Stone Age: The ‘socks’ of the Stone Age were likely made from animal skins and tied at the ankle.
Neolithic Period: First direct evidence of a sock is derived from a late Neolithic mummy known as ‘Otzi the Iceman’ (a.k.a. ‘Fritz the Frozen’) who lived between 3350 and 3105 BCE. He wore a leather shoe with an inner net of corded grass filled with hay.
The Iron Ages: Foot and lower leg fabric wrappings were used from around 10,000 BCE, a fashion that continued into the Middle Ages when they were called puttees.
Antiquity: Greek poet Hesiod, active between 750 and 650 BCE, recommends guarding against the cold with felt socks called piloi, which were made of felt, a matted fabric composed of wool or fur.
Ancient Egypt: Nålebinding, a kind of proto-knitting, is utilized to produce the first fitted socks made in Egypt between 500 and 300 BCE. These socks were made with dyed wool and were divided at the toe like a Japanese tabi.
Late Antiquity: Around 1 AD, there is written reference to a Roman woven foot wrapping called a faciae. These were made with thin bands of twill or leather fabric wrapped around the lower leg and foot, worn much like wrapped puttees. Visual evidence also depicts the Roman military wearing socks made of cloth called udone.
After the fall of Rome when the Saxons gained control, they were said to have worn a short sock made of cloth or a thin leather called a stocc or soque.
Middle Ages: Knitted socks were produced around 10000 CE, and a wider array of materials were employed. In the Middle Ages high-rise socks known as skin tights were worn to showcase the shapely legs of noblemen. These over-the-knee socks were held up with garters and often made of wool, though luxury versions were also worn in silk or velvet.
Early Modern: In 1589 Englishman William Lee invented the stocking frame, a mechanized knitting loom that would serve as the prototype for the assembly-line machines that would manufacture socks during the Industrial Revolution. High socks were so important to European nobility that France’s King Henri IV Lee was actually a financial backer when Lee opened the first stocking factory to produce socks.
Modern Advances and the Industrial Revolution: The onset of the Industrial Revolution meant socks were mass-produced in assembly-line factories. In 1938 nylon monofilament was invented, adding enough elasticity to allow socks to stay up on their own, rendering sock garters and suspenders obsolete.
2000s: The use of computer aided design allows for complex patterns and designs to be added to socks – levelling up the decorative sock game significantly. Dye sublimation is also introduced, creating rich, detailed prints on socks. Researchers at MIT develop computer-aided knitting and design tools that will one day allow anyone to make high quality custom socks.
Neolithic Period: First direct evidence of a sock is derived from a late Neolithic mummy known as ‘Otzi the Iceman’ (a.k.a. ‘Fritz the Frozen’) who lived between 3350 and 3105 BCE. He wore a leather shoe with an inner net of corded grass filled with hay.
The Iron Ages: Foot and lower leg fabric wrappings were used from around 10,000 BCE, a fashion that continued into the Middle Ages when they were called puttees.
Antiquity: Greek poet Hesiod, active between 750 and 650 BCE, recommends guarding against the cold with felt socks called piloi, which were made of felt, a matted fabric composed of wool or fur.
Ancient Egypt: Nålebinding, a kind of proto-knitting, is utilized to produce the first fitted socks made in Egypt between 500 and 300 BCE. These socks were made with dyed wool and were divided at the toe like a Japanese tabi.
Late Antiquity: Around 1 AD, there is written reference to a Roman woven foot wrapping called a faciae. These were made with thin bands of twill or leather fabric wrapped around the lower leg and foot, worn much like wrapped puttees. Visual evidence also depicts the Roman military wearing socks made of cloth called udone.
After the fall of Rome when the Saxons gained control, they were said to have worn a short sock made of cloth or a thin leather called a stocc or soque.
Middle Ages: Knitted socks were produced around 10000 CE, and a wider array of materials were employed. In the Middle Ages high-rise socks known as skin tights were worn to showcase the shapely legs of noblemen. These over-the-knee socks were held up with garters and often made of wool, though luxury versions were also worn in silk or velvet.
Early Modern: In 1589 Englishman William Lee invented the stocking frame, a mechanized knitting loom that would serve as the prototype for the assembly-line machines that would manufacture socks during the Industrial Revolution. High socks were so important to European nobility that France’s King Henri IV Lee was actually a financial backer when Lee opened the first stocking factory to produce socks.
Modern Advances and the Industrial Revolution: The onset of the Industrial Revolution meant socks were mass-produced in assembly-line factories. In 1938 nylon monofilament was invented, adding enough elasticity to allow socks to stay up on their own, rendering sock garters and suspenders obsolete.
2000s: The use of computer aided design allows for complex patterns and designs to be added to socks – levelling up the decorative sock game significantly. Dye sublimation is also introduced, creating rich, detailed prints on socks. Researchers at MIT develop computer-aided knitting and design tools that will one day allow anyone to make high quality custom socks.
