Customers are gold.

Our customers are gold. Never failing to put a spring in our step, and shine on our days. Here's a few of the comments we've recently had the pleasure to get.......

Just bought some more socks (tuff mongrels) for work.was surprised at how cool woolen socks can be despite being in heavy work boots all day.i got a pair while on honeymoon in Tasmania and loved them, had to get more. Have 6 pairs once these one arrive. Surely thats not the end of it.love the colours too. I work night shifts so a bright colour makes me smile. if there's any new colours that come out i think i shall have to snap them up too.
Tim.

Just wanted to leave a comment. Whoever did all the writing for your website did such an excellent job, I had to comment. The opening line that went something like, "You can stop looking because you've found it," really got my attention - and I've been shopping for socks and I have seen a lot of websites! Also, the descriptive paragraphs for the socks was so well written; it sold me on your merchandise and I also appreciated the friendly tone. Please pass my compliment on to the writer.
Nicole.

Just a big thank you for the quick delivery on socks and head warmers a couple of weeks ago.The socks feel and look great. Some have gone off to a European winter with my daughter and the rest to my sister and her family in Morocco , so I should get some good feedback about their warmth,
thanks again,
Robyn.

Thankyou for saving my life this winter. OMG ive just thrown out my 3rd pair of house socks and one pair o slippers!!!!!
You are a godsend and ive been buying your socks almost weekly since a month ago!! for me. for my family and pressies for interstate!!Thankyou , they are awsome.
Junie.

I just want to say my feet salute you. At this time of the year winter my toes are covered in chilblains and take to heal but your socks have helped and now winter appears to be shorter.
Ian.

I received two pairs of pure wool socks and I would just like to thank you and say that they are really good quality wise. Thanks for doing a great job.
Mario.


Nice!

Red Tuff Mongrels back in stock

After a long wait for the yarn, we have been madly knitting up the full size range in our very popular Tuff Mongrels and they are now back on offer at our website. These babies are a great work sock and heavy duty sock. We source this yarn from Schoeller in Germany, because they do technology so well. The blend of 60% wool and 40% polypropylene, makes them fast drying, light weight (for their bulk) and as tough as old boots. Not quite as soft as the pure wool Mongrel socks but very close.

Head Warmer weather

Just loving the all the new colours in our Mongrel Tasmanis pure wool Head Warmer range, in the Arm/Leg Warmers as well. They've been getting a good reception at Salamanca Market, where we do all our market research, our customers down there have never lead us astray. You can always count on Tasmanians to be honest with their face to face feedback. Good or bad they're happy to let us know exactly what they think. Even via email our customers don't hold back. Often liberal with praise, ( I Like) but today we opened an email with lashings of unhappiness. Oh dear! A customer unhappy her pure wool socks wore out, we hear her pain. Sadly, the one reality in the life of Pure Wool socks is for all that is good, better than the rest, nothing is surer your Pure Wool Mongrel Socks will, without doubt, wear out, at some stage. Every wearer is differant, I regularly sell socks to folks who tell me they are replacing 4 year old socks that are still going strong, right next to someone who's socks have worn out in a few heavy wearing months. Why? goodness knows. But one thing we do know, if longevity is more important to comfort, best customers pick our Tuff Mongrel Socks over the Pure Wool. They won't be disappointed.

I'm back!

I just can't believe how long it's been since I last updated this blog. Nothing as exciting as a holiday has kept me busy, just lots on. On the sock front we've been busy in the sweatshop. actually really sweating because the weather has been great, just plugging away. Our pure wool Mongrel production has been steady, but the Tuff Mongrels have ground to a halt because the yarn(which we import from Germany) prices have gone through the roof. Our low aussie dollar has been a disaster. Making the product costs increase to a point where it is marginal. We'll just have keep an eye out for a good time to buy the yarn, until then it will be "go slow". We do have a new product nearly ready to hit the street. Its a pure mercerised cotton sock, aussie cotton and aussie made. Mercerised cotton is great wear, it is stronger and more absorbent than usual cottons. But the very best thing about our new range is the fact that our colours and very "Mongrel", much like our pure wool mixes but much lighter weight. Again, like our Mongrels no two socks is the same-sure makes pairing a challenge. The colours of course match but the the way the colours show is random. So every pair is a surprise. Just in the process of having the labels sorted then it will be all go-we can't wait. I must get back to work, but I have made a promise to myself that it won't be as long between posts.

