If you’re not familiar with this little whirlwind of a trickster, Wikipedia is a good jumping off point to all the books, translations and movie adaptations (and there are a lot!). They may be children’s books, but folks of all ages love the super-strong little girl with sticking-out pigtails.

And of course, she never matched her knee socks. Not in the movies,

From Pippi Longstocking, 1969. You can get the look with a pair of solid red and solid green knee highs, like the Opaque Nylon Trouser Socks in Olive and in Rust.

Or even the cartoon!

From Pippi Longstocking, 1997. You can get the look with a pair of orange and yellow stripes and solid purple over the knees like the Extraordinary Stripes in Ochre & Spice and the Extraordinaries in Plum.

Some of you might be hearing (well, reading) “Pippi” and thinking of a particular kind of sock. Not one worn in one of the dozens of incarnations of the famous character, but a sock named after her. One of the styles lost along with the Original Bootsocks when EG Smith’s machines died were the 28 and 42 inch Pippy Longstocklings.

From the Sock Journal, October 2004.

Thick and scrunchy, pretty much super (and super-duper) long bootsocks, the Pippy Longstocklings were wildly popular and we often had trouble keeping them in stock even before the bootsock troubles.

Though EG Smith has brought back their Bootsocks, we don’t expect them to bring back the Pippy. But that’s okay, because Schoolgirl Long Socks and the Schoolgirl Extra Long socks are pretty much as fabulous.

Most recently linked to in March 2012, when we were talking about what a scrunchy sock is.

The Schoolgirl Long Socks are 30 inches long and the Schoolgirl Extra Long socks are 40, making them roughly the same lengths as the old Pippy styles. The knit pattern is practically the same, the only real difference is the fiber content. The Pippy Longstocklings were 99% cotton and 1% spandex and the Schoolgirl socks are 50% cotton, 20% acrylic, 18% polyester, 10% nylon, 2% spandex.

Hmm, if grown-up Pippi were to wear the Schoolgirl Long Socks, what would she mismatch them with?

If you know about the EG Smith Original Bootsocks, then I don’t have to describe them to you. Crazy high cotton content, slouch-tastic, made in the USA, they were the ultimate bootsock. Back in the day they even had “Love, Eric” printed on the arch of the foot—and we still know folks who call them “Love Eric” socks because of that!

From the Sock Journal, September 2005.

Sock Dreams carried EG Smith Original Bootsocks since the beginning, in 2000, back when our name was Fetishize Me. We took a screencap of how the bootsock page used to look in Feburary, 2004, using the Wayback Machine to travel back in time—it was long enough ago that we couldn’t find all the pictures that were missing when we recreated the page.

They were much loved socks, and if you are familiar with the fashion stylings of the 1990s, you may be familiar with the soft, scrunched bootsock as a wardrobe staple (I was very tempted to find a good still from 90210 as an example, but that would have sidetracked me for a while!). So it was like a bolt out of the blue in late 2008 when we learned that EG Smith wouldn’t be making them anymore.

EG Smith’s Original Bootsocks were made on machines that had been making socks for over a century and after that long, the poor machines just couldn’t keep working any more. Here’s a screencap from January, 2009:

Gone, all gone! And all that we had was to wait and hope while the folks at EG Smith tried to recreate their Original. By the fall of 2009, EG Smith had introduced a new bootsock to act as a replacement, the EG Smith Ribbed Bootsock.

From the Sock Journal, September 2009.

But it wasn’t quite the same! Only 94% cotton, and a lot more “scrunch” than “slouch”. These socks stayed where you put them instead of softly falling down. Some of us liked that, but it meant that they weren’t the perfect replacement for the EG Smith Original Bootsock.

So we were back to waiting.

Ack! But what happened next? And how do these new Originals compare with the old Originals? Check it out after the jump!

This summer we started to hear word from EG Smith that the Original Bootsocks were back! We excitedly got samples and compared them with our original-Original pairs. How they stack up is listed below.  Now, if you were a big fan of the old Originals, then we suggest just getting one pair of the new Original Bootsocks first. Our USPS First Class shipping in the United States is free so it doesn’t cost extra to get a single pair to see if you like them before stocking back up!  We know some of you have some Original Bootsocks that are more darns than socks by now!

Fiber: The old version were 99% cotton, 1% lycra spandex. The new version that EG Smith is making are 98% cotton, 2% nylon. We don’t notice the difference ourselves, they’re practically as slouchy and soft as we remember!

Texture: In fact, they’re softer and slouchier than before! If you remember the EG Smith Space Dyed Bootsocks we used to carry, the new Original Bootsocks feel more like those. Super soft and you can see how much more floppy they are.

Knit pattern: The new Original Bootsocks have a slight difference in their ribbing pattern from the old version.

