A tube sock is a sock with no formed heel, which means it is literally a tube of fabric with a toe seam at one end, and a cuff at the other. Most people, when picturing tube socks, probably imagine something like a 6 pack of solid white or black socks. They might have memories of wearing them as a kid, when their feet were growing too fast to keep up with conventional sock sizes. Often times the image that comes to mind is not great.
But this is Sock Dreams, where we dream of better socks! The tube sock is a style that definitely has its good points, like its ability to fit a wide range of foot sizes. That's why we've reworked the classic design with our tube style Dreamer Socks, to eliminate the not-so-great elements.
A major design flaw with a lot of tube style socks is that the toe seam is right at the end of the toe. This can be seriously irritating, and prevent your shoes from fitting the way they should. That's why we put the toe seam back where it should be -- on the tops of the toes -- and gave them the same low-profile toe seams that the rest of our Dreamer Socks have, so there's no thick ridge of material to rub against your skin.
Another common gripe with the tube sock is that, because of the lack of a turned heel, the fabric can end up bunched up in the area where the top of your foot meets the ankle. How badly this occurs is generally down to the sock material itself. Thicker or looser knit tube socks will be more prone to bunching.
The fine knit of our Dreamer Socks means that this problem is minimized, so while you can see a little crinkle in the material in that area (depending on the angle of your foot), it's typically not enough to be visible once you have shoes on, or physically irritating for most people. Our cotton tube styles are especially good for minimizing the bunching effect.
On the other side of bunching is bagging. A lot of tube socks don't hold their shape well enough to conform to the ankle, resulting in bagging at the back.
We've found that our Dreamer tube socks conform well to the ankles of most adults, though smaller children may have such narrow legs that they simply don't fill the socks out in the ankles!
Fun fact: you can see ankle bagging in some of the photos of our Longer Extraordinary Tube Socks in black -- this is because that model is only 5' tall, so when modeling a longer length thigh high, they end up with socks longer than their legs! The unusual amount of fabric seen gathered at the knees and ankles in these photos is primarily a result of socks that are just a little too long.
Right: The same size of thigh high doesn't bag on a longer inseam.
Pictured: Longer Extraordinary Thigh High Tube Socks in black, Longer Extraordinary Gradient Stripe Tube Socks in navy & burgundy
Lastly, most people believe that tube socks are boring, because most of them are! Of course, we do love a solid colored sock here, but we offer our tube socks in a range of fun colors and patterns, because it's a way of making these designs available to a much wider range of foot sizes! We also make them in crew, knee high, thigh high and extra long thigh high lengths!
When choosing tube socks, it's important to keep in mind that how tall a sock ends up being will depend on your foot size (as well as other factors, such as leg length and circumference -- for more info, see our sizing guide). Tube style crew socks can be knee highs on smaller children (we've also put them on toddlers, for whom they go over the knees!), or go up to the calves on people with very small feet. They can also be more like ankle socks on people with larger feet.
Despite their bad rap, we love the tube sock concept for the incredible range of bodies they can fit! We think our reworking of this classic has made them a lot more fun and enjoyable to wear. And as always, we'd love to know what you think!