Socks, socks and more socks!

Another few busy weeks have spun by here in sock heaven. With lots of new wool arriving, the excitement of playing with the new colours, scratching our heads and rolling up our sleeves looking for somewhere to put it all. We found homes for all our new wool, all 1.5 tons of it, but of course to find room we had to do a pretty full on clean out, which is all good, just a big job. No stopping us now. We have needed to replenish a few of our stock colour's in the pure wool mongrel socks, before getting on the experimentation of new colour mixes. We have now got some new colours in the Tuff Mongrel wool/polyproplyene wool Climawool*, and can't wait to get these colours on the go. It will give a better range for our sock customer's to choose from too. Something they have been asking for in the Tuff Mongrel socks for quite a while.

The long weekend

There's frost on the ground this morning, winter here in Tasmania has really set in. And with winter our pure wool sock sales step up. We have been busy making, making. Not too busy to take a the long week end off, however, which we did. We went up to a visit friends, who run a 3ooo acre property in the lake district of central Tasmania. The property is called "Currawong Lakes", and what a magic place it is. As a business, it is a very private game and fly fishing park, it has abundant wildlife. We were blown away by the quality of the facilities at the property. It has 5 or 6 cabins, a rustic lodge/restaurant with a state of the art kitchen, lake's stocked with trophy sized trout, clay target shooting range with another lodge there, breeding set up from egg incubation to pre-release pens for quail, pheasants and partridge and much more-all this is miles from anywhere. I am once again amazed at the diversity of endeavors here in Tasmania. This little island is a place where idea's (with a lot of hard work) can become a reality. Currawong Lakes is an idyllic property, not by accident, by design. The staff work hard to ensure it stays that way. Not only in so far as land management, but the guest's needs are always attended to, actively seeking to exceed their expectations. It wasn't all leisure while we were there. We did get around to discussing socks. Fly fisherman in their plastic waders, would really benefit from the comfort and warmth our pure wool socks can provide, so we are packing up a parcel of our pure wool Mongrel Socks for management to have on hand for any cold guests, we're also sending up some of our heavy duty Tuff Mongrels for the gamekeeper, who does a million miles on foot around the property, and needs socks that will stand up to a whole lot of hard work. Yep, the Tuff Mongrels will be just the thing. We will also, time permitting, get ourselves knitting up some over the knee wool socks. At the moment the game shooters have to import them, at great expense, from the UK. We'll be happy to fill that niche. Anyway best get in to my sock making day, but here's a link to Currawong Lakes, if anyone would like to have a look. www.currawonglakes.com.au

Tuff Mongrel Lover!

Just received this email today together with an order, it's alway's good to hear what the consumer thinks.

I need some more of your fantastic socks with the winter coming on. What I especially love about the socks is that they dont fall down. They have sufficient bulk to be able to be self-supporting, and of course they are not tight around the leg. Perfect!
Peter, Kangaroo Island, South Australia.

Peter, they are on their way!

Snow in February-Tassie full of surprises!

