*Welcome Phil Grant of New Zealand Natural Clothing!

Welcome Phil from Norsewear Socks. I find the wool socks outlast the Bamboo socks. New Zealand wool socks are an excellent quality, made with the best wool fiber.
Bernie

April Graf wrote:Hi Phil!!! So nice for you to join us!

Nice to be here, thanks April :)

Hello, Phil, welcome!  Your socks look amazing, they'll be perfect until I build up to knitting my own haha.

Louis Fish wrote:Hello, Phil, welcome!  Your socks look amazing, they'll be perfect until I build up to knitting my own haha.

One can never have too many socks Louis! get knitting .

Good onya Phil if you make it through Mount Shasta California give us a holler we will show you a California good time body
" Welcome to the U.S. of A.

Hi everybody,

Thank you for the warm welcome and good luck with the sock draw! (get it, sock drawer...never mind ;)

I have been thinking I should share the experience we have in cross border online sales that will be good for you to know.

We don't pay the Taxes on your imports as they are an unknown until you know the value, weights, destinations or DHL let you know what is due, but I can tell you Canada, UK and Eu are heavy and you can look to double the price of some imports. The USA and Australia (GST being added back in some cases) are more forgiving for now and our parcels are getting delivered fast as.

Possum fibre has raised alerts at the US border and they ask the genus of the species and when they see it is upcycling a pest problem they are ok I have only had 1 held up 2 days and we ship a lot there.
The costs to me for DHL  shipping are $19.49 Aus, $33 US $$2 Eu countries and Canada. In NZD$
I tell you this so you can see the challenge of shipping 1 pair of socks, so where you can boost the order to multiples or add a garment as we ship free $100+ Australia and $250+ Worldwide. The NZ GST tax of 15% is removed.

We are very proud of our product selections and know the value of durable fit for purpose socks and garments to layer against the risk of chill and illness and to reduce heating power consumption increase comfort by using layering of natural fibres.

Returns are very expensive from offshore back to NZ, we ask customers to consider this when shopping online and it is better to work with our team on chat or email to make sure you are happy with sizes and colours before this becomes a challenge.

My next post will be about our products but in the meantime if you are in colder climates these are our go to socks ! https://nznaturalclothingshop.co.nz/products/everyday-possum-3-pair-pack-socks-durable-economical-nznc.html

Thanks for having me!
Cheers
Phil.

I merged your stuff with the following thread. I hope that is okay by you.

In the introductory video it was mentioned that worsted yarns need to be imported? Why is that?

Thank you.

Until Phil of Norsewear Socks shows up, I'll talk a bit about what worsted means.

There are many different ways of transforming wool into yarn.  It's a spectrum with worsted on one end, and woollen on the other.

True worsted yarn is spun from fibres that are combed to keep them aligned the same way.  There is usually very little variation in length, crimp, and other fibre characteristics.  The yarn is spun in a way to prevent as much air as possible from getting trapped in the yarn.  It's a hugely complicated process.  This makes for incredibly durable and strong yarn.  

True woollen yarn, on the other hand, requires easier fibre prep.  I'm tempted to say 'less', but 'different' would be more accurate.  The fibres are carded so that most (but not all) fibres are lined up in a general direction.  Then the yarn is spun in such a way to increase the fluffiness and capture lots of air between the fibres.  This makes a very warm yarn that is a bit squishy.

Most yarns in the world are semi-woollen or semi-worsted.  In hand spinning, the woollen/worsted depends on the drafting.  So I can spin a woollen-prep (carded) fibre with a worsted draft to create a yarn with mostly worsted characteristics but still some air trapped between the fibres.  Some fibres are carded, then combed, or combed then carded, for different effects.  There is an infinite amount of combinations one can use to create yarn.  

Industrial spinning is a bit different so I'm going to leave this for Phil as he knows more in this area than I do.


The key thing to take away is that woollen and worsted yarn require different machines, including different methods of fibre prep.  Most mills I've visited produce woollen or semi-woollen yarn as it seems to require fewer steps and less/more affordable equipment.  

Thank you r. .

And because inquiring minds want to know (and allow r. to go back to more important things even though it may be one of her favorite topics)  . . . .

I found this information on the differences between combing and carding on this website Textile Research Center

Combing is a technique whereby fibres (usually cotton or wool) are passed through a series of straight, metal teeth in order to lay the fibres parallel to one another. The fibres are then placed together in a long line (‘combed sliver’), which is used to spin a smooth, even thread. In this process, long fibres are separated from shorter ones (noils) and tangles are removed. At the same time, practically all remaining foreign matter is removed from the fibres. In general, combed fibres are cleaner, finer, stronger and more lustrous than carded ones. Combed fibres are generally used for producing worsted threads.


Carding is a technique whereby two hand or machine cards are used. These cards have numerous wire teeth set into a paper, leather or metal ground. The teethed cards are used to separate the fibres, to spread them into a web (but not in parallel lines as in combed wool) and to remove any short or broken fibres as well as impurities. The web is condensed into a continuous untwisted strand of fibres called a sliver. Carded fibres are generally used for producing woollen threads.

