This week (Monday through Friday), THIS NIGHT is donating $2/pair sold online to three wonderful organizations that help kids! As you may know, THIS NIGHT always donates $1/pair sold online shared between two great nonprofits: the Reading Olivet Boys & Girls Club –– which helps kids and teens in my hometown of Reading, PA, where THIS NIGHT socks were developed and knit until the mill was shut down by its new corporate owners –– and the Catawba County Partnership for Children, which helps kids in the area in North Carolina where THIS NIGHT socks are now knit. 

This week, THIS NIGHT is donating an additional $1/pair sold online to Fresh Youth Initiatives! I just learned about this great nonprofit, which serves the area in Northern Manhattan where I live and whose mission is "to empower youth who have the fewest resources to reach their greatest potential." What greater mission could there be? THIS NIGHT is so very happy to know about and support this wonderful organization.

Thank you very much for considering THIS NIGHT socks as gifts for your friends and family! If you are looking for other gifts made in America by small businesses, here are some that I really like:

WALLETS & PURSES by OFFCHUTES
I have a wallet and a purse by Barbara of OffChutes (based in Oregon), and I love them! They are beautiful, lightweight, and made of old paragliders and parachutes. 

BONSAI by DANDY FARMER

I have a little tree from Dandy Farmer (based in Brooklyn), which really brings me joy each day. Matt and Paul have created these for people who are not bonsai experts –– the pot, made by a local artist, is designed to hold water well yet drain (so your tree doesn't need to be watered all the time but won't rot), for example. It's been about two years, and my tree is still alive!

THIS NIGHT socks are proudly made in America, of US-grown cotton. They are designed in America (in NY, where I live), they were developed and knit in my hometown mill in Reading, PA, and they are now knit at a wonderful, small, well-run mill in Catawba County, NC.

The picture above was taken in the mill in Reading (before it was closed by its new corporate owners), and it shows my friend and sock genius, Terry. Terry started working in a sock knitting mill when he was 16 and knows all there is to know about socks! He spent about two years working with me to get the composition and feel of THIS NIGHT socks just right. When I first started thinking about designing socks, I though I would just be providing a surface design, but the owner of the sock mill, who became a mentor to me, asked me what I wanted the socks to be made of. I wasn't expecting to have to think about this, but it ended up being an amazing opportunity to create the sock of my dreams from scratch!

Socks don't seem that complicated, but there are lots of choices to be made: what kind of cotton, the weight of the cotton, the plaiting yarn (what gives socks their resilience), the width of the band, the strength of the elastic in the band (to name a few!). I am very grateful to have been able to get each element of the sock's construction just right before I even thought about the designs.

Much of what remains of the US hosiery industry is in North Carolina –– that's where THIS NIGHT's cotton is spun, where it is custom-dyed, and where THIS NIGHT socks are now knit, and there are generations of talented sock experts there. I'm really grateful that more people are thinking about where and how the things they buy are produced, and I'm so glad it's still possible to make wonderful socks in America!