Unbelievable and unpredictable!
Here we are in February, ( usually the best days of summer here in Tassie) enjoying long, warm days and cool nights. On Wednesday we had a scorching 34.5 degrees Celsius and only a few days later we've got snow. It must be global warming stuffing up the weather patterns. This summer our Tasmanian weather has been superb. Tassie always cops a bad rap about our weather-the general consensus( from people that don't live here) is that we are a cold place with frigid winters and no summers. Tasmanians are mostly happy to let people think the worst of our climate, if it means we get less tourists, that's OK. They won't know what they're missing, and locals can continue to enjoy our island just the way we like like it. Tassie has quite a low population and temperate climate, makes for easy living, hardly any "peak hour traffic", we've never had to learn how to que, every day Tasmanians wake up and have to look out the window to see what the day will bring, because every day is different. This year Australia's Northern states have had flooding rain and wild weather for weeks, we haven't. They are still on water restrictions, 4 minute showers, we're not and haven't been. A what is the difference between the sunny Gold Coast beaches on a good day and Tasmania's beaches? In Tassie, the water and beaches are clean and you don't have to share it with a zillion people. It really is a pleasure.
Living and working in Tasmania, as we do, and having lived and worked in some of Australia's bigger cities, gives us the appreciation for what we do have here. Lucky us. Making our pure wool, tuff and possum Mongrel Socks, in our home work shop, we experience the most amazing "office" views, fresh air-no smog, and family friendly work hours and best of all our Mongrel Socks are a unique product, by name, nature and origin.
It's good to be different.

Times ticking!

I can't beleive it's already February. We've had a flat out month, it feels like we've been on fast forward. Hoping it's going to start slowing down soon, but I doubt it. Making our Pure Wool Mongrel Socks, has been keeping us most busy, keeping up supplies of our dozen'ish colour mixes in the four sizes, is a challenge alone, but when our other products like our Head Warmers and Arm/leg Warmers need replenishing.....we're running! We've had a bit of a wait on the production of our Tuff Mongrel heavy duty socks, but the new yarn supplies arrived yesterday so the Tuff Mongrel drought is over. We had sold out of a number of sizes and colours. We are knitting now!After waitng nearly 4 months for this order to arrive( it should have taken 6 weeks), we were beginning to think maybe it wasn't going to come at all. The Yarn is a very expensive hi-tec mix of 60% superwash wool ( the best kind) and 40% Polypropylene, we can't find one better, any where in the world. We have this one imported for us from Germany, Aussie grown wool, processed in Germany, and brought back in to Australia. We wouldn't bother if it wasn't for the fact that this stuff-Climawool*-is so bloody good. The people wearing this expensive fibre blend, love it, live and work in it, with these high performance socks, our customers get what they pay for. No consumer can ask for more than that, and we wouldn't offer less.

Tasmanian dollars and sense.

We’re big fans of all things Tasmanian. Not only do we proudly manufacturer ( and wear) our own Pure Wool Mongrel Socks, Tuff Mongrels, Mongrel Tasmanis Arm/Leg Warmers and Head Warmers, we always seek local product when ever we can. If it’s shopping for vegetables or browsing for a gift, we regularly look for a locally made product over an imported line. We do this for many for reasons. The main being we see the higher value of a dollar spent locally rather than spent on imported goods. A local dollar employs, it enables local enterprise to grow, it stays in the area, ready to be passed on again. It’s not only economic benefits that entice us to spend locally, more often than not, the quality of the local product is superior to the imported equivalent. One huge plus not to be over looked when buying locally is the environmental benefits. Obviously with less transportation, there is less carbon impacting, locally and globally. All good! So it’s more than dollars and cents, its dollars and sense. I’d like to introduce a few of the great Tasmanian made products I’ve found, here in this blogg space over the next few months. All can I personally recommend.
Meadowbank Estate Vineyard is located only a few kilometres from our place, in the beautiful Coal River Valley, over looking the Coal River. Not only is the situation idyllic, the wine is superb. Check out their website www.meadowbankwines.com.au and you’ll see all they have on offer, or even get out there and have a tasting and a bite to eat, the food is impeccable. Check out the FGR Riesling and Pinot Gris both are stunning, and are personal favourites.