Love, Eric: That much-loved phrase is not currently printed on the bottom of the new Original Bootsocks. We have been told that new batches will have “Love, Eric” back where it belongs, but sock batches are pretty huge, so we’ll have to wait.

Bootsocks! For some folks there is nothing better for their feet and we’re so glad to be able to offer EG Smith Original Bootsocks again! We may not have all the colours yet, but we will, so just keep an eye out as we bring some of our favourite socks back home.

These are just a couple of the recycled cotton content styles you can find in our Dream Stockings.

• Super Stripes •
• Boy’s Socks •
• O Chevrons •

Our Dreamer Socks have another interesting kind of recycled fiber, the cotton blends are made from an 85% mix of regenerated cotton/acrylic/polyester. What’s “regenerated?”  It’s just another way of saying that the fiber used in these socks is also saved from scraps that would have been just thrown away!  So “regenerated” or “recycled”, our Sock Dreams brand socks are doing their best to reduce, reuse and recycle!  These are just three of the regenerated fiber blend styles offered in our Dreamer Socks.

• Dreamer Jacquard Ripple OTK •
• Harlequin Diamond OTK •
• Extraordinary Vertical Striped Cotton OTK •

Of course, we have way more socks than just our house brands, and a lot of them are eco-friendly.  Join us after the jump for more styles that love the earth and your toes!

One brand we carry that uses a lot of recycled cotton are the adorable, bright styles of QT Feet. With fun fairisle, pretty plaids and more; available in crews, knee highs and super comfy shorties.

• Sunrise Shorties •
• Contrast Three Stripe Knee Sock •
• Picnic Plaid Crews •

But it’s not just your toes that can be eco conscious!  These great arm warmers all keep the earth in mind, the Una brand uses several smart fibers including organic cotton, too!

• Knit Mitts •
• Winter Meadow Arm Cozies •
• Wonderland Colorblock Arm Warmer •

A favourite brand of ours, EG Smith, has their own line of eco-friendly options that use organic and recycled cotton.  They even donate portions of their profits from these styles to organisations that support an end to global warming!  With gorgeous patterns and textures, the EG ECO line is pretty and popular when it comes to socks made with an environmental conscience.

• EG ECO Organic Nuby Crew •
• EG ECO Ginkgo Leaves Crew •
• EG ECO Slinky Knees •

EG ECO also offers socks in wonderful hemp.  Any good sock lover knows that hemp is more than just what some folks associate it with.  Sturdy, lightweight and absorbent, hemp socks are great for warm weather and socks that last longer.

• EG ECO Hemp Birdseye Bootsock •
• EG ECO Natural Hemp Crew Socks •
• EG ECO Rolltop Tapestry Crew •

All these styles are just a drop in the eco-friendly bucket of smart styles that reduce, reuse and recycle resources to provide wonderful socks!  We have lots more in our Eco Friendly collection.

It turns out that though ‘Super Loose’ is a direct translation of the Japanese word for this style of sock, a more accurate translation is ‘Scrunchy.’ And it definitely seems more accurate! One of the things we love about this style is that you can just scrunch them down.

Is there a difference between ‘scrunching’ and ‘slouching’? Not really, though how we often tend to use the words is that ‘scrunch’ is actively pushing your socks down and ‘slouch’ is when a sock more naturally crumples a little lower.  The effect is the same either way, soft folds above your ankles (or tops of your boots!).

The EG Smith Ribbed Bootsocks on the left need to be scrunched down, but the Bess Cashmere Slouch Rib Knee Socks on the right slouch on their own in the most delightful way!

In our Scrunchy Socks collection you’ll find two distinct schools of the scrunchy sock, ‘schoolgirl socks’ and ‘slouch socks.’ What’s the difference? Find out after the jump!

The schoolgirl sock look comes to us from Japan and, though it’s missing a lot of citations, Wikipedia’s entry on Loose Socks has the basic info.  Around the 1990s it became popular for Japanese girls to pair long and loose socks with their uniform skirts, using sock glue to keep them up.  Like a lot of fads, styles started to get extreme, with longer and longer socks, even up to two meters long (which is almost 80 inches!).  We’ve got that two meters beat with our 100 Inch Super Ruched socks.

The look seeped into media and the silhouette of big, slouchy socks with a skirt is iconic even today. Our Harajuku Style Pinterest board has this great picture of schoolgirl socks that was found at Tokyo Fashion, which has even more pictures of loose socks in action!

Image by Tokyo Fashion

Hmm, those socks look familiar! They could be the Harajuku Scrunchy Socks, or one of the longer versions, the Schoolgirl Long Socks or the Schoolgirl Extra Long socks!

But you don’t have to go as far as Japan to get good long socks and they don’t have to be white!  Our Dream Stockings line has two great long and scrunchy sock options for you, the 40 inch Long Cuffable Scrunchables:

From left to right: Charcoal, Lilac, White

And the 50 inch Super Ms!

