Our Packaging Is Sustainable (And Cute AF)

When you shop at Cute But Crazy Socks, you may not be aware that in addition to providing the best selection of novelty socks on the internet, we are also aiming to be the most eco-friendly sock store in the U.S.! From our mailer bags to our stickers, shopping bags and other packaging materials, we are dedicated to using eco-friendly materials that can be recycled, reused, composted and kept out of the landfill. Here are some of the ways we make each of your purchases eco-friendly.

Sustainable Solutions for Online Sock Shopping

Most mailing and shipping supplies create a ton of waste. Plastic and non-recyclable packaging for the things humans order online often ends up in landfills. At Cute But Crazy Socks, we have found sustainable solutions to this issue with eco-friendly packaging made by our partners at EcoEnclose, where they are passionate about providing sustainable packaging for small businesses.

So here is our process: when you place an order online, we start by bundling all your socks with natural, compostable 100% hemp twine. Hemp is an exceptional material because it is strong, sustainable and incredibly fast-growing. It is a relative of the marijuana plant (with none of its psychoactive properties) that has been used in rope making for centuries.

Wrapped Like a Present in Reusable Mailers

Next we pack these bundles of joy into our 100% recycled and 100% recyclable poly mailers along with one of our very special stickers (more on those below). These super-cute mailing envelopes are made in the USA of recycled plastic. Unlike other recyclable mailers which are often plain black or white, our mailers are printed in full color with our top hat logo in a fun repeating pattern that makes them look like wrapping paper. Wouldn't you love to receive a cute present filled with fun socks on your doorstep? If you are ordering socks for gift-giving, just add a gift message at checkout and we will send your heartfelt note and perfectly-wrapped package along to the recipient. 

Each mailer can be reused at least once before being recycled in a plastic film bin. That's because instead of one adhesive strip, it has two! We use the first one to close up your package, so when you open it with the easy-tear strip there is another waiting for you. Use it to make a return or ship a whole new package to someone else: the choice is yours.

The last step before your package hits the post office is slapping on an address label, now printed on 100% recyclable release paper.

Did you know that most stickers create a lot of waste? Sticker backing paper, also known as sticker liners, are often made of virgin paper with a coating of silicone, meaning they are neither recycled nor recyclable.

Recyclable backing paper for address labels didn't even exist until recently, but making the switch has allowed us to cut out one of our biggest waste streams as a business. Now, when we peel and stick an address label, the backing paper can go into the recycling, not the landfill!

Eco-friendly Shopping at Our Bellingham Sock Store

At Cute But Crazy Socks, we aim to make in-store shopping environmentally friendly too. If you shop in our Bellingham, Wash. store, please remember to bring your own shopping bag — after all, our community has had a plastic bag ban since 2012. If you forget, we’ll offer you a 100% recycled and recyclable shopper bag made from brown paper with a twisted paper handle. These bags also feature our adorable logo sticker, which like our address labels is backed with 100% recyclable paper.

Since both the sticker and the shopper bag are fully recyclable, you can put them right into your paper recycling.

But why recycle a bag right away when it is perfect for reusing? We always try to get multiple uses out of these babies by packing lunches in them, bringing them to the farmers market to hold our artisanal goodies, even adding a little ribbon and giving gifts in them!

So now that you know how green our packaging is, why not check out some of our most sustainable socks?