Then in 2012, he and fellow graduates from MIT university set up menswear label Ministry of Supply in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the US, with $8.5m of private funding. Customers told them that one of their biggest issues with socks was smelliness.

“Coffee was a natural and powerful solution — nothing could compete,” says 31-year-old Advani. “When you go to a department store’s fragrance section, you’ll see coffee beans on the counters to cleanse your nasal palate. Coffee actually neutralises odours.”

Launched on Kickstarter three years ago, their Atlas Series dress socks, incorporating 40% coffee-infused recycled polyester, won crowdfunding of $204,601. Retailing for $15 a pair, they are now one of their most popular lines, Advani says. The carbonized grounds, reclaimed from coffee roasters and shops, go through a pharmaceutical process to remove the oils before being infused into the fibres of recycled polyester yarn.

“We recommend treating them like your typical sock and washing after every wear. But we’ve heard that you can wear the socks for a week without much of a smell,” he says.

Spinning a new yarn

You may already be wearing waste coffee — or at least yarn made with it — next to your skin. American Eagle, Timberland and L.L. Bean are among 110 fashion labels who work with S. Cafe fabric, made from yarn containing 1.2 to 1.5% coffee ground nano particles.