Eric: Socks!
Chris: Socks!
Eric: Hey, guys.
Welcome back to Style Tips for the Everyday Guy by Cladwell dot com, where you can get
your free personal roadmap to dress better.
I'm Eric.
Chris: I'm Chris.
Eric: We did a video recently talking about a socks, a common socks, maybe not so common
socks mistake ... Chris: Yeah, it depends on who you are.
Eric: ... and Chris yelled at me.
Chris: No!
Eric: You guys can check out that video link to it above here.
Out of that video, we actually had some questions from you guys ...
Chris: Yeah.
That's great.
Eric: ... about socks, and so we decided we wanted to do a video to help you out.
I've got five main questions about socks here ...
Chris: Cool.
Eric: ... and Chris is going to answer them.
The first question I have is: Chris, what is the number one mistake I make and maybe
most guys make when it comes to wearing socks?
Chris: Yeah.
I think the issue I see the most is the wrong color sock with pants.
The number one rule, the thing you have to remember, is match the color of your socks
with the color of your pants.
If you can't do that, at least go for something as dark as your pants or darker.
Eric: Okay.
If I want to play it safe and I know that I'm not going to screw it up, just get a darker
pair of socks, and the number one rule is try to match your pants with the socks ...
Chris: With the color of your socks.
Exactly.
Eric: ... not necessarily the shoe, nothing like that.
You're trying to match the pant color.
Chris: That's right.
Eric: Okay.
If you got that, you'll be in pretty good shape.
We've got some other questions about socks.
Let's say I want to be that trendier guy and I want to do a different color than my pants.
What are some general tips that I need to follow or any mistakes I could make there?
Chris: Yeah.
That's kind of a cool look, pretty popular, where you wear a bright colored sock or something
that doesn't necessarily match your outfit.
Still, if you want to do this, you want to wear that pop sock, people call it, think
about it coordinating with the rest of your outfit in some way.
If you've got a bright red sock, maybe have a red tie or a red pocket or something like
that.
Eric: Does it have to match completely the tie?
Chris: Yeah.
That's a good question.
It doesn't have to be exact, but think about it in the same color family, so red sock,
red tie.
It could be maroon or bright red, whatever.
Yeah.
Eric: Well, let's just work through the different kind of outfits and formality, pants I could
be wearing, and talk to me about which sock I should be wearing with ... We're going to
start with suits and work our way down to shorts and even no socks.
Let's work through each of those scenarios.
Chris: Okay.
Suits, suit pants, dress pants, your most formal attire.
For the pants, you want your most formal sock.
It's going to be a dress sock.
I've got one here.
It's very thin, lightweight, so that's what you're going to wear.
Eric: You know it's a dress sock when it's thinner, lighter weight.
Chris: Yeah.
Exactly.
Eric: Okay.
Chris: Yeah.
That's great.
If you want to have a more casual look, you're wearing jeans, chinos, you could go just for
a casual cotton sock, so still it's not an athletic sock.
I've got one right here.
This is a little heavier.
There's probably going to be more cotton in here.
Eric: You get the darker, the better, probably, like a darker gray.
Chris: Exactly.
Eric: Whiter is going to stand out and not look so good.
Chris: Exactly.
Yup.
Then finally you're wearing ... You're exercising or your wearing shorts.
No-show socks are the best.
Eric: Which means?
Chris: It means you don't see it when you have shoes on.
Eric: Okay.
It's a lower cut.
Chris: It's very low.
Eric: It's not even an ankle cut.
It's below and could be under the shoes.
Chris: Exactly.
You actually see the calf.
Eric: If I'm wearing exercise pants?
Chris: Yeah.
Then whatever, wear those tube socks if you want.
Yeah.
Eric: Okay.
If it's colder out and you're going for a run or something like that, there's no problem
with that.
Chris: Yeah.
Wear tall socks.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Eric: All right.
That's question number three.
Question number four is: I have about the length of the sock itself.
If I'm wearing dress socks, there's a couple of different kinds of lengths.
Is it okay, let's say you're walking or you're sitting, you're sitting and you cross your
legs, is it okay for your leg to show or is that a no-no?
Chris: It's a definite no-no.
Don't, no-no, don't show your leg.
Eric: Oh, that's good.
Chris: Don't show your leg.
Your pant leg will rise when you sit, so dress socks come in different lengths.
I mean this one right here is pretty standard.
You can get longer ones.
I've got one here actually.
This is an over the calf sock and this one's actually a wool blend too, so it's something
a little different there as well.
These are super comfortable.
It's also got this wide elastic band at the top so they don't fall down, which is really
nice.
Eric: One of the worst things that can happen with a sock is A, you're going to see your
leg, and another way that happens is if the elastic up top ...
Chris: Yeah, and it's just snagging.
Eric: ... wears out.
Yeah.
Chris: Yeah.
That's the worst.
Eric: That's an important when you're buying socks, looking for that, or if you have some
you need to get rid of, it's the elastic maybe.
Chris: Totally.
Eric: It's worn out.
Chris: Yeah.
You can always do the sock garters and then pretend you're a 1930s gumshoe.
It's pretty fun.
Eric: I like that.
Yeah.
That's good.
Okay.
This comes as my fifth question.
How much do I need to spend or how much do I need to think about when I'm spending money
on socks?
Do I need to buy like a forty-dollar pair of dress socks to match my really expensive
suit, or can I buy a four-pack of twelve-dollar dress socks?
Chris: I think this is a really important question because some guys will feel that
pressure.
They've got a nice suit, nice shirt and tie, nice dress shoes, and they think, "Oh, well,
I've got to spend money on my socks."
Actually, this is a great place to save money.
I think if we contrast it with shoes, that's a good place to spend money if you've got
it.
Save it on socks.
What I suggest is if you're buying socks, maybe you have to wear dress socks for the
first time in your life, buy the cheapest ones you can find.
Wear them for a couple of days.
See if they're comfortable.
If they're not, then bump up.
Buy something a little more expensive, and take it from there.
Eric: Okay.
Guys, leave your comments below, where you buy socks, your favorite brands.
We'd want to hear that.
Chris: Yeah.
I do want to find out.
Eric: I've got a couple of other just real quick questions.
Is it a mistake fabric-wise, if I'm wearing, like with a dress pant ... This just kind
of ... I thought about this.
If I wear too thick of a fabric, is that a mistake?
Chris: Yes.
Eric: Like when wearing socks?
Chris: That is a mistake.
You want to match the formality of your sock with the formality of your pants.
Yeah.
You'll see, people will notice a heavy sock if you're wearing dress pants and dress shoes.
Eric: Okay.
Final question I have, really important, is: how big can the holes get in the bottom of
my socks before I have to throw them away?
Chris: Yeah.
This is another really important question.
Generally, I say, the hole can be no larger than a quarter, maybe a fifty-cent piece,
even a dollar or something like that.
Eric: Oh, a fifty-cent, the rare fifty-cent piece size hole in your sock.
Chris: Yeah.
I didn't know those were existing.
Yeah, or if you've got one hole in the toe.
Eric: You can have one toe but not toe.
Chris: But not two.
Yeah, but not two.
Eric: Two is the limit and it's time to buy a new pair of socks.
Chris: That's right.
Yeah.
Eric: All right, guys.
Well, hopefully this was helpful for you in terms of answering some of your questions
about socks.
If you have more questions, let us know.
If this was helpful, give us a thumbs up.
That really helps us out.
Be sure to check out Cladwell dot com where you can get your free personal roadmap to
dress better.
Thanks so much for watching.
Chris: We'll see you next time.