Welcome Phil!

Have two pair of Norsewear socks for the better part of 20 years - only use them in winter indoors, as in Japanese culture of no shoes. They've actually accompanied us on skiing trips to Japan for exactly that use too.

They are very tough and exceedingly warm, with the benefit of breathing unlike synthetic shit.

Also, almost knee height length means warm shins = toasty feet, like a beanie keeps body heat contained.

(They get special treatment: hand washing with a eucalyptus wool wash.)

Besides, we're obligated to support our Antipodean mates across 'The Ditch' - ANZAC, Rugby, Cricket, Netball and all that. Just don't mention possums!

Carina Hilbert wrote:Hi, Phil!

Your socks look like good ones for my husband.  Thanks for telling us about them!

(While I am a knitter and love to knit socks, my husband has big feet and won't wear the socks I've knitted for him because he doesn't want to wear them out, which is silly but not going to change.  So, I buy him machine-made wool socks.)

Haha that is gold Carina!, We go up to 2XL 13+ UK (14-15 U.S) in our work sock range.

r ranson wrote:Until Phil of Norsewear Socks shows up, I'll talk a bit about what worsted means.

There are many different ways of transforming wool into yarn.  It's a spectrum with worsted on one end, and woollen on the other.

True worsted yarn is spun from fibres that are combed to keep them aligned the same way.  There is usually very little variation in length, crimp, and other fibre characteristics.  The yarn is spun in a way to prevent as much air as possible from getting trapped in the yarn.  It's a hugely complicated process.  This makes for incredibly durable and strong yarn.  

True woollen yarn, on the other hand, requires easier fibre prep.  I'm tempted to say 'less', but 'different' would be more accurate.  The fibres are carded so that most (but not all) fibres are lined up in a general direction.  Then the yarn is spun in such a way to increase the fluffiness and capture lots of air between the fibres.  This makes a very warm yarn that is a bit squishy.

Most yarns in the world are semi-woollen or semi-worsted.  In hand spinning, the woollen/worsted depends on the drafting.  So I can spin a woollen-prep (carded) fibre with a worsted draft to create a yarn with mostly worsted characteristics but still some air trapped between the fibres.  Some fibres are carded, then combed, or combed then carded, for different effects.  There is an infinite amount of combinations one can use to create yarn.  

Industrial spinning is a bit different so I'm going to leave this for Phil as he knows more in this area than I do.


The key thing to take away is that woollen and worsted yarn require different machines, including different methods of fibre prep.  Most mills I've visited produce woollen or semi-woollen yarn as it seems to require fewer steps and less/more affordable equipment.  

Thanks, r ransom, for the technical information share, I am glad you have as I am a brand owner and knitwear retailer landlord to the manufacturer of Norsewear socks and their biggest sock customer.
You can read about us here

We have access to great technicians and I can reach out to them for some more advice about worsted wools if that is required but your description is great, thank you.
I have been on the road so sorry I have been a bit absent.
I intended answering every welcome but got too much for me, thanks for the warm welcome.

Kate tells me the draw will be done our Saturday so I wish you all good luck!

Kind Regards
Phil Grant
(I have to get used to forums like this, I seem to get a bit lost in the threads to what is current and requires an answer etc! sorry about that)

Hey Phil.
As someone whose wife has amassed a lot of fleece from the neighborhood sheep for her own yarn production, I regularly get the wool pulled over my eyes...

We have some winners!

Congratulations:

Jay Angler
Catherine Carney
Kc Simmons
Rosemary Michael

We'll be sending Phil your emails and he'll get in touch with you so you can choose your pair of socks!

Huge thanks to Phil Grant for joining us this week for this awesome giveaway!

Congratulations, to all of you! Yaaayyy, for new, high quality socks!!!😁😎😁

Thank you very much and congratulations to the other winners. I'm sure my feet will be very happy about this!

Congratulations to our winners and we look forward to the feedback on the socks given away.
We will let the winners choose sizes and types off the website!

As a thank you to permies members, I have set up a coupon code on our website PERMIES10
Insert this at checkout and you will get a 10% reduction on goods not already on discounts until 31 March 2020 you will get a 5% welcome coupon at opening the site and we give a 5% rebate on all purchases too!

www.nznaturalclothing.co.nz

How about another bonus?
Go in the draw to win 1 of 10 $100 NZD store credits with us! We will draw this the week of the 23rd march 2020

Enter Competition from our home page on our website.

Good Luck and Thanks for having me, Kate reckons we could do a garment Giveaway in a few weeks!!  What do you reckon?
Phil

Congratulations to all those fortunate feet!!!

Congratulation to your winners!

Awesome, thank you to the staff & Phil for the opportunity!

Sorry my "Thank You" to Phil is late. I'm fairly new and wasn't sure how to get back to this post. Anyway, Thank you Phil and NZ Natural Clothing! I've received my free pair plus others I bought that I wanted to try and, so far, so good. They are really soft and comfortable. I haven't washed them yet, so can't attest to how that will be, but feel confident that they will launder well.