Finding socks that fit can be really difficult for small footed guys.
Packaged "men's" sizes say shoe size 6-12, which is a huge range if you think about it. And it turns out, the socks are really sized for someone wearing 12s, and guys with smaller feet just have to get used to having the toe bunch up an/or the "heel" resting on your ankle, which just serves to show you're not really big enough for men's sizes.
Of course, the alternative is to buy boys socks... Yep, BOYS size socks. Boys large has an equally absurd range of size 3-9, meaning elementary school kids might be wearing the same size socks as you. And it would be one thing to buy boys socks and then not admit it publicly, but the major brands all have unique colors or features which make it obvious which boy's size you have (to help with laundry sorting). This has the side effect of publicly announcing your small sock size to anyone in the know.
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Other small footed guys, what do you do for socks? Are you content with wearing ill-fitting adult socks? Are you ok with the embarrassment of wearing boy's socks?
Where i come from, Mens socks are packaged in 39-42 and 43-46.
ReplyDeleteThat is, WERE, because the first one seems to be vanishing.
What size are your socks? Do your socks have the sizes printed on them? I've seen a few videos from Europe where the size range is visible on the underside of the sock, and didn't know how common that was.
Delete39-42 (6-8.5?).
DeleteAnd yes, it's common. Half of my sport socks have 39-42 printed on the side, not the underside.
I could take 35-38, but then i'd have to go to Kids, and 39-42 is fine.
I think it's also more common here to have the size engraved in the sole of a shoe.
Wow, so it's really hard to hide being a smaller size (rather than people just thinking you look small, it's on display for them to see). Makes me glad I have a little anonymity here!
DeleteYes, it is!
DeleteThen again, with or without the size on it, my sock feet can't hide looking small anyway.
The only thing is that people can TOO easily see your size, when picking up your shoe.
It's WEIRD to look in someone's shoe, but not at all to pick it up and have a quick look at the sole.
That non-anonymity is definitely the reason for me having had quite a lot more comments than the standard guy.
This winter I bought really cool Timberland boots, but REALLY, surfed a lot online to find the ideal ones (looking manly etc).
DeleteI got a whole series of people telling me that they loved my boots, never ever had i gotten so many compliments over anything that i was wearing, like a dozen compliments in a few weeks. Sounds great, right? Ideal.
Except that TWICE my boot was picked up under a "wow, these are cool" to then be followed by a "wha..." when they saw the 6.
Inescapable.
A whole month without a comment or reaction is rare.
I rarely wear socks any more, problem solved! (I do wear socks sometimes when going for a walk in really cold weather, and I do have a couple of pair of shoes that cut my ankles or toes without socks, but otherwise, why bother.
DeleteHowever, I've generally bought boy's large (or even medium) or women's socks. Hey, what is important is that they fit comfortably, who will ever know what socks you are wearing.
BTW, I measure men's 7, typically wear shoes a couple of sizes small "Y" sizes or women's 7 or so.
Oh hey Panjumbiejohn, I didn't realize you posted here too...
DeleteWithout socks my feet get too sweaty and uncomfortable (unless I am wearing slides or sandals). I have tried it and it is just not very satisfying. I too like to wear boy's socks. They make my skinny size 9 feet look smaller, helping them to pass as a 7 :-)
Note: in this thread I CAN post. In the other one I can no longer leave comments. I wonder if that is because it has gotten too long.
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ReplyDeleteAre you serious about Boys socks being 3-9? Is that like Mens 3-9??
ReplyDeleteI'd only be in the middle! What age range would that be?
Yep, boys large is sizes 3-9. US sizes the continuum is consistent between boys' and mens' sizes.
DeleteI'm not 100% certain on the age ranges, but in my experience, it's about ages 8-13.
Wow. I did not know. I'd be in the middle of that. Moreover since i've also bought 5s.
DeleteNot sure why this still comes as a surprise but it does.
GS is age 8-12.
DeleteI looked that up. because stopping at 9 for 13yo seemed strange.
Further check: there are also stores with socks that use the US system here.
DeleteThey say 5-8 and 9-12.
That's not entirely as the European division, it leaves the 8.5 as floating between the two. But also here no comparison between how much each of these are stocked or displayed. It's all 9-12, with a few 5-8 on the side.
Those correlate to the 39-42 and 43-46 sizes, don't they?
DeleteI've definitely seen some men's socks in the US listed as 8-12 and a few with 9-12, but that's just further proof that the 6-12 range is absurd, plus just acknowledging that 7-8 aren't men's sizes.
Difference:
Delete39-42 is 6-8.5
38-41 is 5-8
So there's a tad of difference between the euro and US socks. Probably just for ease (8 is easier than 8.5).
