The London Lounge

Hello,

the time has come to order some new socks for the winter. I was reading ASW and discovered that Will now offers OTC hosiery for tall men in his store (190 cm and up; just like me). The price was a bit deterring considering I live in Sweden, but even worse is the fact that you are forced to pick just one color for the 24-pair order.

I've tried quite a few brands during my days:

Pantharella: too short, quite thin and overpriced.
Marcoliani: too short, nice colors and great price (£14.50).
Falke: too short, the colors are a bit dull; not worth the money in my opinion.
Bresciani: too short (haven't tried the longer ones that Will sells), quite expensive (£23).
New & Lingwood (Wool & Nylon): too short, not a lot of colors to choose from, good price (£15).
New & Lingwood (Three Quarter Merino): longer that anything I've tried but still not long enough, not a lot of colors to choose from; quite expensive (£20).

I started out with Falke, then went to Pantharella, then I got some N&L, Bresciany and finally Marcoliani which is now my favorite brand. I've been ordering them from www.socksfox.com which offers free shipping for orders over £25. This has been great except for the fact that the socks are a few centimeters too short. I've looked around on the net and found only Will to sell longer OTC Hosiery. Other places like Paul Stuart, Ben Silver and Kabbaz Kelly are either too expensive or have no information about the length of the socks. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you

Hello,

One thing you can try is hunting socks, these are normally wool and a bit longer than regular over the calf socks. I suggest you try a few of the online English country outfitters as they're called. Woods of Shropshire is one, http://www.ahume.co.uk/Mens-Socks/c-1000-238/ , http://www.englishcountrypursuits.co.uk/online-shop Also Corgi, the Welsh company that make many of these socks have their own site. Perhaps you could ring and ask about a small production order?

Dear Rewozz, being very tall myself I share your tribulations and I would like to help.
But you don't give much information regarding what you want the socks for. Are they for daily use in Winter? For hiking? For cross country skiing?
Assuming that you need them for non-sport activities, I think you can't go wrong with Smartwool. Their BASIC KNEE HIGH style is super warm, made of extra soft wool and very, very long. You could wear them with jeans, cords or heavier suits. They would be at odds with finer clothes or Italian shoes. They go for about 22 dollars US each pair. Worth every penny.You can order them from mundane places like Zappos. Of course Smartwool carries wonderful hiking socks too, but I find these a bit short.
Good luck.

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm looking for socks that I can wear with my suits, flannel slacks (with odd jackets), or corduroys. I've thought about shooting socks myself, Scott Nichol offers some really wonderful patters with great texture; unfortunately they will only work with my corduroys (and future tweeds). I've e-mailed Corgi about a custom length, too bad they have such a limited color selection though. I also took a look at Smartwool, they seem to suffer the same problem as Corgi (and Falke); there is too little variation and they also look quite inelegant.

Rewozz, I am with you here. For aesthetics as well as fit why should someone not offer made to measure? Seems like an easy enough service to provide. Where in the world is such a vendor?

Here's my response from Corgi:

Dear Sir

Our minimum is 12 pairs per colour/design for production.

We can make a foot size and leg length to match your requirements. If you
select from our website and e-mail me we could make them for you but
delivery would be end December now.

The fine weight socks will be best, they will stay up, the heavier weight
socks would not.

Regards

chris

The problem is that I don't want 12 pairs of just one color, they also offer a very limited color selection (blue, brown and wine).

Have you tried these guys http://www.tomdickandharry.co.uk/socks/page/2/ Surely if Corgi are willing to do small orders, they could do one of the striped/fancy designs for you as well? Have you asked them if they'll do other colours, there's lots on their website for instance.

Well, cathach, unfortunately none of the socks presented by your link are over the calf. I guess Corgi could make me some striped or fancy designs, but that still leaves me stuck with one design for 12 pairs of socks.

The problem of course is the setup time for a very expensive knitting machine. That cost is amortized with an order for 12 or 24 pair. Otherwise, you might find a place to order a single made to measure pair but unfortunately the cost is likely to be several hundred dollars.

I understand the economics of scale in play here, the problem as I see it is that there are no manufacturers who offer standard production of longer over the calf socks.

rewozz wrote: I also took a look at Smartwool, they seem to suffer the same problem as Corgi (and Falke); there is too little variation and they also look quite inelegant.

It´s true that Smartwool has too little variation. And I would also agree that most of their socks (designed for hiking and ski) are on the "inelegant" side. But in my experience this is not the case with their BASIC KNEE HIGHs. These are designed for casual wear and not for sports. Their color is plain and its texture and weaving pleasant to the eye (and wonderful to the foot and leg). I would get the long Smartwools for the simple colors and then get other brands for the fancier colors (which -in wool- are usually a bit short for tall people like us).

rewozz wrote:I understand the economics of scale in play here, the problem as I see it is that there are no manufacturers who offer standard production of longer over the calf socks.

Unfortunately larger men come in all different sizes. Some tall guys have big feet and short legs. Others have have the opposite. The inventory problem is impossible.

My advice is to invest in a dozen or two made to measure in navy blue and wear them every day.

That would be the rational thing to do, but it wouldn't be very fun

have you tried Harvie and Hudson

There are likely some department stores left in Bermuda that still sell knee-length wool dress socks to wear with shorts.
Or did you try the knee-length socks from socksfox? http://www.socksfox.com/men-knee-high-s ... =1&sort=3a