods “Made in China” means they’re getting low quality. This is not true. There are many companies that make low-quality products. In China and throughout the world. But this is about the company, not their country of origin.

Chinese factories are perfectly capable of producing products up to the highest quality standards. Many premium brands produce in China in every industry imaginable. Apple is producing in China and will continue to do so.

“Made in China” only means low quality if you cut corners in the vetting process and quality control and if you choose a low-quality supplier. It’s the responsibility of every company to ensure high quality levels with suppliers and we’re very pleased with the quality we’re getting from our supplier. In our product inspections we didn’t have a single major issue with the product so far.

Element 47 V3: What we’re working on

After years of market research & work, we have reached a stage with Element 47 socks where we are very happy with the product quality and customers around the world love Element 47 socks. This doesn’t mean we’re done developing the product.

Sustainability

We made sure to reduce our carbon footprint as much as possible particularly during production. Most sock manufacturers provide each sock in a plastic seal, which we decided to scrap, we've also consciously designed packaging which is recyclable and continue to look for more ways to help our planet.

What’s next?

We’re always looking for new technologies and ways to improve our product. If you have any suggestions how to make Element 47 Silverknit Socks even better, feel free to contact us with your ideas!