9-12 is always 43-46. They get their own tray or basket or rack. The others look like left-overs, or taken from Womens or Youth.
The smaller the store, or the more reduced their stock (for example suit stores or surfer stores, who offer a bit of everything) the more they ONLY have socks 9-12.
DeleteSo this is were everyone has gone ;-) BTW, if you click "Load More" at the bottom of the "Outsized by younger kids" thread it will show all the comments that have disappeared. Just realized that.
DeleteAnyway...to socks. I always buy boys socks, which are usually size 3-9 as mentioned. They always fit me great and are also narrower so they provide a more snug fit. My feet are skinny so mens size socks are always way too loose feeling to me. The boys socks I get don't have the size printed on them. Other than them being smaller than mens they don't stand out that much. Boys socks are also often thinner material so they fit more comfortably in smaller size shoes where there might not be too much extra room.
SSrF: Thanks for the suggestion about the "Load More" option. I thought my comment was just lost and I didn't feel like typing it again, lol!
DeleteAs for socks, I just buy men's socks. I guess my feet are not "so" small that I feel the need to wear boy's socks luckily.
Wow, you're the privileged one here 😁.
ReplyDeleteI guess it depends how you look at it. I sort of consider it a privilege now to have smaller feet and to be able to wear boys socks and small shoes. Having small feet is more fun and gives more options ;-) I can wear a 12-13 and I might trip or they would be super loose but I would not have pain. Someone with a 11-12 foot needs to ensure pain to wear a size 8. So I love having more options for shoe fun, minus the pain (and small is just more fun anyway) :-)
DeleteI don't consider it a privilege...maybe more of a relief that I don't have to wear boys socks or shoes? (tough it's true that I could wear a 9.5Y which is youth...which is to say that it would not be uncommon for a preteen to need up to a 9.5). And I have noticed teens wearing a 10 and it actually looks small compared to the average teen...10 is now the very "low" end of normal :-( Sigh...
DeleteHa, JBC, true, I’ve noticed a few times now that among the big, 10 is smiled upon / triggers an amused comment.
DeleteYup, I have definitely learned that 10 never looks "big", even on someone short, it only looks average at best and sometimes it can even look small.
DeleteJust the other day I was in a store and I overheard a customer talking to an employee. The employee was wearing some stylish Nike running shoes that were blue and cool looking (might have been shox or vapormaxes, I am not sure). The employee looked like a late teen, he was maybe 5'7" so several inches shorter than me. I looked at his shoes sort of thinking someone that height might wear a sz 9 or 10 at the most, but then looking at them I was thinking that they didn't look "small" on him and looked very much in proportion with his size. The customer was asking him about his clothes and shoes as he was dressed very stylish and then I heard the customer ask about his shoes and I heard him say that his shoes were a sz 11 but that he should be like an 11.5-12 but that 11 was the biggest size available when he bought them and he had to have them (the customer was actually trying to buy them off the employee he liked them so much, but the employee was not interested in selling them - customer was a size 12 BTW and probably 5'9"-5'10"). I had actually noticed that the shoes didn't seem loose at all when he walked and had a look like they were fitting him pretty snug. So anyway, another example of a not too tall guy with good size feet and as usual I misjudged his shoe size...I guess I always hope they will be smaller than they seem and that the whole world is not "huge" compared to me...
This story might just seem same old obvious "everyone's feet are big" sort of thing, but I am just continuously surprised / amazed at people's shoe sizes non the less. I guess I should just be used to it by now or maybe I am just in denial :-/
Denial takes a long time :)
DeleteI read that 10.5 is the average size, so in fact everything under that is small, and everything over big.
But that average is accross the board, all ages. It will definitely be a bit higher for teens.
I struggle with denial, it's true... If I am lucky I can pretend to be average, but deep down I know I am not. I will check in for small foot counseling now... :-D
DeleteI was just thinking back to high school and I remembered there was a kid who was like 5'9" and wore a size 6-6.5. He was even skinnier than me (I think he was 115 lbs). I remember thinking his feet were pretty small but hardly anyone ever commented on them. He was one of the only kids with shoes smaller than me and at that time I tended to wear more size 7.5-8. I think generally because he was very skinny it wasn't really seen as that out of place. He tended to wear work boots which probably helped to make the small size less noticeable. I wasn't that friendly with him so I never got to try his shoes to see if they would fit me unfortunately, though generally 6-6.5 is just a little too small to fit me even with proper stretching (though I have had exceptions) and especially with work boots which are really stiff..