From left to right: Dark Red, Grey, Dusty Plum

Sock Dreams has offered loose socks since almost the beginning and we’ve pretty much always carried slouch socks.  Just like the schoolgirl loose sock look, they showed up in the 1990s, plain ol’ bootsocks rising into the fashion sphere.  EG Smith was THE name for bootsocks, with a 99% cotton sock and almost no elastic, super slouchy and with the perfect scrunch, “Love Eric” printed on the foot.  If you remember the kind of socks Brenda wore on 90210, then you know exactly what kind of style I’m talking about.

Sadly, the machines that produced the socks wore down in about 2009, having made socks since the Civil War. But about a year later EG Smith introduced the Ribbed Bootsock, with a similar look, but more scrunch than slouch (they’re only 94% cotton).  We love them even more than the original!

From left to right: Natural, Denim, White

Our Dream Stockings and Dreamer Socks lines have similar styles, so there are even more colours and slouch sock styles to choose from!  Our Cotton Slouch Socks are a customer and Dreamer favourite, with the most colours of any line we produce.

From left to right: Bubblegum, Dusty Plum, Light Blue

The Acrylic Slouch Socks come in shocking bright colours, they’re so vibrant, like crayons!

From left to right: Hunter Green, Yellow, Purple

And there are more delicious, scrunchy socks just waiting for you to browse in our Scrunchy Socks collection!  Are scrunchy socks your thing and if so, do you go schoolgirl or slouch?

The “Shredded” Look

The bane of square parent types, shredded looks are fun to rock no matter the weather, because they layer fantastically with contrasting colours and textures. The simplest style is straight up slashes. Fishnet may be the classic choice, but t-shirt knit socks like the Lemonade Stockings or the EG Smith Solid Over The Knee Stockings work even better. Remember! Measure twice and cut once. Cut areas of fabric will shrink as they curl, so it’s best to cut less and see how it looks—you can always cut more later. Put on the socks and use a contrasting colour of chalk or washable marker (or eye pencil!) to mark the beginning and end points of your slashes. Use a mirror or a friend for feedback if you have one handy. Ready, set, cut!

Braiding and Weaving

Plain old slashes are a  look that works for punk-rock couture, or zombies (it is that time of year!).  But, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can “braid” the cut strips for a style that is definitely something you can’t find off the rack. A nice and clear YouTube tutorial is here, if you’ve ever “finger crocheted” the technique will be familiar. Cut even strips of slashes and, starting from the top or the bottom, pull the next strand of fabric through, creating a loop by pulling it behind and then over. Repeat this down the line, finishing either by knotting like in the video linked, or threading a ribbon through the last two loops (which I prefer, it’s way fancier). Keep in mind this will make the sock fit a little more snugly.   I’ve been finding that a lot of t-shirt surgery techniques, like what you can find at the T-Shirt Surgery Livejournal community, can be applied to socks.

With scissors, the right socks and determination it’s fun to create your own interpretation of your favourite fashion looks.  After the jump are a couple of styles we get asked about that are easy to whip up at home.

“Sock Braces”

If you have gorgeous curvy calves there’s a daring look that walked Alexander Wang’s Spring 2010 runway that is made for you. Blogger Jazzi McG has already made a great tutorial for the look, but here’s a quick reference.

With the socks on mark out a “U” shape on the back. A heavyweight nylon trouser sock like the Opaque Solid Trouser Sock looks slick with this mod, I just cut down a pair of Lemonade Stockings to be cuffed knee highs. Take off the socks and lie flat to cut. You can choose to leave the cuff uncut if you don’t want to sew, or you can sew a strip of 1 inch wide elastic in its place for look accuracy.

Self-Garter Tights

The inventive self-garter tights seen in the third Resident Evil film are surprisingly easy to make (and a look we get asked about a lot!). For costume accuracy the Foot Traffic Combed Cotton Tights in Heather Mocha are a good bet, but of course you can rock any colour you like. This look takes a little more than just cutting.

As before, put on the tights so you can line everything up with how they fit and how high up the leg you want the self-garter to be. Mark the center point of your thigh at the height you want the “garter” to be. Take off the tights and lay them flat and even. Now make two marks to either side of the center-point. You want the total width of the uncut area to be about 1.5 inches, 3/4 inches on each side of the center point. Using the marks you’ve just made as a guide, cut a shallow wedge (about a quarter of an inch wide) from the sides in. Set the pieces you’ve cut out aside.

Now, take those bits you cut out and tie them around the center, both back and front. Wrap them around several times, it bulks up the “knot”. I find it’s easier to do this when they’re on, as you can judge things a little better. Trim any extra ends. I like that you get a little more length in the leg with this mod.

