Putting your name on the sock, and on the box it arrives in.
Private label means the sock leaves under your brand and no trace of ours. This page covers the ways a name can go onto a sock, what each method can and cannot render, and the artwork we need from you to quote it.
Knitted in, not printed on.
A knitted-in logo is made of the sock. The design is part of the stitch structure, so it cannot peel, crack or wash off, and it does not add a layer that the wearer feels against the skin.
The trade-off is resolution. A knitting machine draws in stitches, and a stitch is a comparatively large unit, so fine serifs, thin strokes and small type lose definition. Logos with heavy, simple shapes survive the translation; logos built from hairlines do not.
Where a logo can go.
Each position has a different amount of room and a different amount of stretch, which is why the same artwork does not simply move between them.
The most visible surface, and the one that shows above a shoe. Also the most stretched, so artwork has to be drawn to look right under tension rather than flat.
Stable, moderately visible, and the usual home for a wordmark on sport and team socks.
Hidden in wear, so it carries size markings, left and right indicators, or a mark meant to be found rather than displayed.
Methods, and what each one is for.
Most programmes use more than one. A knitted mark on the sock and a woven label at the cuff is the common combination.
| Knitted-in logo | Part of the stitch structure. Permanent, no added layer, limited resolution. Colour count is limited by how many yarns the machine carries at once. |
| Jacquard and stripes | Pattern knitted into the leg or foot. The same constraint as a logo, used decoratively rather than as a mark. |
| Woven label | Sewn to the cuff or the foot. Renders fine detail a knitted logo cannot, including small type and multi-colour marks. |
| Care and content label | Required in most retail markets. Fibre percentages, care symbols, country of origin. We produce it to the wording your market needs. |
| Silicone print | Applied to the sole for grip. Can carry a mark as well as a tread pattern. |
| Colour limits per method | confirm |
| Minimum logo size | confirm |
Packaging.
For a retail programme the packaging is the product on the shelf. It is quoted separately from the sock, so it is worth deciding early rather than at the end.
Header cards and bands. Printed to your artwork, with barcodes, size marks and whatever your retailer's compliance list requires. The most common retail presentation.
Boxes and gift sets. Multi-pair sets for gifting and corporate programmes, where the box carries most of the perceived value.
Polybags and cartons. Bulk and wholesale presentation, printed or plain, with carton marking to your warehouse's specification.
Recycled and plastic-free options. Increasingly a retailer requirement rather than a preference. Tell us the standard you are being held to and we will quote against it.
What to send us.
With these four things a quote is straightforward. Without them, the first reply is a list of questions.
Vector artwork. AI, EPS, SVG or PDF with the type outlined. A JPEG or a screenshot has to be redrawn before it can be knitted, which costs time on both sides.
Colours as references, not as descriptions. Pantone codes, or a physical swatch. Screens disagree with each other; a code and a swatch do not.
Where it goes and how big. Position on the sock and size in millimetres. If you are not sure, say what you want it to look like in wear and we will propose it.
The market you are selling into. Labelling requirements differ between the EU, the UK and the US, and it is cheaper to build them into the first sample than to relabel a finished run.
Your name only. Never ours.
Sockten has no retail range and no shelf presence anywhere. Nothing we knit for you carries our name, our label or our packaging, and a design made for one buyer is not shown to the next one. That is the whole business model, not a courtesy we extend on request.