My baymate and I started a little discussion about lab fashion. Why? Well I'm a pretty ardent wearer of sandals, I'll wear them until late fall if I have to. I'll wear them with jeans too. But under no circumstances will I wear sandals with socks.
We then listed all the faculty who combine these clothing items on a regular basis (sorry, the list is confidential).
This brings me to my question to all you out there is: why wear sandals with socks? (And why does the sandals with socks phenotype correlate with being in research?)
Now while we were on the topic we asked a deeper, in some sense more profound question, what color of socks?
You see we've noticed that many sandal/socks wearing researchers choose black socks.
On the positive side: it masks the fact that you are wearing sandals. The contrast between white socks and sandals screams "hello world, look at my socks and sandals".
On the negative side: black socks and bare legs is just a no-no.
But there are other choices: grey, beige. These would probably be the best as they probably match your skin color and/or sandals, thus drawing less attention to your odd lifestyle.
Other upgrades? Well you could switch to Birkenstocks. Somehow that type of footwear says, "I just slipped these on cuz I'm so easy going". Low-cut sports socks can also enhance this "California effect".
Also wearing long pants can help too. Most of the clash comes from the bare skin, socks, sandals trifecta.
And please don't try socks and flops!
All these questions. And so, what to do? When in doubt, Google.
And this is what we came up with:
Home of Socks and Sandals the world over.
(To be honest we're still puzzled. But if you do have something to add, please leave your 2 cents in the comment section. Thanks.)
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why wear sandals with socks?
I do this a lot. Not in the summer, but later in the year.
Here's why I do it.
Sandals have two advantages. (At least.) First, the open air for the feet. That's nice. Second, your feet aren't constrained, boxed in, held on all sides. That's also nice.
When it gets too cold to have the open air hit your feet, you can still achieve the second advantage of sandals by wearing socks with your sandals. There are some socks that, I believe, are designed to be worn with sandals -- thick things, sometimes with granite-like patterns.
Perhaps I just have "claustrophobia of the feet". I do wear other shoes. When I am (say) wearing sneakers, I'm always looking for an excuse to take them off. Indeed, I keep a pair of flip-flops under my desk at work so that if I've worn non-sandal shoes, I have something to slip on my feet for trips down the hall. Inevitably, I've taken my shoes off.
As a physicist, I've also decided that dark socks with Birkenstocks (that have dark straps) count as dress shoes. Sandals without socks don't....
-Rob
I see. So it offers insulation + maintenance of air flow.
Hmm. I know the socks (in fact I have some) but I have yet to see that combo (granite-like patterned socks + sandals).
Guilty as charged! I'm wearing S+S right now. Sandals have better air circulation than shoes, that's straightforward. But while wearing sandals alone, a laye of sweat + dirt will built up under your feet. This is icky. Socks are cleaner because they wick or soak up some of the sweat, plus i wear clean socks every day.
Any color of socks does it for me. It's not like I spend all day looking at my own feet, and I don't care what other people think about me.
Hub (engineer) and myself (former engineer, scientist wannabe) have been sandals-with-socks people since we were in college. We live in coastal California, so sandals year-round are comfortable. His normal footwear is socks (solid color, matched to pants) in dark brown Birkenstocks. He doesn't wear shorts.
I wear the least foot covering I can get away with in any given situation, but socks really are necessary from November to April.
Karen,
We on the East Coast have noticed that the s+s phenomenon is extremely gender specific (in fact, we have never witnessed s+s on individuals with two X chromosomes). Is it common to see gals with s+s on the West Coast?
"we have never witnessed s+s on individuals with two X chromosomes"
I'll second that.
I didn't know he was a scientist?
http://waxdj.com/djs/1661/
Does the sock wearing come from the fact that open toed shoes are a no-no in the lab? It's one of the gold rules in my lab... although everyone who chooses to wear sandals to work just slips on a pair of sneakers or clogs when they are actually at the bench instead of wearing socks underneath the sandals. Perhaps I am just in a fashionable laboratory setting... but I would guess that might have something to do with it (although I am not sure how much more protection a pair of socks is going to give you if you are going to spill phenol on yourself.
Hmm, I seem to think that the two PIs on your floor are guilty of this fashion disaster. I have no problem with people doing this I just think it looks awful. Choose shoes and socks or sandals, please. Of course, I think flip-flops are extremely tacky so maybe I'm too extreme on this.
On a personal note, the sandals that I have seen AP wear have no fashion sense whatsoever. They may be good for a walk in the woods but you really don't have any room to say that they are better than S&S.
My lab is full of socks+sandals wearers, both male and female, though I am by far the most frequent of the sandal wearers. Vancouver's weather is agreeable enough that I get away with wearing sandals basically all year 'round. I've had people at the bus stop heckle me ("you're not supposed to wear socks with sandals, it's just wrong!").
I second all of what Rob said in the first post. I have a couple of other pairs of footwear too, but I'm always trying to take them off at the quickest opportunity. Foot claustrophobia is a good way of thinking about it. And having just checked, I have both a sock tan and a sandals tan on top of that!
* you need to dress for the task - late hours working in an aircon environment, crap coffee, busy keyboard/research, be ready to trek anywhere.
* sox are important for warmth - warm feet, warm body; for long distance walking they can stop foot blisters.
