RoToTo's socks are made in Japan’s largest sock producing region, Nara Prefecture. While most of their products are crafted in Koryocho, some are also manufactured in places such as Yamatotakada City, Kashiba City and Gose City. The area is known for its quality textile, including Yamato-momen and Yamato-kasuri, since around the 17th century. Industrial sock production was first introduced to the area in 1910, when a man from ex-Umami village (now Koryocho) brought a sock weaving machine to his hometown from the U.S. after his study tour in the country. As textile weaving declined and people's life style changed with time, sock production was gradually developed in the area as a new industry. With such a background, the local people in the region still call sock knitting as 'sock weaving'.
The sock production in the northwestern part of Nara Prefecture thus originated from the area's centuries-long tradition of weaving. And that is why RoToTo places more value on manufacturing that requires a lot of discussion with factory craftsmen who preserve tradition and history. They start their sock making with selecting the right yarns for a design from a huge number of options, and then develop a new material that is made of a blend of selected yarns with help of specialist craftsmen. After that, they choose a knitting machine to use according to the type of material and the usage of the product. Options include rare machines for specialty use, old-style non-computerized knitters and the latest hi-tech machines. To make an ideal pair of socks, exchanging opinions with skilled craftsmen is as important as using the right machine.
"If you find a small happiness in your daily life,
your life will be enriched.
Even the most trivial of things have the capacity to bring joy,
which may be too subtle to being imagined by other people."
