Tenderfoot Socks

23/05/2026

23/05/2026

Seeing as the sun was out today.... all-day I decided not to enjoy it and instead finish and complete our new and latest true intarsia vertical stripe sock range samples ready for hand linking, it's a modified version of our 12 colour version that's been reprogrammed and reduced to 6 colours altering the feeders and trapper timings paid off it runs non stop at higher rpm it also has a modified cushioning system for the sinker cap going from an old pneumatic system and now running a hydraulic one which was made from a chunk of solid brass bored out on the old lathe with a stainless steel piston, allows me to rack up the speed without it trying to destroying itself! Now I'll enjoy the rest of the bank holiday weekend

19/03/2026

A frequently asked question is "what are your machine limitations, how many colours can be in a sock" the beauty of intarsia machines are there aren't many limitations they can do either turned welts or ribbed tops, normal or reversed toe seams for that seam free look, elasticated or non elasticated tops and upto 18 colours in one sock each with it's own colour matching nylon that's an impressive 38 cones of yarn 18 cotton, 18 nylon an Elastane and one additional insert nylon for the ribbed top, all suspended up high above your heads so that no space is wasted around the machine making them surprisingly compact. We have 12 intarsia knitting machines both fine gauge and heavy. 🇬🇧

17/03/2026

What is true intarsia knitting....it's crisp, well defined colour transition's, each colour is individually knitted using it's own yarn feeder which in turn is feeding its own matching colour backing nylon....so it doesn't matter what the colour combinations are there is no 'grinning' showing through. Very few sock manufacturers use intarsia knitting due to its complex knitting techniques and slow process but quality counts! Here it's one of our sock manufacturing staples, made in our UK based factory on Italian/Japanese machines using English spun cotton from Manchester. We don't just design socks in the UK we make from start to finish in our own factory for 28 years since 1998

26/01/2026

Did you know we also make Extra Large socks at our manufacturing facility near Loughborough UK, so if your like me and have clowns/hobbits feet you'll find something to suit from plains to multi coloured, cotton and wool all socks made in Great Britain

25/01/2026

Ready, steady, GO.....A walk through our room at the IMC Menswear show

24/01/2026

New Year....new socks we have added an additional 5 new styles and 18 different colourways to our range this coming Spring/Summer season, never for the faint hearted if you love colour you'll love these. If you are after high natural fibre socks in cotton's or wools with some pazzaz and still made in Great Britain you'll find us at the IMC Menswear show this weekend you can't miss us but just in case you get lost we've located in syndicate room 7

20/07/2025

We are back at the IMC menswear show showing off all our Winter 25 ranges with over 20 different ranges across 120 different colour combinations there's something for everyone from our vast plain ribbed sock range through to our 15 colour loopy striped socks and yes our nordic Christmas socks are back too by request

14/03/2025

I was supposed to post this a couple of weeks ago.... for those not in the know this is basically how an automated toe closing device (Lin toe) works on a sock machine (if it is fitted) it shows how the sock toe seam is folded over then transferred onto the sewing head and then you can see the needle stitching the toe seam close and then ejecting the sock and it simply repeats the cycle I find myself just staring at it when I walk by it's kinda mesmerising! Socks are still make in Britain just not many firms left making them nowadays cheap imports killed them off like most things