Striped Tennis Socks – The Retro Look Is Back

Short answer: Striped tennis socks are back as a fashion detail: the white sock with two or three coloured stripes at the top gives a relaxed retro look with sneakers and shorts. Choose them in bamboo viscose and you get the style along with dry, fresh feet through the day.

Where the stripes come from

The stripes at the top of a white sports sock come from tennis and basketball in the second half of the twentieth century, where they served as club colours and as a practical marker on an otherwise plain white sock. Today they are purely decorative, and that is exactly why they work: they refer to something recognisable.

How they are worn today

The stripes are meant to be seen, otherwise there is no point. That means shorts, turned up jeans or trousers that stop above the ankle, and a sneaker with a low edge. With long trousers that fall over the shoe, the whole detail disappears, and you might as well wear a plain sock.

Which colours work

The classics are red and blue on white, and they work because those are the colours people associate with the format. Green, black and burgundy are more muted alternatives. Choose a stripe colour that appears elsewhere in the outfit, for instance in a t-shirt or in the sneaker's logo, so it reads as deliberate.

Height decides whether it looks right

A striped sock needs a shaft tall enough for the stripes to sit above the edge of the shoe rather than half way down inside it. That is usually a tennis sock or slightly higher. See bamboo tennis socks for men and bamboo tennis socks for women.

For sport and for everyday wear

The format comes from sport, and it still works there: short shaft, no fabric gathering at the ankle and a material that moves the sweat away. For everyday wear it is a style feature more than a function. Both call for the same wash and the same size, so there is no reason to keep two sets.

White needs the right wash

A white sock with coloured stripes has to be washed at 40 degrees with a powder detergent containing enzymes to stay white. Chlorine bleach is out, because it both breaks down the fibres and pulls the colour out of the stripes. Wash them separately the first couple of times so the stripes do not bleed onto other whites.

The rest of the wardrobe in the same material

If bamboo viscose works for you in socks, there is good reason to try the same in the clothing that touches the skin directly. See bamboo clothing for men and bamboo clothing for women, where the fabric composition is listed on every item. See also joggers and loungewear and bamboo socks against sweaty feet.