Sock 'fashion' in the NFL 2014

[oldschoolvikings]

Yeah we've had this same discussion before... basically, it's not a stripe if you say so.

STRIPE - noun

1 a relatively long, narrow band of a different color, appearance, weave, material, or nature from the rest of a surface or thing.

2. a fabric or material containing such a band or bands.

3. a strip of braid, tape, or the like.

So what the Lions, Chargers, Broncos, and Dolphins do definitely fits.

[RollTribe19]

What did you wear when you played, roman? Personally I've worn tights and it's a lot more comfortable than huge tube socks. (There's a reason you don't see any athletes outside of soccer voluntarily wearing tube socks unless it's Jason terry and even then he does it for superstition reasons. And I think the nfl needs to move the height of the white on the socks lower to the height of a crew sock. The standard socks with the white going halfway up the leg looks dorky and always has. I promise you if the white was just and inch of two lower, less players would pull them down.

I didn't play past high school, and we wore pro style socks. I had no issue with their comfort. Socks are comfortable. I don't think they look dorky - they look like a pro football uniform. Spandex pants and cap-sleeved shirts look pretty dorky, too, outside of football.

You don't think they look dorky, but I promise you the majority of fans/viewers/consumers under the age of 35-40 think they look dorky. With that being said, I also don't like when there is little to no white showing like the lions used to wear for thanksgiving. I think it looks amateurish. I definitely think white is necessary just less than what is currently the league issued standard.

As for tights those are much more comfortable than tube socks and you can't tell the difference unless you're 5 ft away. As for the cap sleeves, fitted clothes are in right now. But even if it weren't, sports fashion and more specifically football fashion stems from player comfort and tight form fitting jerseys are definitely way more comfortable from personal experience and it's not even close.

One last point about the tights is that it gets rid of exposed knees which imo looks better if you're gonna cover the whole leg.

Well, you thinking the current socks are dorky is an opinion, just as my opinion that they look great. But you have nothing to back up your assertion that the majority of people under 35 (me) think it looks bad. Like I said, it's a football uniform. It looks no more dorky to me than skin tight spandex pants. I wouldn't wear either knee-high socks or spandex pants to work or to hang out with friends, but they look appropriate for a football uniform because that's what a football uniform is. If we're looking for items which don't look "dorky", we're going to be down to all sports leagues having teams in pleatless pants and fitted dress shirts.

Except the fact that everyone wears crew socks. They are huge right now. They've been the standard for college football the last 5 yrs and are what the majority of nfl players wear in practice. They're what NBA players wear (paired with tights often) what soccer players train in, and pretty much everywhere else that athletic wear is worn.

When my older brother (who is 30) was in high school they pulled down the white part of their pro style socks because they thought it looked cooler, so this isn't a new thing. Showing less white has been a thing for a while.

I agree with you shaydre. I play HS football and it is way more comfortable to wear tights instead of long tube socks. I usually wear them with elites simply because it looks and feels a lot better that the half white half color tube socks of the nfl.

Cuz you can't play good if you don't look kewl. And you wear elites because they are the most expensive and the kewlest. I'm assuming half your team wears them, because that is the trend. Does your team offer a universal tube sock look or you just buy elites over tube socks? And do you even have sock guidelines on the team? Or back to my point...is it because elites are kewl?

[hugevolsfan]

Yeah we've had this same discussion before... basically, it's not a stripe if you say so.

STRIPE - noun

1 a relatively long, narrow band of a different color, appearance, weave, material, or nature from the rest of a surface or thing.

2. a fabric or material containing such a band or bands.

3. a strip of braid, tape, or the like.

So what the Lions, Chargers, Broncos, and Dolphins do definitely fits.

Yes lets call a stripe a stripe please. These all have stripes but I would call them a modernized version since we had never seen this style before the Broncos used them.

Also there is just something cheap to me about a full colored sock or two colored sock like I have seen in some folks concepts it just makes a football uniform look less like a football uniform.

