FIVE THINGS ABOUT THE WORLD’S MOST ROMANTIC SOCKS

1 TIGHT KNIT

Folks on the world’s most remote inhabited island, Tristan da Cunha, are a tight-knit bunch. The U.K. overseas territory in the south Atlantic ocean is so remote it is accessible by only nine boat trips a year from South Africa, 2,400 kilometres away. Inhabited since 1810, the wildlife-rich island’s 267 residents are mostly farmers, who live at the base of a volcano.

2 WARM TRADITION

One of the more endearing traditions that evolved on this so-called Love Island (which has a heartshaped lake) is the gifting of “love socks,” which are knitted to express endearment. It began, resident Dawn Repetto told Atlas Obscura, because the “islanders were quite shy people, people of few words.”

3 COURTING HISTORY

The woollen footwear was a great way to demonstrate affection, particularly for young people. The addition of stripes to socks became a time-honoured code to express the depth of one’s feelings: The more stripes, the deeper the devotion. “If you gave something like five stripes? Wow. That was almost like a proposal of marriage,” says Repetto.

4 DYED IN THE WOOL

If a woman gifted socks to her beau to express herself, the young man would in turn make her a pair of moccasins (a task usually done by fathers). She in turn would offer to wash his clothes — a sign that they were formally engaged.

5 HEAD OVER HEELS?

Tristan’s knitters still make striped “love socks” for each other, but you can also custom order them online and have them knitted to your specification. Delivery takes a few months.