Buying yarn
Yarn stores are a maze of color and texture. Piles of yarn, from floor to ceiling can feel a bit overwhelming, but Teresa's yarn suppliers know exactly what she wants. They offer her tea as they collect bags and bags of yarn for her. This yarn is imported from Turkey.
Matching yarn
The next step in the process is creating yarn packets for each one of the knitters. Each skein of yarn can produce one pair of socks. Teresa ensures that nice color combinations are selected for the knitters (step one in our quality control measures).
Delivering yarn to the knitters
Our Delegates travel to villages throughout Azerbaijan to deliver the yarn to our knitters. While they are there, they also check the socks that have been knit (step two in our quality control measures). They pay for the knit socks and then carry them back to the office.
Knitting the socks
Many hands work on knitting our socks. On average, it takes a woman two days to knit one pair of socks. Though we have a few industrious knitters who can make a pair in a single day.
Cutting & punching suede
These women use size patterns to cut the suede to the various sizes. They then punch holes in the suede to make it possible for the sewers to sew the suede onto the socks.
Matching suede to socks by size
When the delegates bring the knitted socks back to the office, Firuze once again checks them for quality (third quality check). Socks that are of higher quality will receive suede. She then matches the size of the socks to the suede. And prepares packets for our suede sewers to pick up.
Sewing suede on socks
The sewers take the suede pieces and sew them onto the soles of the socks. Though this may seem like an easy task, it actually takes great skill and patience.
Sizing and tagging
Once the suede is sewed onto the sock, the socks are returned to the office where they are sized and tagged. They are then ready to be sold, either online or in our office store.
Selling and shipping
The final step in the process is getting the socks into the hands of our customers. Firuze at the office takes your orders online and packages them to send to you. We also have a distribution center in the USA.