The Smartwool brand was founded in 1994 in the mountain town of Steamboat Springs in Colorado, USA by two ski instructors who cared about keeping their feet and body warm and dry. They were not satisfied with the properties of sports socks at the time and decided to make wool socks. Although they were laughed at in the beginning, they managed to build a thriving and successful brand of quality socks and functional underwear, which is now sold in thousands of stores around the world. Smartwool produces only the most expensive and highest quality merino wool, and the amount it processes annually corresponds to the wool from 300,000 sheep. This merino wool comes exclusively from certified breeders in New Zealand and Uruguay and stands out for its softness and excellent thermal insulation properties.