Going Sockless: Essentials

As the weather allows it and sunny days become more frequent, so does the amount of exposed ankles cruising the streets: boat shoes, espadrilles, loafers and even wingtips can’t seem to avoid bare feet in all their naked glory once the temperature rises. Lets face it: there’s more about going sockless than its unique visual appeal, it’s a statement, and one that apparently is here to stay…

However, it’s not all rainbows and butterflies in “no socks land” as there are a couple of downsides to be taken into account, especially when it comes to preserving your precious footwear. Walking around sans socks for a whole day puts a great deal of stress on your shoes, since they absorb your sweat which besides attracting odor-causing bacteria also degrades those sweet looking uppers. Hence, in order to minimize these potentially harmful side effects while maintaining the stylish component, you have two choices:

a) You open heartedly embrace your sock-free nature and should invest in cedar shoe trees along with a shoe deodorant and/or bacteria-free insoles. Make sure you leave the shoe trees in for at least 24h and rotate your footwear so you don’t wear the same pair twice in a row (this goes for a general rule of thumb);

b) You go proactive and purchase the so called “invisible” socks, allowing you to create the illusion of going sockless while preserving the life span of your shoes;

While I must say invisible socks do it for me, feel free to go either way. Also, and even if you’d rather sport colorful ankles than bare ones, do consider investing in shoe trees, I can’t stress it enough…