Sockaholicks unanimous

Eye popping neons, moustache and cat prints, orange socks to office. BHUMIKA K. takes you to the bright happy-feet world of the sockaholic

June 25, 2016 05:19 pm | Updated October 18, 2016 12:46 pm IST - Bengaluru

Colourful socks are a great way to express the quirky you - Photo courtesy: Footsy

Colourful socks are a great way to express the quirky you - Photo courtesy: Footsy

Happy feet got a new meaning when the world discovered the joys of bright coloured socks. Gone are the boring blacks and browns. We live in a time when lemon green socks with smileys are acceptable office wear, and socks have gone sexy. With the clouds painting the city grey every morning, it’s not such a bad idea to colour your monsoons fuchsia. Welcome to the world of the sockaholic.

Divya Rajan, who works in a financial services firm, was surprised to see a pair of bright orange socks peeping from underneath the propah corporate suit on a colleague in his 50s. “Since it was the first time I saw a person come to office like that, I almost went and told him that he must have forgotten to change his socks. Luckily I didn’t. I realised that he wears these bright coloured socks everyday and that too with his blue or black suits! There is a dress code in office, but I don’t think anyone checks socks!”

People are obviously taking this fashion accessory pretty seriously if there is a sock subscription service! The Moja Club offers a monthly subscription of a funky pair of socks starting at Rs. 369. Joey Saha, COO and co-founder says people are increasingly conscious of what they wear on their feet.

“Women have scope for more creativity when it comes to what they can wear. Socks is the one thing men can express themselves with. It’s an avenue to show your funky side,” is the young man’s staunch belief. He himself has amassed a personal collection of over 100 pairs over the last two years. Not surprisingly, almost 85 per cent of his company’s subscribers are young men, aged 25 to 35. He started a subscription, he says because socks are more “perishable”. “You keep needing to buy them.” It’s also a great gifting option – one in every five subscriptions is a gift.

“I usually buy my neon coloured socks off the pavement sellers. I like colourful ones because they are happy. I have one that has three bright neon colours with ‘Cocktail Girl’ knitted into it – in fact, a person I was speaking to was so distracted, she wouldn’t take her eyes off them throughout our conversation,” laughs architect Mahiti Chavan. Socks come first, and then she picks a top to go with it when she heads out for her freestyle dance classes, confesses Aishwarya G., a degree student. “I have a pair of leopard print fluorescent green and black socks which I love. I usually pick them up at the Brigade Road junction for Rs. 100 for three pairs!” she says in absolute glee. Her friend, Jane Oviya loves to collect neon coloured socks, which she wears to college or her Zumba classes.

She pairs them with crop pants. “They’re attractive and catchy. My favourites are a cat print and a Tweety Bird pair which I picked up in Kammanahalli.” But she doesn’t mind spending up to Rs. 500 for a neon pair from Adidas.

Seema Seth started the online store Footsy four years ago as a spontaneous idea, with friend Pooja Mehta, for other experimental ‘soles’ like herself. “I’ve travelled a lot and found that socks are a huge fashion accessory internationally. But back home in India it was still a rather mundane world of blacks, whites, browns and blues. We wanted to make socks playful.” Their repertoire of unisex printed socks range from skulls and moustaches, giraffes and bats, ducks and cats, to thunder bolts, dots, and stripes. Seema herself owns over 50 pairs of bright coloured socks picked from all over the world during her travels. They have seasonal collections, and every year bring a designer or artist on board to infuse a fresh style statement. Their latest collection of animal print socks by artist Alicia Souza has been rather popular.

Best foot forward

*For women, colourful socks look great with neutral shoes and matching shoelaces

*Men can bring out their whimsical personalities in smart business suits in basic colours, but teamed with playful socks

*Always wear sockettes/ no-show socks with loafers

*Short dresses look great with white keds and socks pulled-up or even bunched up.

*Toe socks or woollen socks are really comfortable to lounge around in on cosy rainy days

(Courtesy: Seema Seth, Footsy)

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