Best foot forward: the hunt for big socks

A pair of socks like he has got on would do

Grenson Fred Vibram brogue

I'm actually beginning to wonder if those hiker boots of mine are possessed. For weeks now I've been quite happily yomping through the snow with only a hint of pain in the heel department.

Then I order a pair of those brogues with the Vibram soles I was telling you about and guess what? The hikers rip my heels to shreds on my way to collect them from the post office.

To be fair I'm not sure the boots are entirely to blame, because these blisters only seem to occur when I'm wearing a particular type of woolly sock. But it takes two to tango.

That brings me to the real point of this post - the total absence of a decent looking, functional boot sock anywhere.

I've been after a decent pair of these since I saw the mountaineer-styled lookbook for the  Moncler V collection. The chaps in that shoot had tucked their trousers into some pretty natty-looking socks. Striped, no less.

So I did the usual Google trawl, first for Moncler V socks, then striped mountaineering socks, then walking socks, and drew a sartorial blank. There are walking socks out there, but they're more munter than mountaineer, and to be more precise, they just aren't long enough.

I want my mountain socks to be massive. I want them to wrinkle up around my ankles like Nora Batty's stockings, and I want them thicker than an arctic duvet, with even thicker candy stripes. In short, I guess I want something that looks like a bit like a Seventies football sock.

I found a glimmer of hope in a post from the Oneupmanship Journal. The sock drawer he featured contained a couple of Burlingtons, and a cable-knit affair from Universal Works which almost hits the mark.

Then I discovered that Universal Works actually produces a thick walkers' sock, which none of its stockists seem to stock. An email to the company confirms this.

So my search for the perfect boot sock goes on. In the meantime I'm going to burn those sadistic merino-mix efforts.

My feet will be in a better place without them.

Universal Works

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