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you are worried about people picking up your sz 6 shoes and knowing the size you should remove the size tag. I know a guy who wears like 8.5-9 and he always removes the size tag because he doesn't want people to know his shoes are that small. Which is funny because compared to the 7-7.5s I like to wear I now think of 8.5-9 as not all that small. Actually for me a size 9 now frequently feels big actually ;-)
Ha, trust me, where I can remove a size tag, I do. Here the size is often stamped into the sole though.
ReplyDeleteA grinder should take care of that ;-)
ReplyDeleteOr put a sticker over it that says 11.
DeleteThat might be a stretch ;-) You might be able to get away with an 8 or 9 sticker on a size 6 but an 11 people would know something was up...
DeleteYeah, an 8, i could get away with that.
DeleteBought a pack with new socks. And yip, they show 5-8 on them. But this time under them, not on the side.
ReplyDeleteMore that socks go into the direction of or are sport socks, more that this is a given.
Huh, I don't think I have seen any socks with the sizes written on them. Even kids socks (which I tend to buy). Size 5-8 would be perfect for me :-)
DeleteSSrF, I've learned that this is a European thing.
DeleteAlso in for example Converses, the size is printed in the sole.
DeleteSometimes I think it would be cool if everyone's shoes/feet had their size written on them so I didn't have to guess...as long as I didn't have to display the size on mine! ;-) It would satisfy my curiosity but also feed my mediocrity I am sure...when I found out just how many people were bigger than me.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! I would say, make it mandatory, but only as of 10 😁
DeleteOn the subject of socks, how about the ability of socks to further transform the foot? I find that thin, tight fitting boys socks help to make my feet look smaller and make it easier for me to fit small sizes. But the whole look changes too with a thin tight fitting sock vs a loose bulky men's sock. It can almost transform a foot from a man's to a boy's (or maybe vice versa), especially a foot like mine that is already small and skinny!
ReplyDeleteBought sports socks with 5-8 on them, and not subtly or so but really in black, bold and very clear!
ReplyDeleteI probably have to add that this is in European sizes (38-42), so in US that's 5-8.5
DeleteAny pictures? I'm curious to see.
DeleteHow do you post a pic on here?
DeleteI usually put the pic up on imgur and just post a link. I don't think you can post photos on here.
DeleteAs for socks...my feet are big enough for normal men's socks so I can't contribute much on that...
I have never found socks with the size range on them like that, though it would be kinda cool. I would love a pair that said something like "5-7" on it :-) I do have some kids socks that are for like size 3-9 with the letter "L" on them, which I guess means "large boys size". I far prefer boy's socks as they definitely fit my feet better, with my feet being so skinny and all... And as I mentioned previously above, I think wearing a boys sock does make feet look and feel smaller. If I compare my feel in men's socks to tighter fitting boy's socks the boys socks definitely make my feet look smaller. Men's socks are just much more bulky and make the whole foot look bigger and also make shoes fit tighter.
DeleteYeah you can't put pictures in comments, only the main post. I suggest what JBCx said to post a picture.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteOn both sides of the socks.
ReplyDeletehttps://postimg.cc/gallery/hGFsrKd
Of course i could also buy the range smaller (3.5-5.5), but i never see them.
DeleteThose are so cool! I would loving wearing those with slides, especially if they said like size 5-7 of something, so everyone could know my size!
DeleteThese say 6-8.5
DeleteOf these, there are always still a few, stacked next to a big box of 9-12, as though there are too few to have a box for them 😁. When on a rack, they're more difficult to find, in between all the 9-12s.
13-16 seem to get their own row or box, small but visible, made easy.
For 3-5.5 i think i'd need to go look in a Kids section, which i never do.
I don't think I could find small socks like that in the men's section. I usually go to the boy's section to get socks that are marked size 3-9 (or something around that rang) or what is considered a boy's large or "L".
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DeleteSummary: socks is not much of an issue, and no embarrasment wearing boys socks?
ReplyDeleteum, no...I prefer men's socks. I am not looking for tight fitting boy's socks that will emphasize my small-ish feet.
DeleteThx JBC. Oh, absolutely. I just wanted to say that the sock thing is not making much waves (as fe. the outsized by kids topic).
DeleteYeah, socks are kinda boring ;-)
DeleteBoring, yet more comments than several threads!
DeleteHeatofrxn, true 🙂. More than half of them are mine.
DeleteWell, I like the socks topic. I think socks help to finish off "small" nicely :-) If you are wearing a size 8 or below it works much better with boy's socks. My smaller, skinny feet look much better in boy's socks. I am lost in men's, lol!
DeleteAnd me i'm the only one with 6-8.5 clearly printed on his socks, yihaa!
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