Wednesday, December 27, 2023
Holiday. Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted slivered almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced dried jackfruit; hot water; holiday blend black tea. Continued sock sizing research throughout the day. Lunch at home by myself: poppy seed bagel sandwich with roast turkey and chive cream cheese, water. Afternoon nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: I prepared steamed white rice with leftovers from L&L Barbecue. Dessert: cherry-pistachio biscotti. Some interesting findings from my sock sizing research: Many brands—Nordstrom, Falke, Adidas, and Happy Socks in particular—do not have consistent sizing even within the brand. Most brands are also not consistent when it comes to each shoe size range within one size; some sizes cover 2.5 shoe sizes and others cover 4. The larger this range within one size, the more likely the sock will fit poorly for at least some people. Ideally, socks are available in many sizes, with small ranges, and your exact size is in the center of the range that matches your size. Darn Tough has the most sizes (6); Uniqlo has the least (1). Nike has four sizes, but it also has the largest range (4) within one size (8-12). At The Gap, sock sizing is very ambiguous with no details; there appears to be no way of ordering with confidence that you'll receive a size that fits you. At Socksmith it seems that if you wear mens S/M you can find a larger selection in their womens section. There used to be a company called Kane 11 (as found on amazon.com) which offered the great idea of 11 sock sizes for men and 7 sock sizes for women, but the company seems to be defunct as of 2022ish (as now found with an F rating on bbb.org in part due to unfulfilled orders) and distinct from kanefootwear.com. ("THE KANE 11 DIFFERENCE: All other sock brands only offer you socks in size ranges. We think you deserve socks in your exact size. 11 sizes for men and 7 for women. Experience the comfort of socks that fit. Experience the Kane 11 difference.") Since sock sizes typically correspond to ranges of shoe sizes (e.g., one brand's medium sock size = shoe size 6 to 9), if your shoe size is on either end of that range then the sock might fit looser or tighter than if your shoe size were more toward the middle of the range. Having more sizes is more important for people whose feet are smaller or larger than average, but some of these people might still be able to find socks that fit properly if a company has only two sizes; it just depends on whether either size happens to be a good fit. For socks that frequently develop holes at the toe, it's good to ask if your size is at the top of the range for that size. If the next size up fits a range of shoe sizes larger than, say, 2, it might be better to avoid that brand entirely. Large ranges within a size present problems for people just outside of that range. For example, if your shoe size is between 8.5 and 9 and the medium sock size corresponds to shoe sizes 6 to 8.5 and the large sock size corresponds to shoe sizes 9 to 12, the 2.5-size range of the medium sock size might be slightly too tight, and the three-size range of the large sock size is probably going to be too large. If you wear a shoe size between 6 and 9.5, boys socks from Falke, H&M, and Smartwool might fit you and of course be less expensive, but some styles for boys tend to be different than men usually want. Weeded email forwarders. Late snack: the last of the leftover smoked turkey with leftover steamed white rice. Water to drink.