Sock Care: Washing, Drying, and Storing Dress Socks
How you wash, dry, and store a dress sock determines how long it keeps its colour, shape, and collar. Care depends on the fibre, so this guide covers each material in turn. Every Aklasu sock is knit in Italy, and every one carries the same label: machine wash warm at 30°C, tumble dry low.
The short version
- Wash: machine wash warm at 30°C on a gentle cycle, or hand wash in cool water. Turn the socks inside out and use a mesh laundry bag.
- Dry: lay flat to dry for the longest life. A low tumble is fine when you're short on time.
- Never: bleach, iron, or dry clean.
- Store: fold in thirds rather than rolling into a ball, so the collar keeps its grip.
Egyptian cotton lisle socks
The cotton dress socks are 100% Egyptian Mako cotton lisle, mercerised before knitting and knit on 240-needle machines. Mercerising sets the colour deep in the fibre, so it holds through washing, and long-staple Mako resists pilling. Heat and friction, not water, wear out a fine cotton sock.
Machine washing
Wash warm at 30°C on the gentle cycle, inside out, in a mesh laundry bag. Keep the socks away from denim, towels, and anything with a zip, which rub at the knit. A mild, bleach-free detergent is enough. Wash dark colours together, and wash a new pair of navy, black, or burgundy with similar colours the first time.
Hand washing
When there is time, hand washing is the gentlest option. Fill a basin with cool water and a small amount of mild detergent, submerge the socks, and gently move them through the water. Rinse in cool water and press the water out between the palms rather than wringing, which stretches the knit.
Drying
Lay the socks flat on a clean towel at room temperature and reshape them by hand. A low tumble will not ruin them in a week when air drying isn't practical, but heat breaks down elastic and costs a sock its shape, so the less of it, the better. Keep them off radiators and out of direct sun.
Linen socks
The denim blue and mélange brown linen socks are 90% linen and 10% nylon, knit at 176 needles. Linen is stronger when wet than dry and sheds heat quickly, which is why it suits high summer. The label is the same as the cotton: machine wash warm at 30°C, tumble dry low.
Dry linen socks flat and reshape them while damp. The colour in both pairs is blended at the fibre stage as a mélange rather than dyed afterwards, which is what gives linen socks their depth of tone.
Storing dress socks
Fold each pair into a flat rectangle by thirds. Rolling a sock into a ball and tucking the cuff over the toe stretches the collar, and the collar holds the sock up. A drawer with dividers keeps pairs from being crushed together, and putting a sock away clean and dry helps it keep its shape between wears.
Rotation helps as much as washing. A pair worn one day and rested the next recovers its shape, whereas a pair worn every day wears out faster at the heel.
When to replace a pair
A fine dress sock tells you when it is done. The first sign is the collar: when it no longer holds the sock on the calf through a day, the sock has stopped doing its job. Thinning at the heel or the ball of the foot comes next. The seven-inch collar on our over-the-calf socks and the reinforced, hand-linked heel are there to push both issues back.
Why heat is the enemy
Water does little to a well-made sock. Heat is different: it breaks down the elastic that gives the collar its recovery, it can shrink natural fibre, and it dulls colour over time. For that reason, 30 degrees sits at the low end of a warm wash, and a low tumble is a compromise rather than a recommendation. The longest-lived socks are washed cool and dried flat.
Related guides
The sock size guide covers which size and length to choose. The dress sock guide covers pairing socks with shoes and trousers, and the full range of men's dress socks comes in mid-calf and over-the-calf lengths.
