SOCKS / MADDER

COTTON SOCKS / MADDER

Tender’s rib cotton socks are knitted and hand linked in England from raw unbleached cotton, with nylon for durability, then dyed or left in their ‘unborn’ natural state, in which case they will shrink to fit with the first wash.
Traditional hosiery (like these socks) is knitted as a long continuous tube of many socks, which are then cut apart into individual socks. These are then linked, which means that the open sock has the two sides knitted together, leaving a flat, seamless, join at the toe. Linking requires the operator to loop every corresponding stitch of the top and bottom of the sock, by hand, onto a knitting machine.
Tender’s socks are made with a loop-back, or terry, double knit sole. This makes them especially comfortable, and appropriate to wear with lighter shoes or even heavy boots.

Please note that the colour in natural dyed socks may transfer for the first few wears- we recommend washing cool, with similar colours, and not wearing with light coloured shoes until the socks have been washed a few times.

MADDER

Tender’s dusty pink garments are dyed with madder- a lake dye extracted from the root of Rubia tinctorum, a relative of Bedstraw which grows wild in southern England.

Dyer’s madder has been cultivated for thousands of years, and is first known in Indian clothing from around 3000BCE, since then it has been widely used across Asia, and was introduced to Europe through France in around 500CE. Historically, woad and madder have been used in parallel and have a similarly rich, soft, tone. British Redcoats’ uniforms, originally dyed with Cochineal were later dyed with madder as it was found to be more stable.

Medicinally, madder has been used to treat a variety of ailments, from yellow jaundice and melancholy humour, to relieving back pain and binding surgical wounds.