CENTRE COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — Do you have old, worn, or single socks you don’t know what to do with? Appalachian Outfitters in State College encourages you not to throw them away, and instead donate them to an initiative that will turn them into dog beds.

The storefront is partnering with sock brand Smartwool on their new initiative called Second Cut Project.

“They take any brand of sock, used, that people don’t want anymore, and they’re actually recycling them and turning them into dog beds,” said Tyler Long, manager of Appalachian Outfitters.

The program’s goal is to keep materials out of landfills and give them a second life.

“A lot of socks make it into landfills, so they just wanted a way to make the supply chain a little more circular,” said Long. “It’s better in the long run for many reasons to reuse materials, energy costs, shipping costs, not to mention when things get blown around by the wind they get in the environment and they can be negative to wildlife and water.”

They’re one of seven stores in Pennsylvania hosting the collection.

“Once we send it back, we weigh it first and the person with the highest weight of socks, that store actually wins a dog bed that they’re going to be making with those to raffle off and give to one of the customers,” said Long.

They began collecting on April 21.

“We’ve had people coming in with giant bags, just laods and loads of socks, cause they’ve been saving them for years cause they don’t know what to do with them.”

If you’d like to donate socks you no longer need, they say the material, color, and brand don’t matter, but they ask that the socks are clean and single, not rolled, rubber-banded, or paper clipped together.

The collection will continue through Sunday, May 2.