Muk Luks x Wandawega

Wandawega MUK LUKS Camp socks, from Wisco.

We’ve been working on this forever & never thought we’d get this excited about socks. It started with finding a vintage pair & our inability to find the same retro patterns anywhere – then tracing them back to their birthplace. (Of course, we mean the birthplace of the 20th century brand, not the birthplace of the original boots they were inspired by. That original birthplace would be somewhere in the Arctic, courtesy of the wonderful Inuit, Iñupiat, or Yupik peoples. But you know what we mean : ) So began an obsession that would take us to the “Muk Luk Museum” in Princeton…to the family who founded them… to the archives of patterns in Milwaukee. 2 yrs later, they’re here!

A Short Story of Muk Luks: 1 9 1 1 : “RELIABLE KNITTING WORKS,” A FAMILY- RUN BUSINESS, FORMED IN MILWAUKEE.

1 9 3 9 : MARTHA HIESTAND OF PRINCETON, WI BEGAN KNITTING MUK LUK ‘SOCKS WITH SOLES’ FOR HER FAMILY. SOON, FOLK FROM ALL OVER DEVELOPED A LOVE FOR THEM. WHEN SHE COULDN’T FILL ALL THE NEW ORDERS, SHE SOUGHT THE HELP OF LOCAL WOMEN.

1 9 4 3 : WITH 11 NEW EMPLOYEES, “HANDMADE BY HIESTAND” WAS BORN -SHE TRADEMARKED ‘MUK LUKS” FOR KNITTED WONDERS.

1 9 5 0 : THE HANDCRAFT CO. GREW TO 400 EMPLOYEES.

1 9 7 2 : “RELIABLE OF MILWAUKEE” ACQUIRED ‘HANDCRAFT CO.’ & ‘MUK LUKS SLIPPER SOX’ WERE BORN. NOW A FAMILY BUSINESS FOR 4 GENERATIONS.

DEETS: – Gold quick-stamp sole stamp (remember your childhood footie PJs?) – Handy History of Muk Luks pamphlet tucked inside – Gift Box with the “How-To” instructions & care guide.

Head’s up: These aren’t virgin cashmere from a family farm, hand-knit by artisans w/ leather soles. They don’t come with a lifetime guarantee. What they are is an earnest reproduction of the patterns of our parent’s childhoods. So the only other place you’ll find these specific throwbacks are from vintage dealers. (But those won’t come in our camp box w/ “instructions for use”) #HowToUseYourSocks

@freepeople search Wandawega . Lmtd quantity, stockists, DM us.