My collaboration with Teddy Locks is live! Shop the limited edition cow print sock here.
About Teddy Locks
Teddy Locks is a sustainable/ethical sock company based in New York City, founded by Samantha Tollworthy. Samantha is a marine biologist turned sock-trepreneur. Sam started her career at the BBC’s Natural History unit, the home of Sir David Attenborough, as a wildlife and natural history TV producer. She got to travel the world — from Mexico to Indonesia, Myanmar to Mumbai — it was her dream job. But she saw firsthand how large corporations mishandle waste and encourage single-use products, which suffocate our reefs and shorelines. So she left her dream job to build Teddy Locks — sustainable socks, ethically made right here in the USA, from our trash.
Sam spent a year, 404 days to be exact, developing a product that people would love, would last and last, and was also actively doing good. A product that used materials we already had (old plastic bottles), relieved pressure on our natural resources, and that would allow the everyday consumer to fight the war on waste.
“I am committed to being truly sustainable and transparent. I personally built the supply chain and work with each of the small family run businesses in it directly — the spinning mill, the dye house, the knitting mill, the finisher, packaging producer — everything. By doing this I have been able to create a product that travels just 250 miles! From fiber to finishing (versus say, organic cotton grown in India, shirts sewn in Portugal, and sold in the USA). So, they can actually lower your footprint.” — Sam Tollworthy, Founder of Teddy Locks
From fiber to finishing, their products are created with people and the planet in mind. Teddy Locks uses primary recycled Polyester and recycled Nylon, both are created from waste. In their factory, they use green certified, circular knitting machines that produce each sock as a single piece. Teddy Locks socks are sold as collections (a set of four), to prevent lonely unmatched socks being sent to landfill.
Teddy Locks has recycled 10,000 plastic bottles and diverted 500 lbs of trash from landfills. Read more about Teddy Locks’ sustainable and ethical production practices here.
Our Collaboration Process
Samantha and I had a few brainstorms over Zoom, and created a shared Pinterest board. I gathered images of different textures and patterns that I was drawn to. And Samantha shared more about the sock knitting process — describing which patterns would be easy/hard to achieve on the machines (as well as which patterns would be most comfortable on the foot based on how the knitting works).
Once we decided on cow print, I made a few color mock ups to help us choose which color combo we liked best. We stayed within the brand’s color palette so it would be easy to mix and match with the other socks in Teddy Locks’ collections.
The Final Outcome
Voila! Our cow print sock baby was born. We worked hard to get her ready in time for holiday this year, but we only made 60, so don’t dawdle 💃. We think they make a great gift for anyone in your life (socks are absolutely gender-neutral!), or treat yourself, duhhh. PS: our limited edition collection has recycled more than 240 plastic bottles alone. Shop our cow print sock here!
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