There are significant differences in sock preferences across generations, a recent YouGov survey finds. Although ankle socks are a popular choice across all age groups, the youngest and oldest American adults are much more likely to favor taller sock styles. While generational sock tastes have become a popular topic of discussion online, with some even claiming that “a sock war is afoot between millennials and Gen Z,” this survey finds that we may have more in common than we think, while also shedding light on the role of gender in sock preferences and touching on what is perhaps America’s greatest sock taboo: socks and sandals.
Reports of the ankle sock’s death are greatly exaggerated
While some claim there’s no such thing as bad publicity, ankle socks must not be feeling so hot right now. Low-cut socks have been declared embarrassing, cringe, and canceled. Apparently, tall socks are in and “everyone’s socks are showing” these days. But contrary to claims that ankle socks are on their way out of fashion, they are far and away the most popular sock choice among Americans: 41% of adults choose ankle socks as their most-preferred option for everyday activities. No other sock style is preferred by more than 15% of Americans.
Though visible socks may be the current trend, the majority of Americans prefer their socks to keep a low profile. Barely-there options are preferred by 61% of adults, including ankle socks (favored by 41%), the completely hidden no-show socks (15%), and the true-Scotsman choice of wearing no socks at all (5%).
In fact, beyond the high rating of ankle socks, popularity is inversely proportional to sock length: 15% of Americans prefer to wear quarter socks, which sit above the ankle but below mid-calf; 12% favor crew socks, which reach the middle of the calf; and only 3% spring for the highest sock option of knee-highs.
Sockin’ ’bout my generation
While short socks take the crown among Americans overall, many have recently claimed that visible socks are the go-to socks for Gen Z. Is there truth to the claims that tall socks are a marker of Gen Z identity? Yes and no. Tall socks — quarter-length, crew, or knee-high — are a minority choice even among adults born after 1996. While a healthy 41% of Gen Z adults prefer tall socks, this is less than the 47% that favor short socks, including ankles or no-shows. In fact, across Gen Z, millennials, Gen X, baby boomers, and adults in the Silent Generation or older, there is not a single group where an outright majority prefers tall socks.
However, there is evidence to support a generational sock divide between millennials and Gen Z. Although Gen Z tall-sock wearers are in the minority, tall socks are much more popular among Gen Z than among millennials: While 41% of adult members of Gen Z prefer tall socks, only 23% of millennials feel the same way. And this divide is sharper than divides between other generations: Tall socks are roughly as popular among millennials (23%) as they are among members of Gen X (28%) and baby boomers (27%). In contrast, Gen Z’s taste for tall socks (preferred by 41%) puts them on even footing with the Silent Generation and earlier (45%), despite the more than 50 years of age separating the oldest members of Gen Z from the youngest members of the Silent Generation. Perhaps the members of Gen Z who claim that low-cut socks “make you look old” are the real old souls.
The battle of the sockses
Although much of the coverage of tall-sock trends has focused on women’s fashion, tall socks are more popular among men than women within each major age group. Overall, tall socks are preferred by 40% of American men compared to just 21% of women.
Both men and women exhibit similar generational divides in preferences between tall socks and short socks. Tall socks are favored by 49% of Gen Z men and 34% of Gen Z women, significantly higher than the 29% of millennial men and 18% of millennial women who prefer tall socks. Although Gen Z women are less likely to favor tall socks than Gen Z men, their taste for more visible socks is still notable: Gen Z women are more likely than women in any other generation to prefer tall socks, including women in the Silent Generation and earlier.
The other generation gap: socks on the beach
While short vs. low socks may be the trendiest generational divide of the moment, our survey found that there may be another sock-based divide placing Gen Z even further on the cutting edge – or even closer to the decline of civilization, depending on who you ask.
As found previously by YouGov, a majority of Americans across all age groups prefer not to wear socks with sandals. The latest survey finds that only 18% of U.S. adults admit to preferring socks with sandals, and that preference is in the minority among all age groups. However, members of Gen Z are more likely than any other to break this most sacred of sock-based taboos and ask, “por qué no los dos?”
Although still in the minority, 25% of adults born in 1997 or later prefer their sandals with socks, more than any other generation. Baby boomers, on the flip side, are the least likely to sport this combo: Only 9% say they have a preference for socks with sandals while 83% prefer no socks. Perhaps this is a case of baby boomers continuing to rebel against the authority figures of their youth, given that those in the Silent Generation and earlier are the second most likely generation to prefer socks with sandals, at 20%.
As with tall socks, men are more likely than women to prefer socks with sandals regardless of generation, 25% to 11%. Gen Z men are the most likely group of all to prefer socks with sandals at 34% (although socks-with-sandals wearers remain a minority even in this group).
Gen Z women are much less likely than Gen Z men to prefer socks with sandals (17%). While this makes them the most likely group of women to wear socks with sandals, it puts them just barely above the least likely group of men – baby boomer men, of whom just 15% prefer socks with sandals. The clearest preference against socks with sandals is expressed by baby boomer women, where no-socks beats socks by a whopping 93% to 3%.
Only time will tell what will come in future generations, but if current generational trends are anything to go by, one of fashion’s best-known taboos may be on its last legs. As Gen Z shows, you can step out in socks and sandals without making a faux pas.
— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article.
See the results for this survey:
- When wearing sneakers to exercise, do you prefer to wear…?
- When wearing sneakers for everyday activities, do you prefer to wear…?
- When wearing sandals do you prefer to wear…?
Methodology: The Daily Questions survey was conducted online on July 4 - 5, 2024 among 5,015 U.S. adults. The samples were weighted according to gender, age, race, education, U.S. census region, and political party. The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 2%.
Image: Getty
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