Update as of 11/21/19: I have written an updated post all about no-show socks, this time featuring a wider selection of no-show socks for different types of shoes, not limited to heels and flats.
I’ve never been much of a socks person. In the fall and winter months, my fiancé Max would regularly call to attention the fact that it made no sense for me to bundle up my entire body but leave the top of my foot naked against the wind. In my defense, I don’t commute in open flats (I love my Uggs very much); I take the risk of having my feet exposed when I know this is only temporary. I don’t hate socks-- I wear them with boots and with the single pair of sneakers I own. However, when I’m wearing flats---ballerina-style, lace-ups, driving moccasins---I leave out the socks. It has always been my preference.
Shown above are HUE no-show socks (unfortunately sold out last time I checked; here are similar ones that I own several pairs of that I wrote about here; here is a link to the cream color version)
I believe part of the reason for not wearing socks with flats is that I simply never found the right socks to wear them with. I have my fair share of ankle socks, but they peek out hideously. There is simply too much foot coverage with the majority of low-cut socks.
As you might imagine, one of the challenges of regularly wearing flats without socks is how to keep the shoes smelling fresh, especially on those humid summer days (which is, by the way, every day since I moved to New York City at the end of June). I used to have two remedies for this: One, I would buy baby wipes in bulk, which I use to wipe the inside of my shoes after wearing them. Most of my shoes are made of leather and I have found that baby wipes lack the harsh chemicals that many disinfectant-type wipes have that would damage the leather. After all, if baby wipes are good enough for babies, they are definitely OK for leather shoes. Two, I shamefully admit that I own a very large collection of shoes, allowing me to rotate through them without the need to repeat very often (it’s OK, you can judge me for that). Because I don’t wear a single pair of shoes days on end, this by itself keeps my shoes relatively fresh.
These no-show socks come with little silicone pads at the heel region! How practical is that?
These two solutions worked out well for me for the past five years at my previous teaching job. However, upon moving to NYC, I quickly realized I could not keep all my shoes, as there simply would not be enough closet space for my wardrobe plus Max’s, let alone my shoes. In addition, since beginning the next chapter of my life, I have made the conscious decision to significantly reduce the number of items in my closet (to “declutter,” if you will, which is the trendy thing to do nowadays it seems) and to invest in fewer, but higher quality items. So far, I have already sold six pairs of shoes and many more will be up on eBay (link here in case you are curious; please pardon my unprofessional account name), if you are interested in shopping my closet.
Thus, for the past few weeks, I’ve been on the hunt for socks to wear with flats (and maybe even heels?) that are economically priced. I’m happy to say that I have found a good candidate :)
I ordered these two pairs of Hue “No-Show” socks from Nordstrom---one in black and the other in cream---and I love them both (here are comparable ones, since I believe the Hue brand ones are no longer in stock. I review similar no-show liner socks in this post). Not only are they soft and comfortable, but they are also thin with little coverage. When I wear flats with these socks, I forget I’m wearing socks, period. Still, my favorite feature is the silicone padding at the heel region, which serves a dual function of keeping the sock in place (no more sock slippage) and preventing those painful blisters at the heel. Plus, they are pretty reasonably priced and have excellent ratings online. Extra plus is that shipping and returns are always free at Nordstrom (FYI: this is not a sponsored post!).
For reference, I’m wearing size Small/Medium, which is recommended for those ladies who wear size 5-7 shoes. The other available size is Medium/Large, which is suitable for size 8-10 shoes. Sorry, gentlemen, I have not yet found a comparable pair for you.
According to the website, these socks can be machine-washed and machine-dried; however, with all delicate items that I own, I prefer to handwash and air dry so that the material stays intact for longer. For those of you wondering, I’ll be posting about the basics of doing laundry in the near future---an essential skill for all college-bound students, if you aren’t already doing your own laundry at home.
Now, as much as I approve of these Hue “No-Show” socks, I wish they were available in more colors online, so as to better match each individual person’s skin tone. The cream color is not a perfect match, but I’ll take it. I plan on wearing the black socks with my dark-colored flats. In many of the pictures I took, I wore the black ones deliberately in order to better show you the extent to which the socks peek out of my various shoes. In my opinion, the socks serve their purpose well, and for the cost, I think these socks are great. There are other no-show options out there on the market (such as gekks and sheecs), but they are pricier and I haven't looked into them yet. With these two brands, though, there are no-show socks available for men (click here for the gekks' version). For the time being, I'm perfectly happy with these no-nonsense no-show socks from Hue.
I also tried on the Hue socks with some of my heels. The verdict? I don’t think I’m quite there yet with wearing socks with heels. But who knows? I might get tired of baby wipes and switch to wearing socks entirely.
Thanks for reading, and if you do purchase a pair of these, will you let me know what you think of them? Alternatively, if you have a better recommendation for no-show socks, will you please share below?
Warm regards,
Catherine