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The Most Sustainable Socks Brands

Socks are a quintessential wardrobe basic that many of us don’t think about buying until they’ve got holes. If it’s time to replenish your sock drawer, we’ve got recommendations to restock your socks with neutrals, interesting prints, or eye-catching designs.

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To choose the most sustainable socks, we vetted brands based on supply chain transparency, emissions tracking and reduction, and circularity. We also looked into labor and ethics, packaging and waste, and other environmental efforts. Based on our sustainability criteria, we rate brands from 1-5.

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‍Our Top Picks
‍How We Evaluate Brands
‍Brands to Avoid

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Before you buy, ask yourself a few questions:

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Can I mend the holes in my socks to give them a few more months or years of wear?
Can I dye my dingy white socks to cover stains and give them some pizazz?
What’s my ideal number of socks? Do I have enough already?

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Still need new socks? We’ve got some great, sustainable picks below. But before you send those threadbare socks to the landfill, send them to Subset or Trashie for textile recycling. These companies will capture whatever fibers can be reused in new garments, and responsibly recycle the rest.

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Commons’ Top Pick

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Commons Rating: Best
Price Point: Sold in 3 packs for $48 ($16 per pair)
Locations: HQ in the U.S.; manufactured in Los Angeles and Peru
Transparency: 2022 Impact Report

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MATE the Label’s unisex crew socks are a great, sustainable essential. They come in white and a couple of neutral colors for a bit of variation.

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As an antidote to fast fashion, MATE the Label doesn’t release new styles often, instead focusing on timeless, seasonless fashion that will look good for years.

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Materials: The brand focuses a lot of its sustainability efforts on fabrics. The socks are made from 80% Organic Cotton, 17% Nylon, and 3% Spandex. According to the website, MATE the Label makes products without pesticides, BPA, PFAS, or formaldehyde. MATE the Label ships its products in plastic-free packaging made from recycled and recyclable materials.
Emissions: In addition to being B Corp Certified, MATE the Label is Climate Neutral Certified, which means it measures, reports, and compensates for its footprint with quality offsets.
Supply chain & ethics: MATE the Label published a Supplier Code of Conduct to ensure ethical manufacturing practices at tier 1 factories. One standout partner is the Sree Santhosh factory in India, which has on-site solar and wind power that meets nearly 100% of its electricity needs.‍
Circularity: In partnership with Trashie, MATE the Label offers a Detox Your Closet program for customers to ship unwanted clothes (from any brand) to Trashie for proper textile recycling.

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‍Commons Community Reviews

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Reviews from Commons users who have bought from MATE the Label.

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Quality: ★★★★★ Recommend to a friend: ★★★★★
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‍Pros: These socks feel cushy and substantial and come up to mid-calf. I haven't had them for long, but in the first few wears, I haven't noted any pilling or wearing out. I got the tri-color pack, and all of the colors are super cute and muted. They work great with boots, sneakers, or birks.
‍Cons: None

‍— Sophie J., June 2024 Sophie has worn MATE the Label socks a few times a month since May 2024.

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A More Affordable Option

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Commons Rating: Better
Price Point: sold in packs, starting at $14 for a 2-pack ($7 per pair)
Locations: HQ in Denmark; manufacturing in India, Egypt, Vietnam, Thailand, Turkey, Portugal, China, Austria, and Italy
Transparency: 2023 Impact Report

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Organic Basics focuses on just that — socks, underwear, and bras made from organic cotton in a limited-but-enticing range of colors. Socks and underwear are available for women and men. To make its offerings more accessible, Organic Basics reduced prices in 2022.

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Note: The brand offers free returns for exchanges or store credit. The brand charges a shipping fee for refunds to discourage overconsumption and to be able to keep prices down.

