Hahaha. I have a LOT of socks because I seem to need different weights and types for different shoes snd seasons. ( Waving to rachylou!)
So it’s a bit complicated.
I have off- season sock storage! Because of wearing quarter- top socks and some no- shows in summer. And certain wool socks for gardening. Very thick fuzzy “ heat socks” on winter nights. Thin socks for some boots and thicker for others.
Believe it or not, I have been culling socks this year. Some years back I wore black knee socks with dress pants many work days, so I had over a dozen pairs. Maybe more like 20, counting Gold Toe types and thinner “ trouser socks”. Then after a while they no longer fit in many newer shoes. They all fit and feel differently, so tried them all on. I will still wear black pants of several styles, but not daily & don’t have to worry about any laundry bottlenecks. So kept only a few that fit great, don’t slide, a couple different thicknesses.
Since my foot issues and shoe fits for comfort were making socks more complicated, I looked for more ways to “ overlap “ uses. I find that hiking and gardening overlap, because I wear similar shoes/boots and I found I prefer wool even in summer, so there is overlap of function and some season.
This summer I found I like the Icebreaker low- top merino socks for athletic sneakers even in warm weather , so will likely phase out my cotton/ blend “ golf socks”. May try a no- show.
I have a Smartwool knee sock that I’m wearing a lot this winter , but previously had to give up several Smart-wool socks as being too tight/ small. Since they come in sizes, I think I maybe had the wrong size- unfortunately have no idea what these good ones are! But may try more in target size.
Also I’m moved on a bit from some years of thinking I needed lots of patterns and colors as an accessory- kind of like the scarf thing. Instead I am identifying my favorites, and my foot comfort needs ( which are real and part of feeling good all day ) and quit reflex-buying more socks until I actually need to replace or I have a real style goal for a certain thing.
I keep my socks in small drawers in my closet, and do use some of those sock- organizer dividers. So goal there is to have “ total pairs socks = (divider holes -2) “ in each drawer, to avoid overstuffing.
