We design every Escuyer sock in Brussels. We knit every one of them in Portugal. People often ask why, and the honest answer is that there is nowhere else in Europe quite like it.

Northern Portugal holds one of the densest concentrations of sock makers on the continent. Most of it sits in a small cluster of towns between Porto and Braga, in family factories that rarely appear in English-language writing. This is our attempt to explain that industry: where it came from, how a sock is actually made there, and why it suits a brand like ours.

Where it happens: the knitting valleys of the north

Portugal's textile and clothing industry is concentrated on the north coast, in the districts of Braga and Porto. Spinning, weaving, dyeing, knitting and garment making all happen within an hour's drive of each other. The national textile research centre, CITEVE, sits in the same region, in Vila Nova de Famalicão.

Within that region, socks have a capital: Barcelos. The town is better known abroad for its painted rooster, but locally it is known for knitwear. A study by the University of Porto found that knitting and clothing accounted for 74.2% of manufacturing jobs in the municipality, and 65% of all jobs available there.

Walk the parishes around Barcelos, Guimarães and Vila Nova de Famalicão and you will still see the pattern that study described: small factories set between houses, fields and vineyards, often run by the family that lives next door. Our own socks are knitted near Braga, a short drive from Barcelos.

A short history of Portuguese knitting

By hand, first. Portugal has its own way of knitting. Traditional Portuguese knitters tension the yarn around the back of the neck, or through a small hook pinned at the left shoulder, and flick it over the needle with the left thumb. It makes the purl stitch the easiest one, the reverse of most northern European styles. The same neck-tensioned method travelled with Portuguese and Spanish sailors and is still used in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. For anyone who wants the full story, Rosa Pomar's book Portuguese Knitting is the reference in English.

Then by machine. The industrial chapter starts in 1921, when João Duarte founded Barcelos's first knitting company, the Fábrica Barcelense. It began with trimmings and braids, then added lace and socks, then wool spinning and knitwear. At its height it employed 400 to 500 people, most of them recruited from local farms. The factory reached its centenary in 2021, still trading as Barcelcom Têxteis.

The factory that became a school. Duarte's mills trained more than workers; they trained future owners. Many of his employees left to open their own workshops, often with his technical and financial help, and those workshops in turn produced the next generation of founders. That chain explains the shape of the industry today: hundreds of small firms rather than a few giants.

Specialisation and export. In the 1970s and 1980s the large vertical mills split into specialists: knitters, dyers, finishers, makers-up. Exports grew sharply from 1980, much of it for foreign brands. The same study found that 81.4% of local factory owners were born in the municipality, and that many were former mill workers.

From price to value. Since the 2000s, competition from Asia has pushed Portuguese textiles away from volume and towards quality, speed and short runs. The trade association ATP describes an industry that now does more with half the companies and workers it once had.

The industry in numbers

Portugal exported €5,499 million of textiles and clothing in 2025, down 0.8% on 2024 in value but up 0.3% in volume. The sector counts around 12,000 companies, many of them small.

Provisional INE figures, reported by RTP / Lusa, February 2026.

For hosiery specifically, Portugal exported about €133 million of knitted socks and hosiery in 2019, eighth in the European Union, just behind France and level with the United Kingdom. Sold production of socks, tights and stockings reached about €159 million that year, sixth in the EU.

The figure that matters most to a small brand is lead time. ATP puts Portugal's typical textile lead time at two to six weeks depending on the product, among the shortest in the world.

How a sock is made in a Portuguese factory

Our sock atelier, Portugal

A sock looks simple. It passes through more hands than most people imagine.

1. Yarn. Ours arrives from Italy: combed cotton, merino wool and cashmere blends, dyed before knitting so the colour runs through the fibre.
2. Programming. A technician translates the design into a program for the machine: stripes, colour blocks, rib, heel and toe.
3. Knitting. A circular knitting machine knits the sock as a tube, from cuff to toe, in one continuous piece. Our socks are knitted on vintage machines. They run slower than modern ones and give the fabric a denser, softer hand.
4. Toe closing. The tube comes off the machine open at the toe. The seam is then closed by linking, ideally with a flat seam you cannot feel inside the shoe.
5. Washing and boarding. Socks are washed, then pulled onto flat, foot-shaped metal boards and steamed. This sets their shape and size.
6. Pairing and inspection. Every sock is checked by eye and matched with its twin. On melange yarns, a few loose fibre ends on the surface are normal, a sign of the yarn rather than a fault.
7. Finishing. Labelling, banding and packing, often in the same building.