[ltjets21]

To me nothing looks worse than a team with black cleats who have to wear the mandatory white socks, they look fine with white cleats. Many teams wear black cleats who should wear white, off the top of my head I can think of the Jets and Colts.

[guest23]

Yeah we've had this same discussion before... basically, it's not a stripe if you say so.

STRIPE - noun

1 a relatively long, narrow band of a different color, appearance, weave, material, or nature from the rest of a surface or thing.

2. a fabric or material containing such a band or bands.

3. a strip of braid, tape, or the like.

So what the Lions, Chargers, Broncos, and Dolphins do definitely fits.

Sure it fits the literal definition but from a practical standpoint, a barely noticeable pin line at the bottom of a single color sock is not giving much of a stripe effect in comparison to the traditional striped sock. If you need those examples to make your case that striped socks are not out of fashion you don't have much of an argument and are reaching to make your case.

To reiterate, I like traditional striped football socks but they are simply not in fashion at the moment. Like all fashion I could see them making a resurgence of sorts sooner rather than later, the next few redesigns will be good indicators. If short shorts make a resurgence in basketball anything is possible.

[GriffinM6]

What did you wear when you played, roman? Personally I've worn tights and it's a lot more comfortable than huge tube socks. (There's a reason you don't see any athletes outside of soccer voluntarily wearing tube socks unless it's Jason terry and even then he does it for superstition reasons. And I think the nfl needs to move the height of the white on the socks lower to the height of a crew sock. The standard socks with the white going halfway up the leg looks dorky and always has. I promise you if the white was just and inch of two lower, less players would pull them down.

I didn't play past high school, and we wore pro style socks. I had no issue with their comfort. Socks are comfortable. I don't think they look dorky - they look like a pro football uniform. Spandex pants and cap-sleeved shirts look pretty dorky, too, outside of football.

You don't think they look dorky, but I promise you the majority of fans/viewers/consumers under the age of 35-40 think they look dorky. With that being said, I also don't like when there is little to no white showing like the lions used to wear for thanksgiving. I think it looks amateurish. I definitely think white is necessary just less than what is currently the league issued standard.

As for tights those are much more comfortable than tube socks and you can't tell the difference unless you're 5 ft away. As for the cap sleeves, fitted clothes are in right now. But even if it weren't, sports fashion and more specifically football fashion stems from player comfort and tight form fitting jerseys are definitely way more comfortable from personal experience and it's not even close.

One last point about the tights is that it gets rid of exposed knees which imo looks better if you're gonna cover the whole leg.

Well, you thinking the current socks are dorky is an opinion, just as my opinion that they look great. But you have nothing to back up your assertion that the majority of people under 35 (me) think it looks bad. Like I said, it's a football uniform. It looks no more dorky to me than skin tight spandex pants. I wouldn't wear either knee-high socks or spandex pants to work or to hang out with friends, but they look appropriate for a football uniform because that's what a football uniform is. If we're looking for items which don't look "dorky", we're going to be down to all sports leagues having teams in pleatless pants and fitted dress shirts.

Except the fact that everyone wears crew socks. They are huge right now. They've been the standard for college football the last 5 yrs and are what the majority of nfl players wear in practice. They're what NBA players wear (paired with tights often) what soccer players train in, and pretty much everywhere else that athletic wear is worn.

When my older brother (who is 30) was in high school they pulled down the white part of their pro style socks because they thought it looked cooler, so this isn't a new thing. Showing less white has been a thing for a while.

I agree with you shaydre. I play HS football and it is way more comfortable to wear tights instead of long tube socks. I usually wear them with elites simply because it looks and feels a lot better that the half white half color tube socks of the nfl.

Cuz you can't play good if you don't look kewl. And you wear elites because they are the most expensive and the kewlest. I'm assuming half your team wears them, because that is the trend. Does your team offer a universal tube sock look or you just buy elites over tube socks? And do you even have sock guidelines on the team? Or back to my point...is it because elites are kewl?