Longterm feedback

The feedback we receive from our customers is a cornerstone to our business success. As a micro business we don’t have the means or the time to constantly chase the “NEW” customer to improve the bottom line. We have to (and want to) satisfy both the immediate and future expectations/needs of our established customer base. As makers, we are not buyers. We would be foolish to presume we know what the customer wants. Which is why we actively seek opinion from purchasers. Prior to purchase, where possible, to provide the product that would most suit the individual, and after purchase to ensure the customers level of satisfaction and area’s that perhaps can be improved on. It is the buyers that ultimately guide our business direction. On occasion, we contact customers to see how, with time, they view their purchase. One such reply was received today, you’ve gotta love it.
The lady, whose response I’ve included below, contacted me in 2005, unhappy. In 2003 she had purchased a pair of our Pure Wool Mongrel Socks whilst in Tasmania, loved them, wore them around the world,(she’s a travel writer, based in the US), wrote lovely things about them and two years on they wore out! We commuinicated with her, that we felt 2 years from a pair of our pure wool socks ( actually any socks) wasn’t too bad, but obviously, more important to her was socks that stood the test of time rather than the ultimate comfort and luxury, premium quality pure wool provides. Same as why top end car buyers choose a Hummer over a Jag. Grunt over Luxury. In a gesture of good will we provided her with a pair of our high performance Tuff Mongrel 60%Wool and 40% Polypropylene socks.

So….. what does she think another 2 years on in 2007.

Hi Helen,
I know how important it is, when dealing with customers, to track product satisfaction (or dissatisfaction). As you may recall, I originally contacted you because my favorite pair of Mongrel socks, which I purchased in Hobart, developed holes in the heel portion of the sox. When you became aware of that, you sent me theTuff's.
I love your sox, whether the Tuff or the original multicolored Mongrels. The solid red is a more conservative color and I found them tough-wearing and warm. I still have them and am going to put them to the ultimate test soon --a winter with me in northern Wisconsin.
I was fortunate to find a Russian lady, who knows how to darn sox. She got my multi-colored Mongrels up and running again with her expert repair.
Who markets your product in the US? Are you in need of a rep?

Happy Halloween,
Dxxxxxxxxxx

Lazy Sundays

Working hard is fine when lazy Sundays are the pay off. Unplanned Sundays lazing, grazing, reading and catching up on left over chores are one of my weekly highlights. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for my life and business partner. Sundays for him are firstly doing the bookwork that’s piled up thru the last week, bills and tax, blah blah. And then on to other stuff that’s calling. Not much fun but got to be done. Don’t feel too sorry for him just yet, his swanning day is Thursday, he’s made the trade, lazy Sunday’s for golfing Thursdays (he swears the Tuff Mongrels improve his game). When you work for yourself, like we do, it’s really important do make time for “ME” time. Otherwise you can find yourself all work and no play, and you know how tiresome and bad for you that can become. We quite enjoy the lifestyle making the Mongrel Socks affords us, mostly work can be pretty routine, but hey, it is so nice to be able to work with no peak hour woes, and if something comes up, workwise or personal, no problem organising time out. Every day I appreciate the Mongrel Socks influence on our lives, if I was honest it’s not all good (what ever is?) after all work is work but there aren’t many livelihoods that offer the flexibility and satisfaction ours does.

Free Socks!

For the months of Oct-Nov '07 we are offering all our online customers a chance to try either our Mongrel Tasmanis Possum Socks or cotton rich Dr Socks for free with online purchases over $50 (for a free pair of Dr Socks) or with orders over $100 you'll receive a free pair of Possum Socks to try. Both are a completely different product to our ever popular Pure Wool Mongrel Socks and our Tuff Mongrel Socks, both are a fine sock rather than the thick and woolly nature of our Mongrels. The Dr Socks are a healthy fine cotton rich(95% Cotton/5% Elastine) featuring a loose non-restrictive top with no toe seam to irritate sensitive toes. These socks are great worn in warm weather, when bare feet is not an option. They are light weight and very comfortable. We have sizes from Ladies right thru to XL men's size, with a good range of colours.
Our Possum Socks are also a lighter weight sock, good worn in shoes that won't allow a thick sock comfortably. These socks are incredibly warm for their weight, featuring a top that is generous, so won't grab tight on your ankles. They are made of Possum Fur blended with Merino Superwash Wool (33% of each) with stretch nylon(33%) to give the user decent usability. These socks are machine washable unlike many of our competitors offerings.
All you need to do to take advantage of this offer is type in special notes area of our online order form "free socks" with your size when ordering and you'll received your free gift.