* fashion sense: long (grey, black, red, stripes; can be thick materials); with shorts/skirt - to knee (grey, black, red, brown, simple pattern with white) or folded to ankle (grey, black, simple pattern with white) or as a heelsock (beige, grey, black, red).
hope this helps ~_*
There is no excuse for wearing socks and sandals. None. It's tacky. Like tucking in a T-shirt. Or wearing a short sleeve shirt with a tie. Or wearing tapered jeans. I think about these things often.
Personally, flip flops are the only "sandals" that are acceptable in any setting unless full sandal support is needed (ie, when paddling a class 3+ rapid). More than one strap (like a Teva) is only allowed in situations where a sandal falling off results in permanent sandal loss.
I've got one more shoe-follie to add to socks and sandals and over-strapped sandals: dress shoes with shorts. Anything other than flip flops or tennis shoes with shorts begs for a girl to dress you in the morning.
All very interesting.
But I must say something here with regards to lab safety. Socks will add some protection but not much. So if you were to spill a drop of radiolabelled sample ontyo your foot, sure a sock may prevent skin contact, but if you were to spill some acid/base, or something nasty like phenol, your sock will not protect your foot (when wearing sandals.
They also won't protect you if you spill flaming ethanol on your feet.
OK I have a couple of theories, which may quickly be proven wrong.
There are more foreigners in sciences than in other fields here in the US, and in many foreign countries, socks with sandals is okay! More than okay -- cool!
I worked in public schools in Japan for a year, and was surprised to see the principal and vice principal in formal dark suits, then socks (often white) and sandals! Since in Japanese schools everyone always changes into a pair of indoor shoes, you can see men wearing socks with sandals all year round.
The other theory is that people who wear socks with sandals are ashamed of their toes, whether due to fungus, excessive toe jam, or the like.
Personally, I prefer to wear sandals with socks, as buffers. I do not care to have a molecular biohazardous type structure, growing under my feet.
I live in the southwest. Irregardless of the fashion police,I will continue this practice.
Being a p.d. fellow would this interest you?
http://www.molecularinfo.com/OJournal/HotArticles/4-2-2003.html
Identification of a Testicular Odorant Receptor Mediating Human Sperm Chemotaxis
Marc Spehr, Günter Gisselmann, Alexandra Poplawski, Jeffrey A. Riffell, Christian H. Wetzel, Richard K. Zimmer, Hanns Hatt
The Science, April 2003, 299, 2054-2057.
Human olfactory receptors on sperm find its way to egg.
As the originator and caretaker for the sandals and socks web site to which you refer, I would be very happy to feature any of you American scientist "soxers" on the site.
I've been running the site since 1999 and the number of Americans on there is very low indeed. Time to redress the balance ?
Keith Povall
Ich habe dieser BLOG gelesen und ich finde ihn interessant.
Bitte besuchen Sie uns auch-
http://www.fashionbags.de
Ok, there is a great site for all of you! It's called Fashion4Nerds.com
Now, I work in the lab myself as a Research Associate, so I know the drill...but I'd still check it out.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFF....why wear sandals with socks? What a disgusting way to wear a pair of sandals...
I am a shoe designer and I have never designed sandals to be worn with socks. Please forget about it...ıf you have problem with the sweating then don't buy the ones made by plastic, remember!!! for the healthy feet the meterials to make a pair of sandals or shoes should DEFINATELY be natural.
Be creative!
MR.Ahmet ask your self "why wear socks with shoes?"
" shoes cover your feet, why cover em with a second layer?"
But no on the real, im a 16 year old who play organized sports, and i wear socks with sandals when im sbout to play, or on a casula day, i live in portland and the weather is very crazy. so sometimes it saves your feet to wear socks with sandals. So please people stop hating on socks with sandals, there "kool" if you know how to rock 'em.
Sorry for spam but i dont know how to edit, but what i mean is they have to be nike or addidas sandals not the full support ones, just the ones with 1 thick strip near the toe area, all mthose other sandals are gross.
Writing a presitation on 5 thiings to remove from the world and i am glad to say that socks and sandals is in there!! it is soo wrong !
I think that Einstein had seven brown suits. I like to wear athletic socks with my suits, thank you. Actually, it was combat boots and lime green hospital scrubs. Imagine that! You go into closet and that's all you can find!
I wasn't fine by the fashion police for slowing that day!
i hate man sandles!!
i have worn s+s before but not very often, i think it looks funny. But if you have to do it use ankle socks. Also i see it alot living in humboldt county, CA. both genders.
I've worn sandals with socks at times with my Tevas. Only with very low cut dark colored socks. I have worn them because I was traveling/hiking a great distance in a very dry area. My feet were started to dry out and crack. Someone recommend a Smart Wool sock. Or I might wear a sock in very humid conditions. Rubber topsoles of the Teva sandals can get quite sweaty and gooey. Also this makes the feet smell bad. I've heard people talking about how gross it was to hear my feet on the sweaty sandal when I walked. Socks do soak up the sweat.
When did it come about that if a person doesn't like what another person does, or how they dress, they say it is wrong? Just because you don't like socks with sandals does NOT mean everyone else is required to dislike socks with sandals. Our whole society has gotten that way; they have an, "if I don't like it, YOU can't do it" attitude. By the way, I have been wearing only sandals for 18 years, & on occasion with socks. Sandals are the best in footwear!
I wear S&S for two reasons;
1) to hide my ugly toes!
2) because my toes sweat easily a bit, add the street dust and you've got brownish toes peeping from the open end of the sandal...
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Love this post! Especially since it turns out I've BECOME the guy in black socks and sandals. Huzzah! http://mikecasey.net/the-torch-of-fashion-dork-itude