ROTOTO

The Man Who Made a Million Socks

Meet Ishigami Nobukazu, born and raised in Nara, Japan and now working just round the corner from where he spent his childhood. Ishigami is the man responsible for the Rototo Double Face Sock!

After now working with socks for 40 plus years he is the last remaining individual on the planet with the skill and know-how to produce the double face.

He has outlived the factories in which the knitting machines were manufactured, he has taught himself how to work with raw iron to bend, cut and mould metal to repair and replace broken parts.

Doing this all he admitted that he was happy when things worked out as there was a lot of trial and error. He also was happy to share that he still has all his fingers!

When all works well he and his team are able to produce 70 pairs of socks a day per machine. As there are 50 active machines the Rototo Double face factory is able to produce an estimated 3500 pairs of socks a day.

We are lucky to have not only witnessed this but been a part of this story as we created the HHV x Rototo Double Face Sock.

Stay tuned to find out more about HHV x Rototo…

Oh… and i did the math, if you calculate with 3500 pairs a day over 40 years. He is not only the man who has made 1 million socks but he has made over 35 million socks!