Dude it's high school football. Elites are actually pretty comfortable, as are tights. I'm not a football player, but I can tell people like having the tight feeling for their uniform. Personlly, I think baseball tube socks are very comfortable. Has the NFL ever used straight up baseball socks?

[dolphins91]

What did you wear when you played, roman? Personally I've worn tights and it's a lot more comfortable than huge tube socks. (There's a reason you don't see any athletes outside of soccer voluntarily wearing tube socks unless it's Jason terry and even then he does it for superstition reasons. And I think the nfl needs to move the height of the white on the socks lower to the height of a crew sock. The standard socks with the white going halfway up the leg looks dorky and always has. I promise you if the white was just and inch of two lower, less players would pull them down.

I didn't play past high school, and we wore pro style socks. I had no issue with their comfort. Socks are comfortable. I don't think they look dorky - they look like a pro football uniform. Spandex pants and cap-sleeved shirts look pretty dorky, too, outside of football.

You don't think they look dorky, but I promise you the majority of fans/viewers/consumers under the age of 35-40 think they look dorky. With that being said, I also don't like when there is little to no white showing like the lions used to wear for thanksgiving. I think it looks amateurish. I definitely think white is necessary just less than what is currently the league issued standard.

As for tights those are much more comfortable than tube socks and you can't tell the difference unless you're 5 ft away. As for the cap sleeves, fitted clothes are in right now. But even if it weren't, sports fashion and more specifically football fashion stems from player comfort and tight form fitting jerseys are definitely way more comfortable from personal experience and it's not even close.

One last point about the tights is that it gets rid of exposed knees which imo looks better if you're gonna cover the whole leg.

Well, you thinking the current socks are dorky is an opinion, just as my opinion that they look great. But you have nothing to back up your assertion that the majority of people under 35 (me) think it looks bad. Like I said, it's a football uniform. It looks no more dorky to me than skin tight spandex pants. I wouldn't wear either knee-high socks or spandex pants to work or to hang out with friends, but they look appropriate for a football uniform because that's what a football uniform is. If we're looking for items which don't look "dorky", we're going to be down to all sports leagues having teams in pleatless pants and fitted dress shirts.

Except the fact that everyone wears crew socks. They are huge right now. They've been the standard for college football the last 5 yrs and are what the majority of nfl players wear in practice. They're what NBA players wear (paired with tights often) what soccer players train in, and pretty much everywhere else that athletic wear is worn.

When my older brother (who is 30) was in high school they pulled down the white part of their pro style socks because they thought it looked cooler, so this isn't a new thing. Showing less white has been a thing for a while.

I agree with you shaydre. I play HS football and it is way more comfortable to wear tights instead of long tube socks. I usually wear them with elites simply because it looks and feels a lot better that the half white half color tube socks of the nfl.

Cuz you can't play good if you don't look kewl. And you wear elites because they are the most expensive and the kewlest. I'm assuming half your team wears them, because that is the trend. Does your team offer a universal tube sock look or you just buy elites over tube socks? And do you even have sock guidelines on the team? Or back to my point...is it because elites are kewl?

Elites are very comfortable and look good too. Just about every athlete at my school has at least a pair of them. And no we don't have sock guidelines because, well it's high school football. Also through this entire season and the last few I have only seen a few players wearing long tube socks, because the tights are more comfortable and better to wear because of the material of them. Also the elites and vapor elites offer better padding in the bottom of the sock to help your feet feel better. And to answer your question, yes elites are 'kewl', but that's not the main reason people wear them. You can also look at any college, high school, or middle school teams, they Don't wear long socks, they almost always wear the mid cut socks(usually vapor elites or whatever their uniform provider is, if it's college. Just look up 'High school football' and see that most everybody has mid cut socks or tights, or even both.

[shaydre1019]

Sooo turns out pulling down the whites isn't exactly a new thing...

