Not counting specific fashion trends or saying this applies to 100% of people. but why are those the default for the majority?
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- 12 hours
Casual in the US used to mean athletic and athletic socks, tube socks especially, were invented in white in the 70s and considered part of youth and sport culture. Before fast fashion options like tube socks most clothes were more formal and expensive reserved for school or work and (I guess this part is related to trends) a black sock would be far less jarring peeking out from a dark suit pant than white. Dark suits go back to the 1800s France I believe, maybe not quite that late. So it’s a combination of established fashion norms for men, the rise of fast fashion and tube socks and of women’s adoption of pants/women entering the work place in jobs that don’t require suits. Prior to that women tended to wear stockings or wool socks which don’t tend to be bright white.
I can’t speak for athletic or casual socks outside the US but in the US this is why. From my experience much of Europe has had very strict fashion rules compared to the US, like my French ex who literally will not wear shorts unless he’s at the beach or pool because it’s a faux pas and only wears black socks on a daily basis.
- 1 day
what do you mean the default color for a casual sock is white? I see tons of casual socks being worn by browns like me and all kinds of colors.
- Godnroc@lemmy.worldEnglish1 day
I assume that white socks and undergarments came from bleaching. You can sanitize and sterilize with bleach, but it also removes color. With modern cleaning processes, detergents, and materials that is less common and so color is allowed to thrive.
That said, I’m all black everything because it makes laundry easy.
- 1 day
That said, I’m all black everything because it makes laundry easy.
I went back to white socks because my whites load was otherwise only 1 or 2 items and it felt like a waste.
- 24 hours
You’re still doing separate loads based on color? I thought that was a thing of the past…
- 24 hours
I was going to say I don’t make my wash too complicated, but maybe I do.
Whites in one pile to keep them white and because my wife’s stuff needs to get bleached now and then.
Her scrubs are black and go in a separate pile to keep them black and so they’re in a separate pile so I don’t need to sort them after they’re washed.
She keeps buying rayon fast fashion clothes that need to get hung to dry, so I started separating them and now I was all our undies with those on the delicate cycle, since rayon loses strength when wet, and then I’ll hang the no dryer items and the bras and toss the undies in the dryer.
And then the rest gets divided between my misc colors and hers, since I konmari fold my stuff and she just leaves her crap in a heap, so again, I don’t have to resort after stuff is clean and I can fold all my stuff between loads.
I worked at a dry cleaner for a while when I was down on my luck, so between that and my general nerdiness, I probably take it more seriously than normal, plus I don’t like clothes shopping and just try to make my stuff last forever.
- 20 hours
You can’t ask a question about fashion trends then specify you’re not looking for answers relating to fashion trends.
I think this also depends on region. In the Midwest I saw white socks everywhere but on the west coast I’m seeing black.
- 16 hours
I’ve lived in the PNW my whole life and I feel like we have no sock rules here. You’re as likely to see a plain white athletic sock as a thin black business sock as you are knee high rainbow socks or colorful patterned socks
- adarza@lemmy.caEnglish1 day
for me, it depends on the shoes.
sneakers (including black ones when i had them), get white socks. my black shoes that aren’t sneakers get black socks.
and right now i don’t have any other shoes, or any other socks for that matter.
- village604@adultswim.fanEnglish1 day
It’s the weather for me. White crew socks for pants, and black ankle socks for shorts.
- Diddlydee@feddit.ukEnglish1 day
I’m in the UK and I’d always wear white socks with casual clothes. Black are for when you’re in work clothes or a suit.
The only place I know where they won’t wear white socks is Liverpool.
Black socks are for formal dress wear in the US. I wear black to work, because I dress in business formal at work. White is for casual wear. When I worked a business casual job, it didn’t matter whether I wore black or white socks.
- Saapas@piefed.zipEnglish1 day
I wonder why that is. I just wear black socks most of the time. Yes there’s a dress code for formal wear but there’s no such code for casual wear
I’m a black sock guy, but I have heard a myth that white socks help prevent athletes foot, but I’m confident that no extra light is getting in through your shoes and white socks.
- 1 day
You can bleach white socks which may be a factor in reducing athletes foot
1 dayI’m not 100% sure the reason, I suspect a lot of people just wore athletic socks as regular socks, so those are just plain white socks, they are a lot more comfortable for working class people on their feet all day. White collar folks tend to wear darker socks more with the suits and all that. I see younger people wearing darker socks more now though, like gen alpha. Personally I have a rainbow of socks and don’t like either ;)
- 24 hours
I’m currently wearing my athletic socks and they’re black. They came in a multi pack with blue and grey. My casual socks are grey and blue as well. My formal dress socks are black. I’ve got a few pairs of brown work socks.
Thinking back, I can only remember one time when I had white sports socks (tube socks with the red and blue bands at the top) and that was in the early 1980s.
My guess about the US and white socks is that they were mass produced for football and baseball (and basketball) and they made the migration to casual wear alongside running shoes, because people could pick up both item ms affordably in the same store (K-Mart and the like).
