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Sea Island Cotton, Orange Label Socks by Solespun
A little history first
Sea Island cotton is so named because it gained popularity from plantations based on islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia but its ancestry belongs to the islands of the West Indies.
When it comes to cotton West Indies Sea Island is in a class of one, it is the original Long staple cotton and it has the longest staple length of all cotton, 35-60mm (length of individual fibres) which gives it it's superior strength, silky texture and shimmer, its also extremely rare and makes up only 0.0004% of the worlds cotton supplies
This rarity however makes it expensive and very sought after and of course when this happens there are no shortage of companies claiming to use Sea Island Cotton when in fact it usually a version of the Gossypium Barbadense plant (to give it its proper name) that has been taken and grown elsewhere. It can still be very good and you will normally be able to spot it by the fact its ofter referred to as {put brand name here} Sea Island Cotton as opposed to West Indies Sea Island Cotton which remains to be the one and only original Sea Island Cotton and as such the only guarantee of the quality and staple length you desire.
Interesting the West Indies authorities tried very hard to stop this happening and as such all official West Indies Sea Island Cotton products are allowed to show a very beautiful holographic label on their garments, although this is becoming less common to see now, its still nice when you do!
The review | Solespun Sea Island Cotton Socks
Solespun Sea Island Cotton Socks are indeed spun from the finest West Indies cotton and crafted by luxury British sock maker Pantherella whom are among the very finsest sock makers in the world in their Leicestershire factoriy that has been their home since 1937.
In addition to its supreme softness, Sea Island Cotton also holds the brilliant colours infused into it beautifully, and thanks to its extra long staple length are extremely resistant to pilling (those little bobbles that make things look old), all this means they breath more easily, feel more comfortable, look better and last longer that any other cotton socks.
For me this is the reason Solespun Sea Island socks represent the very best in men’s cotton business/dress socks and are simply a very beautiful, luxurious and very functional item to have and to wear.