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Materials: Over 90% of Organic Basics’ material portfolio is GOTS-certified Organic Cotton, which is a stand-out statistic. The socks are made of certified organic cotton (~76%), polyamide (~22%), and elastane (~2%).
Emissions: In partnership with Made2Flow and One Carbon World, Organic Basics measures and offsets the emissions associated with their operations and supply chain. The brand also shares a full breakdown of emissions, revealing its largest hotspots. We love the extent of the Organic Basic’s transparency. The sustainability report spotlights successes and illuminates where efforts have fallen short and how the team plans to improve.
Supply chain & ethics: Organic Basics has a formal statement on its website addressing workers rights, specifically addressing child labor, safe working environments, living wages, and employee benefits. However, the brand is not Fair Trade certified and has not published a Code of Conduct.‍
Circularity: Organic Basics has committed to implementing a circular strategy in 2024, but has not yet provided details about what the strategy includes or when it will launch.

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Commons Community Reviews

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No Commons users have reviewed Organic Basics yet.

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Fun Design Choice

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Commons Rating: Better
Price Point: $10-15 per pair
Locations: HQ in the UK; manufactured in India and Turkey.
Transparency: 2023 Impact Report

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If you’re looking for sustainable socks with fun patterns and colors, Lucy & Yak could be for you. They’re crew cut, with all-over patterns and ankle designs. While the socks’ sizing is for women, the brand confirmed that the socks are unisex.

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Materials: Lucy & Yak’s socks are made from 55% organic cotton, 43% nylon, and 2% elastane. We love that the brand uses eco-friendly fibers across its product line, including GOTS-certified organic cotton, GRS-certified recycled polyester, LENZING ECOVERO, deadstock fabric, and other natural fibers like linen, bamboo, and hemp.
Emissions: Lucy & Yak uses Greenly, a carbon accounting platform, to measure its carbon footprint and identify the greatest opportunities for reduction.
Supply chain & ethics: Lucy & Yak was accepted into the Fair Labor Association in 2023 and is a member of Sedex, a membership organization that helps companies manage and improve working conditions in their global supply chains.‍
Circularity: Lucy & Yak has its own branded buyback program available in stores and an official Facebook group to trade, sell, and buy Lucy & Yak products secondhand. Intimates like socks and underwear are not eligible for sale or trade through these platforms.

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Commons Community Reviews

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No Commons users have reviewed Lucy & Yak yet.

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How Commons Evaluates Brands

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Commons' mission is to help you sift through the greenwashing to find the most sustainable choices for you. We're empowering a collective shift to more intentional spending while influencing brands to operate more sustainably.

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Commons’ Brand Ratings

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Best: Throughout their supply chains, these brands are taking responsibility for their impact on the people and planet. They're sustainability leaders in their industry, doing more than their fair share.
Good: These brands are exceeding expectations by actively reducing their carbon footprint and minimizing waste.
Fair: These brands are meeting the minimum sustainable efforts we'd expect from brands their size.
Poor: These are medium-to-large brands with fewer sustainability practices than we'd expect at their scale. These may also be small brands that lack public reporting on their sustainability goals or efforts.
Harmful: These brands are far from meeting the minimum sustainability efforts and reporting that we'd expect from them. Their business and manufacturing practices likely harm ecosystems and employees.

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Commons' Criteria and Methodology

Our criteria focus on the root causes of the climate crisis. Brands that excel in these areas are building more sustainable industries.

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Materials: How is this brand using sustainable materials, packaging, sourcing, and shipping to reduce its impact?
Slow Consumption: Does this brand encourage conscious consumption and facilitate long-term product use?
Accountability: Is this brand transparent about its sustainability goals and how it's working toward them?

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We aim to empower people to get what they need by buying less and buying better. When we do need to buy things, we can use our dollars to support brands actively building more sustainable economic systems. Here are some key tenants to our methodology:

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Transparency is crucial: Our approach is data-driven and expert-curated. Our team of carbon experts finds publicly available information to evaluate, summarize, and rate each brand.
Scaling expectations: We have higher expectations of big brands because they have a larger impact and resources to invest in more sustainable practices.
Evaluations are evolving: We may not always get it right. We welcome questions, feedback, or additional information. On each brand page, you can see the date each rating was last updated.

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You can see the full Commons Rating Rubric here.

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Brands to Avoid

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The business model of fast-fashion brands relies on overconsumption, unethical labor, and fossil-fuel-based fabrics. We recommend avoiding these brands when buying socks or other clothing:

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