The king’s laundry sock

As I have gotten older, I have become fond of micro news, perhaps because macros are too difficult to digest. In this case the news is truly micro, less than a fraction of a square centimeter of exposed skin (so small that even the accompanying photo is somewhat blurry… perhaps a macro lens was needed).

It’s the news of a piece of skin exposed by the hole in a sock. But it so happens that that piece of epidermis belongs to a king, to King Charles III visiting a British mosque. The new king with his sock with holes in it has excited and won the applause of a large crowd of subjects in love (rightly) with the frugality of their sovereign. To their praises and considerations I also want to add mine which are two. The first concerns the strong empathy I have for socks with holes in them. I’ve been trying to manage the holes in my socks for a lifetime (I’m almost 60). As soon as I reached adolescence I started to mend them, which then became the mending of my partner’s socks (yes, it’s one of the few elements of non-equality in our relationship) and then that of my children. Patches that, however, at a certain point required a more drastic intervention and the need to get rid of the torn sock … the question at that point is always the same: do I throw them both away? Except for the one still partially intact? My choice has always been the latter, giving life to a bevy of pairs of crossed and bastard socks, long and short, blue and cornflower blue, black and dark grey.

The second reason why I wanted to highlight this micro news is that the King Charles, in this way, gave an important signal (intended?) which obliges us to reflect on all those lifestyles, those beliefs, those attitudes, those fashions, which condition our lives regardless of the weight they have on the biosphere. Alas, we are vain and selfish monkeys, attracted by consumerism and disposable fashion which, often far from our eyes (but not far enough), is contributing to the dangerous destruction of ecosystems, the unstoppable consumption of natural resources, the climate crisis as well as dangerous diffuse pollution.

I don’t know how much water it takes to produce a pair of cotton socks, but according to studies, it takes just under 3000 liters of water to produce a T-shirt, to which must be added the pesticides used to produce the cotton, the energy consumption ( most likely generated by fossil fuels), the impact of transportation, etc. etc. Therefore, trying to reuse your socks as much as possible, avoiding buying new ones, is the best daily gesture we can do to give a chance for a future to this planet that can’t take it anymore and is making us understand it. So let’s learn to proudly display holey or darned socks, patched sweaters, resoled shoes, recycled backpacks, out-of-fashion coats (which can be fixed by some good craftsman) and old but still functional clothes. The ecological transition also involves sobriety, reuse, recycling and a new lifestyle that teaches us to stand on this planet on tiptoe, even with holes in our socks.

(*Isabella Pratesi is Director of the WWF Italy Conservation Program)