During the spring, summer and fall my favorite socks are Muji socks made from recycled “dropped” or “rescued” yarn. This is the yarn that drops during the process of making fabric. Muji also makes mops from this yarn. Satoru Matsuzaki, the president and executive officer of Ryohin Keikaku Co. Ltd, the company that opened the existing global 700 Muji shops, said that “even in a country like China, it captured the imagination of consumers, and the mop made out of this rescued yarn is among the top 10 selling products there.” (1) The initial reason I wanted to try the socks is that they are made from this recycled yarn. I had no idea that I would become such an admirer of these cozy socks and end up wearing them almost daily 3/4ths of the year.
Recently I went into a local Muji shop to buy more socks and this time I noticed that the paper wrapped around the socks said “substandard yarn” on the label. That almost sounds like an apology in advance to me. Muji is a Japanese company and the term “Muji” “comes from the Japanese phrase Mujirushi Ryohin, which translates to “No Brand Goods.” (2) Originally the brand began as a generic product line for a supermarket. The popularity of the concept took off and soared into a booming business that carries more than 7,000 items from furniture, to body-care products, clothing, paper goods and soap.
In my opinion there is nothing “substandard” about the yarn for these socks. These are the most comfortable socks for me during the spring through fall when I can’t wear sandals like other people, due to my foot difficulties. I prefer to wear Dansko shoes, or my sneakers, and these socks are lightweight, pretty and colorful. They look nice with the Dansko Mary Jane shoes I typically wear. When it is too hot for stockings and I need a professional look these are the socks I choose to wear with business shoes. They come in a variety of colors when you buy a pack and the socks typically have either one color or a mix of two. The fabric content is 70% polyester, 28% cotton and 2% spandex in the US. In the UK they use elastane instead of the spandex. These socks also seem to last a long time, even with my foot structural problems.
I should try buying the year-round ones they sell as well. I have a lot of socks due to having a mother who loves to buy socks. I suppose I have been using what I have in the colder times of year. I have also bought Muji’s organic cotton short socks and I like those as well. Another reason I like the shops is that they always smell really good, due to their aroma diffusers and the oils they have emitting into the air. Each shop usually has several diffusers going at once on display.
If you haven’t tried Muji’s recycled yarn socks and you like products such as these you might want to give them a try. It puts the rescued yarn to good use and is further down the chain of mass production since it is the second link, not first for the fabrics involved.
Well summer is coming to an end soon. I hope you are enjoying the rest of the season. I just had my second foot surgery on my left foot and luckily it was better than the right foot. So it is not swelling as much as before and I only have one wound, not two like last time. Still I have to stay home for six weeks and not go on trains, subways or buses, or up and down stairs.
I hope you enjoyed this brief post, I will be preparing another post soon!
(2) http://recyclenation.com/2013/05/feet-movin-muji-recycled-socks#sthash.LYQsXHgU.dpuf
All photos and written material by Marilyn Lavender. © Marilyn Lavender, 2016. “All rights reserved.”
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