November '20

November socks are made of Merino sheep wool. We considered gilding them, and thus paying homage to the heroic Argonauts of ancient Greek mythology. Jason, captain of the legendary ship Argo, had to show immense courage by yoking bulls with iron legs and a fiery breath, plowing the field with them and sowing dragon teeth, which then sprouted into an army that Jason ended up defeating. But our excitement cooled off after we realized the Argonaut myth ends in typically Greek fashion – in a bloodbath. And not only lamb blood.

Fleece was praised by ancient Argonauts and modern-day astronauts alike. For the latter, Merino wool is a key material, albeit for reasons different than ours. In a zero-gravity and zero-washing-machines environment, the importance of wear-and-tear resistance is secondary to cosmic odor-resistance. Down here, wool protects against frostbite, while in the orbit, its high flash point also protects other regions, north of the astronaut’s sock-clad feet.

Our new woven sketch is then more about orbital bravery than about ancient heroism on the high seas. Both of the -nauts’ ships had one thing in common – in order to reach the goal, you had to survive a lot of tension. But let’s not get into tension, since tensile strength is not a forte of Merino wool. Yet the material is still great for your November socks!