Socks.ie

Socks, just socks

Posted on 17. Oct, 2009 by admin in Socks

They go missing, they keep your feet warm and they like to live on the floor. But there’s more to a sock than that.
Socks are almost as old as history. Socks have been around since before the stone ages, but were unrecognizable from socks as we know them today. Think animal skins, tied at the ankles with leather bindings – clumsy but cute for the chic and warm Cavegirl.
The Egyptians have always done everything better, and sock technology is no exception. They were the first people to knit socks, beating the Ancient Greeks by two hundred years, who only took up the knitting of animal hair into foot coverings in the 8th Century BC.
The wealthy during the Middle Ages invented the garter, to hold up their socks, and by the end of the 15th century some bright fellow had invented the breeches (tights) – socks that went all the way up to the waist.
That was the extent of the sock’s evolution for about a hundred years until the knitting machine revolutionized production and cold little peasant feet everywhere began to feel the benefit of a good pair of socks. In the 20th century, elastic made the sock the comfortable, foot-hugging necessity that it is today, and Lycra turned tights into decoration as well as warmth.
In 1942 the humble sock was recognized, and June 11th every year since then has been National Sock Day in the United States. The Japanese have turned socks into an art-form, creating the first pair of socks with toes, to allow for the wooden-soled flip-flops worn as house-shoes.
From animal skin to sleek tube, the sock has marched with us from our beginnings into our future.