Tomboy Brands: SmartWool

Yeah, yeah, I know. I started a blog and then went a week without posting on it. Well, it was kind of one of those times where for part of the week I had the time but no motivation and then over the weekend I had all the motivation but no time. Or good weather, since the only day I had both it rained all day. Pffffft on that.

So I thought I'd take a moment to talk about socks, because that's totally a super interesting topic you've all been waiting to hear about.

One thing you're going to see a lot of on this blog is SmartWool.

I was introduced to SmartWool by my friends Stevie and Jason years and years ago when we lived in southern Illinois. What Stevie mentioned only in passing, but that is a serious truth and a warning everyone should be given, is that they're basically the heroin of the sock world. One pair is not enough, you will keep finding ways to buy more.

They're sweat-wicking, warm wool socks that come in about ten million awesome color combinations. They're pricey for a pair of socks, running from around $14 to over $20 per pair depending on what design you get and how tall they are. I try to find them on sale when I can, and have received them as gifts for just about every holiday imaginable.

Yes, I actually ask to receive socks on holidays.

And I am the happiest when I do.

My mother, who understands my addiction (we share a different addiction to coffee, which I would blame on her except for the part where I totally started drinking coffee as a teenager long before Starbucks ever reared its green head in our little Illinois city) even bought my baby her own first pairs of SmartWool socks.

She has outgrown those, and I sniffle a little bit when I look at them. I am part of the Mommy Economy, as I call it, passing around hand-me-down clothing as Audra Grace outgrows hers to other moms of little ones.

The baby SmartWool socks, though? They're not going in the pass-around pile. We're making sure we have those for Baby 2 no matter what.

I wear SmartWool all the time, probably wear them four or five days a week, with the other couple of days being dedicated to a similar brand called Solemates. Basically, I have made it a principled stand to never wear plain socks, because apparently that is what I have decided I care about.

That and trying to convince more retailers to make T-shirt sleeves longer, because who on God's green earth ever actually thought cap sleeves were flattering?

Our local Mast General store here in my city has SmartWool regularly on buy 3, get the 4th free so if I ever have the money to spend I go pick through to find my favorites. I pick them up at REI, Duluth Trading Company (you'll see that name again, I promise), and just about anywhere else I can find them.

I often suggest them when anyone asks me what I might like in a present.

Is it weird to like socks this much?

Okay, it totally is.

But there is nothing as warm in the dead of winter as a pair of SmartWool's thicker socks, like the Jovian Stripe socks. I take them with me for long hikes, wear them to work, just wear them all the time.

It's a fun way to put a little color into an otherwise all-neutrals outfit - even if I'm the only one who notices.