Your socks can add incredible variety to your wardrobe. While many people can take their socks for granted, there are some amazing things that you should know about the socks you wear every day. Here are some of the most interesting facts about socks you may not have known:

The word comes from old English: The word for socks has the same meaning as a light slipper in old English. Sock also derives some meaning from an ancient Greek word which is sykkos for slippers.

Socks have more than one main function: Socks can protect our shoes from our bodies sweat which can prevent bacteria from forming in our shoes as well as add padding for walking.

Socks are ancient: The first socks date back to 250 CE.

Some of the first socks were toe socks: Toe socks were one of the first and most popular types of socks because they still allowed people to wear scandals.

Most greek socks were wool: Throughout the eighth century, most of the socks that were created by the Greeks were made out of a thick wool.

Some notable people hate them: Albert Einstein was one of the largest advocates for going without socks. He regularly went without wearing them. His main issue with socks was that his toes would commonly break through the front.

One region makes 40% of the socks in the world: Datang in eastern China is known for being the sock capital of the world with 40% of the world socks originating from here.

Environmental socks are on the rise: more sock creators are using environmental products like bamboo, sustainable cotton and more. By choosing a more ecologically sustainable production for socks, manufacturers are able to produce products which are better for the long term.

Knitting machines were invented for socks: Socks were one of the most time-consuming items to knit and the inventor of the knitting machine was inspired to scale down the time that his wife took to produce socks.

Sock subscriptions are becoming more popular: Joining sock of the month clubs and subscription services are growing more popular for sock aficionados. This is because there is now a greater demand for unique socks and accessories.

 This post was written by Matt Conklin, owner and sock aficionado at Lucid Socks. Lucid Socks is the best monthly sock club subscription. Lucid Socks’s sock of the month club features a random hand picked pair of socks from one of our many categories of unique and humorous socks.