London label Hadas wants to take socks from unseen to seen

London-based Hadas was built with a simple aspiration – ‘to move socks away from a mere accessory and towards [becoming] a centrepiece of design’, as the label describes.

The credentials are there: Hadas’ first season, now available on its own website as well as at retailers including London’s Goodhood, is designed by Ben Sansbury, a Royal College of Art graduate whose work has been displayed in galleries from Newcastle’s Baltic to Paris’ Palais de Tokyo, and who has previously worked with brands including Aries and Palace. Indeed, the various socks’ bold designs – each featuring the capitalised Hadas logo – reflect the aforementioned labels’ strong graphic identities and roots in streetwear.

Sock drawer: introducing Hadas Collection One

Each pair is designed in London but crafted in family-owned factories in Italy from organic cotton; styles range from boldly coloured geometric motifs reminiscent of football socks (‘to stand out and impress on their own’), to more classic styles, whereby the Hadas logo is hidden on the sole of the foot. The initial collection comprises seven different styles, spanning 12 different colourways – from vivid orange, pink, and royal blue, to more muted shades of beige, grey and green.

The name Hadas is derived from the Greek word ‘Háidēs’, in reference to the ancient god of the underworld (‘the name suits a brand willing to take a design path less trodden’, states the brand). In the logo itself, this mythological inspiration is reflected in two pillars, which reference both Greek columns and the ‘mysticism of the double-slit experiment’. The label pays homage to the latter – a quantum mechanics experiment involving the passing of electrons through two slits – for its ‘two outcomes which depend on the presence or the absence of an observer’, a playful riff on the idea that Hadas is taking socks from unseen, to seen.