It’s a question we are often asked at PAIRS Scotland HQ. ‘I love the look of your luxury socks, but which do I go for, the mohair or the alpaca?’. And we love to answer it, in fact we could talk all day about luxury socks!
So mohair socks first. It was the mohair wool, from angora goats, that we fell in love with at the beginning when curating our collections. Mohair is known as the diamond fibre and is super tough and hard wearing, while still being soft. It also takes dye very well and has a high lustre, which has allowed us to curate a wonderful collection of colourways.
We call it a ‘work horse of a sock’ which, looked after well, will last a long time. Mohair socks are great for busy people, with feet in and out of shoes and boots, from board meetings to country walks and from glorious lunches out to the school run. They are super resilient and feel amazing. Softer than sheep wool and tough to boot. With Spring now arrived in the UK we transitioning out of our cosy alpaca socks a bit more because our mohair socks have a unique secret to them. Not only do they keep your feet warm in the winter BUT they also keep your feet cool in the summer!
We are enjoying seeing customers, press and influencers taking their mohair socks out and showcasing stylish spring looks. Our mohair socks provide the perfect colour pop.
Mohair creates really luxurious socks and feels amazing on the feet, but you can carry on life as normal and know your socks will be fine and you're cutting a very stylish dash.
So why go for alpaca socks instead? Well it won’t surprise you to know that we both wear mohair and alpaca socks and fall in love with both again and again.
Alpaca socks are softer than mohair and our everyday alpaca socks are so soft that they feel like a treat for the feet all day. We find they actually feel softer with a wash or two. Alpaca socks need a bit more TLC than mohair socks. Mohair socks are washable at 40℃ but alpaca need to be washed at 30℃. Alpaca socks are not quite as strong, so although they will last a long time when looked after well, they are a smidge less diamond fibre than our mohair wool socks.
So, given I have several pairs of both types of socks, how do I decide which to wear? Well sometimes it’s a mohair day, when life is busy and I’m dashing around and have my feet in and out of boots or when I’m wearing an outfit and just want a pop of colour. And sometimes it’s an alpaca day, where I know I’ll be at my desk for a few hours, or it’s a lazy Sunday, or life just doesn’t feel quite as stressful. On those days I pop on my alpaca socks, and every so often I wiggle my toes and get that little unexpectedly joyful feeling of having beautiful socks on.