This is just the tip of the DIY possibilities when it comes to socks. Have you been creative with a pair?  I know there’s a couple of gorgeous sock styles I’ve seen in around (including one from the 1920s!) that I want to DIY.  What’s your creative sock inspiration?

Uniform socks, above all, need to be a solid colour and we tend to find folks want them knee high or over the knee.  If you’re looking for solid coloured sock options, even if your school days are long past, this is a good list for you.  This is totally not every solid colour sock we carry, just the styles that have an option in white, which we’ve found to be the most popular uniform sock colour.

Socks for kids and teens can be hard to choose, you go through so many foot sizes when you’re growing up!  I’m going to focus here on options that fit women’s US shoe size 6 (men’s shoe size 4) and up, as we get the most requests for help in these sizes.  Be sure to check the Sizing Information for any styles you’re interested in, we try our best to include all the measurements we can, from top and calf stretch to height from heel to cuff.

Flat knit is a classic choice and is often a slightly lighter weight option.  They’re not as warm as ribs and cables, but they’re a great day-to-day sock.

From left to right:
• O Basics •
• EG ECO Comfort Top Knee High •
• MP Lace Knee High •
(their very subtle texture shouldn’t be a problem within most dress codes)

From left to right:
• Solid Acrylic OTK (these work well as a cuffed knee high) •
• Extraordinary Thigh Highs •
• EG Smith Solid Over the Knee Stockings •

These are the most basic sock style we see people buying for uniforms.  If you want something that works with your dress code, but is more fun, check out what we’ve got below the cut.

Ribbed socks not only have a better chance of staying up on some legs, but they can be nice cozy layer when it gets cooler.  One thing we’ve found people like about them is that they work equally well with every-day clothes, when they can be scrunched and slouched, instead of neatly pulled up.

From left to right:
• Cotton Slouch Socks •
• DreaM Slouches •
• Ribbed M Stockings •

Trouser socks, in thin nylon, are a great lightweight option.  They’re tube-style, with no formed heel, so littler and bigger feet can wear them easily.

From left to right:
• Opaque Solid Nylon Trouser Socks •
• Solid Opaque Thigh Highs •

Textured socks don’t work for some dress codes, and Loose socks are even less likely to be an option if you don’t go to school in a Japanese manga, but I’d be amiss if I didn’t point out these super fun options.

From left to right:
• MP Quilted Over the Knee •
• O Lovelies •
• O Chevrons •

From left to right:
• Harajuku Super Loose Socks •
• Long Cuffable Scrunchable Socks •
• Super Ms •

So, even if you’ve got a dress code to stick to, there are lots of fun sock options to add a little something to your uniform.  And if you have trouble keeping them up, there’s always sock glue!  If you’ve bought socks to go with your school clothes, let us know!

Bootsocks

To keep yourself safe from playa foot, your feet need to be kept from the alkali desert floor by socks and close-toed shoes.  Several styles of our recycled cotton DreaM Stockings are terry-lined, making them cushy and absorbent bootsocks:

From left to right:

• Authentic Military Boot Socks •
• Dreamy Knee High Tube Socks •
• M Bootsocks •

If terry isn’t your thing, here are three more great styles, ranging from super thick wool to nice and thin recycled cotton.

From left to right:

• Coarse Knit Ski Socks •
• EG Smith Ribbed Bootsock •
• EG Eco Marled Bootsock •

But what about the fun and stripes and legwarmers?  Well, we have our favourite recommendations for those too, but you’ll have to jump below the cut . . .

Leg Warmers

Stripes and sparkles dress up the total usefulness of legwarmers when it comes to layering.  They roll up small in your bag, but make all the difference in keeping your legs comfy during those cold desert nights.

From left to right:

• Leg Warmers w/Brass Snaps •
• Super Long Open Crochet Leg Warmers •
• Lurex Leg Warmers with Pom Pom Tie Tops •

From left to right:

• Super Warmers – Long •
• Microfiber Chenille Leg Warmers (and matching armwarmers!) •
• Fuzzy Stripes Leg Warmers •

Arm Warmers

You can’t have your legs getting all the attention, but that’s what arm warmers are for—and they’re super nice for keeping off the chill when you’re not wearing much else.  The first two are our favourite basics (with high cotton content for you fire dancers!), and then there are some fun, patterned options

From left to right:

• Basic Fingerless Gloves •
• Simone’s Sleeves •

From left to right:

• Tie Dyed Fingerless Gloves •
• Harajuku Vitamin Arm Warmers •
• Checkerboard Fingerless Gloves •

What have we missed?  What are your favourite socks and accessories for the playa?

We are also working out the final details before we give access to a select few of you for beta testing the new site! yes, we truly are almost there!!!
More info to come…