Why Portugal, and not elsewhere

Knowledge that stayed local. A hundred years of knitting in one valley leaves something you cannot buy: technicians who know how a yarn will behave before it touches the needles. In Barcelos, much of that knowledge passed directly from mill to workshop, and from parent to child.

Small runs, taken seriously. Because the industry is made of small and medium family firms, it is used to short runs and frequent colour changes. That is exactly what a brand built on a wide palette needs. We would rather offer a stripe in a colour no one else makes than a thousand units of grey.

Speed and proximity. Two to six weeks from order to delivery is normal. Brussels is a two-hour flight away, so we can visit, question a sample and adjust it in person.

European standards. Factories work under EU labour and environmental law. Many hold certifications such as OEKO-TEX Standard 100 or GOTS. Paying a fair price for that is part of the deal.

Honest about the past. Portugal's industry was once built on low wages and subcontracting, as the University of Porto study made clear. The firms that survived did so by moving towards quality, design and reliability. Those are the firms we want to work with.

How we work with our Portuguese ateliers

Our socks are knitted at a family-owned factory near Braga, in the heart of this knitting region. The yarns come from Italy. The designs, and the colours, come from Brussels.

We visit often, and we ask a lot of questions. Knowing what a team of makers can truly do changes what we ask of them, and those relationships shape every collection we design.

We keep the range simple on purpose. One size for women, one for men. Every model stays in stock, season after season. It is a way of working that only makes sense with a partner you trust, close enough to visit.

Our best-selling 5 Stripes socks, knitted near Braga:

Men 5 Stripes, Ecru / Green / Blue€25 Men 5 Stripes, Ecru / Blue / Red€25 Men 5 Stripes, Brown / Blue / Navy€25 Women 5 Stripes, Orange / Hazelnut / Sand€25 Women 5 Stripes, Green Flash€25 Women 5 Stripes, Pink / Red / Orange€25

Sources

• Vieira, M. L. L., A organização do sistema produtivo da malha em Barcelos e a sua inserção internacional, Revista da Faculdade de Letras, Universidade do Porto, 1999–2000
• Fábrica Barcelense... 100 anos, Câmara Municipal de Barcelos, 2021
• Exportações do têxtil e vestuário caem 0,8% para 5.499 ME em 2025, RTP / Lusa, 11 February 2026
• Portugal ramps exports, Home Textiles Today
• Portugal export of knitted and crocheted hosiery, Eurostat data via Knoema
• Portuguese Knitting, by Rosa Pomar, Penguin Random House
• Designs, techniques and traditions: Spain and Portugal, The Woolly Thistle

Questions we are asked

Where are most socks made in Portugal?
Most Portuguese socks are made in the north, around Barcelos, Guimarães and Vila Nova de Famalicão in the district of Braga. Barcelos has been a knitting town since its first knitting factory opened in 1921, and small family factories still sit between houses and fields there.

Are socks made in Portugal good quality?
Yes, as a rule. Over the last two decades Portugal has moved from volume to value, and its factories are known for careful finishing, short runs and EU working standards. Many premium European brands make their socks there.

Why are Portuguese-made socks more expensive than mass-market socks?
They cost more because EU wages, smaller runs, better yarns and slower machines all add to the price of each pair. What you get back is a denser, better-finished sock that keeps its shape and lasts longer.

What is Portuguese-style knitting?
Portuguese-style knitting is a hand-knitting method where the yarn is tensioned around the neck or through a pin at the left shoulder and flicked over the needle with the thumb. It makes purl the easiest stitch, and it is still practised in Portugal, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.

Where are Escuyer socks made?
Escuyer socks are designed in Brussels and knitted at a family-owned factory near Braga, in northern Portugal, on vintage machines. The yarns come from Italy.

Escuyer. Considered design, made to last.