Why are Tuff Mongrel Socks so good?

Because they just are.
We scoured the world to find a blended fibre that not only felt good, it lasted. It took a lot of trials to find something good. We have never been fans of synthetics like nylon and acrylic, that it seems most sock makers use to give their products a long life and provide "cheap" bulk in their socks. Never mind the fact that in the end their socks lose their body ( after only a few washes for acrylic blended socks) and make their wearers feet stinky(high nylon content socks), because they don't breathe. We don't think either is good enough for our customers. And although we and our customers love the feel and nature of good quality Pure Wool, for heavy duty work/recreation day in, day out, the wear factor has to taken in to account. Nothing can and will replace the absolute luxury and warmth of our Pure Wool Mongrel Socks, but we have found the next best thing. After a year of real life trials, on hard working tradesmen, we settled on a 60% Superwash Fine Merino Wool blended with 40% Polypropylene. It's Aussie grown wool, blended in Germany. CLIMAYARN*.
Here's what Schoeller say about their product....
Because of the homogeneous fabric composition of both the high-performing Polycolon*(polypropylene) and it's natural product Wool, Climayarn* is very effective in maintaining body temperature. The wools thermoregulating function gives warmth in cold temperature. At the same time, the Polycolon component sees to it that a fast channelling of extra heat moisture away from the body takes place. This results in preventing heat accumulation as well as higher elasticity according to the knit type. Climayarm* dries considerably faster the comparable cotton materials. This functional yarn offers a truly convincing technic.

Key Facts:

• Climayarm* combines the advantages of natural wool with the strength of Polycolon* high performance fibre
• Wicks moisture outwards, off the skin
• Warms in cold weather
• Prevents heat accumulation
• Ideal for socks
• Machine washable

We have found this is all true, not just spin. So if your looking sick of wool work socks that just don't perform-check these out. You won't be dissapointed.

Sock Mail

We just love getting feedback from our customers. I thought I'd share a couple we received via email.........
My feet get really cold & these are the best , most comfortable socks I have ever had . My husband also commented they are great & he is a typical bloke such that any item of clothing rarely gets a mention . We were down in Tassie in January & bought a pair each then & have just started wearing them this winter & I was so happy to find the wrapper this week with your contact no. to get some more . I am very embarrassed to reveal I have been wearing the one pair I have for a few days this week ( without washing- this is definitely not my usual hygiene routine ! ) as I can’t bear to go without them for a day- so I guess this is a fairly urgent order you might say .
Kathy, Sans Souci, NSW.

Got the socks yesterday. They're terrific and so are you. Thanks again. We will not be shy about letting other know our secret of good socks.
Thanks again, Chris, Richmond. VIC.

Why I like me Mongrels
My favorite mongrels are white, well they were two years ago when I got em. Usually you only get one mongrel, but I got two. Usually you go to the pound and get just one, not these you get then in pairs. Anyway they are not white now, they are the colour you would imaging of a mongrel healer that came out of a blue heeler and a white dog, a sort of light grey like it had been rolling in dusty sand. But most of all tuff, appealing like my mongrel socks. Every week I take them out, put them on, slip them on my feet in the early morning, stuff them into me boots and walk and run them round. They love it! My feet that is, the socks have a particular uncomplaining and comforting way of covering my feet that make them a joy to wear.
Peter, Lewisham. TAS.

Thanks guys!