Trendy socks include novelty items, toe socks and more
By Kathy Van Mullekom
KRT Campus

Stuff the boring blue, brown and black socks in the corner of your dresser drawer. Save the sporty white socks for sweat-soaked sessions on the stair stepper.

Now’s the time to tuck your tootsies into trendy socks.

Hosiery departments at stores such as Target, Foley’s, Wal-Mart and Dillard’s are stocked with more styles, colors and designs than you can count on your fingers and toes.

Want to show the world you love animals? Slip on a pair of white anklets sprinkled with cute little dogs or cats.

Photo Illustration by Erin LaMourie/ FEATURES EDITOR

If you like holiday themes, there are Easter socks with bunnies and baskets of candy. For gardeners, there are socks adorned with ladybugs and flowers.

Colors make a statement, too. Spring socks scream with tropical tones-orange, lime green, yellow and pink. And then there are the patriotic socks splashed in red, white and blue stripes and stars.

Men and children are not forgotten in the flood of fashionable socks. They don’t have quite the wide selection that women do, but there is noticeable variety. You can find men’s black dress socks adorned with racy red hearts and little girl’s white anklets embroidered with “Hello Kitty.”

Socks of some sort are nothing new to the world. They date back to ancient Rome, when people wrapped their feet in strips of leather or woven fabric. Egyptian socks were constructed to exactly fit the foot, says Sid Smith, president of the National Association of Hosiery Manufacturers, at (http://www.bluechipsocks.com/).

In 1589, the invention of mechanical knitting machines transformed hosiery from a home craft into an industry. Socks took on new importance, especially during the formation of American Colonies.

“Settlers and frontiersmen were given an allotment of so many pounds of food, sugar, gun powder and ‘two pairs of socks’ as encouragement to move out into the wilderness and cultivate and claim as much property as they could control,” Smith says.

Today’s socks may not help you claim land, but they can draw some curious — and perhaps admiring — stares.

If you need more selection than local stores offer, you'll find a slew of sock sites for online shopping.

To wear your faith on your feet, visit (http://www.holysocks.co.uk).

Holy Socks are more than just socks; they are messages from the Bible. In fact, there are more than 600 references to feet and walking in the Bible, according to the site.

Each pair comes packaged in cellophane, with an entertaining tale that relates to its biblical heritage. For instance, a tale of two friends fishing, then sharing their catch with the crowd, accompanies a pair of grass-green socks embroidered with the words “loaves and fishes” and designs of dark blue fish and bread-colored loaves.

Holy Socks avoids taking itself too seriously. The site gives you a place to click on the “Holy Sock Song” to see the choir at St. Columba Parish Church — wearing their Holy Socks, of course, and singing about biblical figures such as Daniel, Jonah and Moses.
Probably the largest selection of novelty socks is found at (http://www.absolutesocks.com).

Boys too young to drive can walk and dream in their Harley Davidson socks. Men about to make the big commitment can walk to the altar in “I Do” socks adorned with miniature brides and grooms and bottles of champagne. Gamblers who need a little extra luck tucked in their shoes can wear dice socks or luck-of-the-cards socks. Women can walk on the wild side with animal motif socks in everything from bats and birds to pandas and penguins.

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