New knee-highs pop
Classic style packs more sock just in time for spring

By Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News

Knee sock lovers behold: They're back!

It's time to bust out the argyles and stripes.

Those in the legwear business report that knee socks - and we're not talking those staid second cousins known as trouser socks - are making a comeback.

That should provide great relief to those sock aficionados who can't get excited by a colorful, cute little sock that barely climbs over the ankle or a giant sock that escalates to mid-thigh.

Nancy Breit, merchandise manager for Saks Fifth Avenue in Cherry Creek, says a new batch of knee socks is hitting the shelves just in time for spring. The socks will feature bright color, patterns and even racing stripes. And pink is especially big this year.

"Knee socks are coming back in a big way," Breit says. "They're coming back with a lot of color and design and texture. It has been boring the last couple years."

What this means is that knee sock wearers in the metro area will no longer have to rely on uniform stores to find high-quality, but bland, knee socks.

A recent trip to Foley's in Boulder backed up Breit's assertions to a degree. There were sheer knee socks, fishnet knee socks, all-the-basic-colors of knee socks, but few patterns.

Sales clerk Marjorie Royers, 19, says lots of women are looking for knee socks. They're the only socks to wear with boots, she says, hoisting up a pant leg to reveal a baggy, less-than-white sock creeping over a low boot.

It was laundry day, she explains, noting that she had borrowed her boyfriend's socks.

Foley's had Nine West and Liz Claiborne knee-highs selling three for $12. Hue was selling three for $15.

Go to a specialty clothing boutique, such as Jacque Michelle in Boulder, and you can pay $18.75 for French-made gray-toned Ozone fashion knee socks adorned with snowflakes on stripes. During a recent trip to the store, only one pair of Ozone knee socks was left on the rack.

"They're super comfy and beautiful," owner Jacque Michelle Malick says.

The boutique stocks a far larger selection of the little socks known as "shorties" with more exciting colors and patterns, such as red stripes with white ruffles and even a pair featuring various dog breeds.

"The short ones have patterns, they're colorful, fun and silly. Knee socks are kind of a bother," Malick adds, demonstrating her bias by reaching down and pretending to pull up a fallen knee sock. "With knee socks, you're always going like this."

But younger sock wearers are finding new and fun ways to wear knee socks, fashion industry insiders say. They're wearing them over tights or fishnets with a short skirt and high heels or athletic shoes. Forget loafers. The '80s are over.

"It's all very sporty and fun or sexy and fun," Breit says.

Roz Pactor, vice president and fashion director for all Foley's stores, says Foley's is now stocking knee socks again after a lengthy lull. She credits a new buyer and says spring will bring an even more colorful bounty of socks.

"We have a thicker kind of warm sock, a chenille or wool sock," Pactor says. "We have a lot of patterns."

The newfound availability of knee socks is great news for people like Denver writer Susanna Donato, 31, who despises wearing short socks in the winter.

"(Knee socks) are snuggly, warm and don't reveal my ghostly white legs between my socks and pants, and they're especially great with my favorite short boots," says Donato, who began wearing knee socks with culottes in the '70s.

Donato says she has noticed more knee socks popping up in stores such as Target. But she hasn't had as much luck finding knee-highs for her 3-year-old daughter who inherited her mother's knee sock gene.

"She has the crew socks that are meant to be rolled down, and she pulls them up to her knees," Donato says. "She gets really irritated if they won't pull up high enough."

Andrea Gross, of Denver's Park Hill neighborhood, can relate. For a while, she used rubber bands to prolong the life of her favorite knee socks.

"It didn't work very well, and I ended up looking like a bag lady," Gross says. "Now all I can find is flimsy trouser socks, which aren't the same at all."

If Gross comes across a good pair of knee socks, she snaps them up. Ditto for Boulder entrepreneur India Wood, 37, who likes knee socks because they hide unshaven winter legs.

"You never know when you'll run into a good display of them, and then you have to pounce," Wood says.