[dennisbergan]

The Colts would look like tools if they wore white shoes. Black shoes are traditional and the Colts are a traditional franchise. John Unitas wasn't known for wearing white high tops.

The Bears look out-of-place wearing white shoes too. Hopefully once Professor Trestman gets blown out of town, they'll go back to black shoes and maybe have a clue how to play some defense again. White shoes on the Bears just look soft.

[shaydre1019]

The Colts would look like tools if they wore white shoes. Black shoes are traditional and the Colts are a traditional franchise. John Unitas wasn't known for wearing white high tops.

The Bears look out-of-place wearing white shoes too. Hopefully once Professor Trestman gets blown out of town, they'll go back to black shoes and maybe have a clue how to play some defense again. White shoes on the Bears just look soft.

I have to agree. Some teams should never stray from black shoes and the aforementioned teams are two that shouldn't.

[phutmasterflex]

The Colts would look like tools if they wore white shoes. Black shoes are traditional and the Colts are a traditional franchise. John Unitas wasn't known for wearing white high tops.

The Bears look out-of-place wearing white shoes too. Hopefully once Professor Trestman gets blown out of town, they'll go back to black shoes and maybe have a clue how to play some defense again. White shoes on the Bears just look soft.

Colts have worn white shoes and they did not look like tools to me.

The 85 Bears looked soft wearing white shoes?

[TheOldRoman]

Oh, that's just Dennis. You should probably ignore him. I don't know why he'd call the Colts a traditional fanchise and act like that's a good thing in his convoluted world of "throwembacks" and everything not designed after 1993 being "dated." I also preferred the Colts in white shoes.

The Bears don't really have a designated shoe color since Nike took over, and I don't think any teams do anymore. Through 2011, they wore black shoes. Then when Nike came, the NFL changed the rules to allow the players to wear the team-designated color, but also Nike-branded team color shoes. That's why Brandon Marshall generally wears navy and orange cleats. Well, once players didn't have to wear just black (with orange), we saw guys wearing blue with orange, orange with blue, and then eventually white with blue and orange. So, if you want to complain about the Bears' footwear, blame the NFL and Nike.

[guest23]

Oh, that's just Dennis. You should probably ignore him. I don't know why he'd call the Colts a traditional fanchise and act like that's a good thing in his convoluted world of "throwembacks" and everything not designed after 1993 being "dated." I also preferred the Colts in white shoes.

The Bears don't really have a designated shoe color since Nike took over, and I don't think any teams do anymore. Through 2011, they wore black shoes. Then when Nike came, the NFL changed the rules to allow the players to wear the team-designated color, but also Nike-branded team color shoes. That's why Brandon Marshall generally wears navy and orange cleats. Well, once players didn't have to wear just black (with orange), we saw guys wearing blue with orange, orange with blue, and then eventually white with blue and orange. So, if you want to complain about the Bears' footwear, blame the NFL and Nike.

Unfortunately I am a bears fan. Technically the 1st two seasons with nike it was team colored shoes and/or black cleats. When trestman came inn board it switched to team colored and/or white. Having watched too many games for my own good there are players are wearing much more white the last two seasons than they did the last two seasons under Lovie. I do agree with you though that designated white/black really isn't too relevant anymore, as players can basically get away with any color way of white/black/team which is fine by me. Also does anyone know if the giants swapped to designated white over the last season or two? Seems the majority of players are wearing mostly gray/white/red/blue colorways and black is a rarity.

[TheOldRoman]

Just one correction - Lovie was only here for one year of the Nike era. But I didn't know they made the change to white with Trestman. As you said, it doesn't really matter since most guys wear different colors, anyway.

[shaydre1019]

I noticed they had white accented cleats but I figured it was unique to that game because it was when the Giants were wearing the white pants. Maybe since the introduction of those they made a switch.

The color of the team cleats is still very noticeable because they have to wear either black or white tape. So that's probably why the white clests on the Bears is very noticeable. Even the colored cleats get spatted white.