Carisa Persad, like many members of Gen Z, would never be seen wearing socks that were too short. The 22-year-old New York City resident mostly wears crew socks that reach her calves. “I’m so used to not seeing my ankles, it’s a real shock when they do,” she says.
Knight Noronha, an 18-year-old San Diego resident, recently threw out all of his socks that went below his ankles. Almost no one wore them except his dad. “He was like, ‘You need to wear longer socks,'” Noronha said.
Gen Z has already adopted millennial fashion trends like skinny jeans and side parts, and some young people are now declaring a preference for crew socks, which typically reach mid-shin, and scoffing at the ankle-length and no-show socks that were a staple of sock packs of previous generations.
The differences in generational sock preferences have become a kind of dramatic battleground on social media, with criticism being exchanged, comparisons being posted, and some millennials standing their ground.
“Try peeling these ankle socks off these cold, stiff feet,” comedian Matt Bellassai says, defending bare ankles, in one of many TikTok videos posted by millennials in recent months.
The debate has been circulating since at least October, when podcaster Phoebe Parsons argued in a widely viewed TikTok video that ankle socks are a sign of age. (In the video, she holds up her no-show sock-clad legs and says, “I’m a millennial.”)
Since then, the divide over socks seems to have gotten more pronounced. Singer Billie Eilish, 22, wore red crew socks to the 2024 Golden Globe Awards, and basketball player Angel Reese, also 22, wore long socks with both sneakers and heels in a Teen Vogue photoshoot. “Jennifer Lawrence Braves Millennial Socks,” read a headline in British Vogue this week.
Gen Zers wear Nike Dri-FIT crew socks, Converse high-tops and mini Uggs to school every day. “I think part of growing up is trying to distinguish yourself from those who came before you,” Noronha says.
Gen Z’s so-called fashion rebellion is a lot like socks, which were considered unfashionable when millennials were younger, says Matt Bunting, 38, a U.S. Navy officer who lives on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. “It’s really funny to see how kids now think it’s something trendy, when everyone used to laugh at it,” he says.
As a teenager, Bunting would roll up her knee-high socks and hide them under her low-cut skateboarding shoes, which she admits wasn’t very comfortable.
“We’re always trying to be cooler than our parents or grandparents, and we come up with these ideas,” he says, “and they usually end up just being recycled versions of things that have already happened.”
Sock trends generally have a lot to do with youth culture: Bobby socks (white lace socks turned up at the ankle) were popular among young women in the 1940s, while long, ringed tube socks exploded in popularity in the 1970s with the rise of organized sports in the United States.
By the 2000s, office dress codes had loosened and customers were looking for cheaper, more casual alternatives to dress socks, says Randy Goldberg, founder and chief brand officer of Bombas, which launched in 2013 with ankle socks as its core product.
But Goldberg said sales of longer socks have been trending upward over the past two years. In response, Bombas introduced “half-calf” crew socks in January, which now account for 5 percent of the company’s total sales. But Goldberg said the company still wants to appeal to customers “regardless of what side of the sock wars they’re on.”
Young people are gravitating toward neutral crew socks from Nike and similar products from Aritzia and Uniqlo. Other companies are rushing to get in on the conversation: “Crew socks are trending,” says a sponsored post from activewear company Lululemon.
At least some millennials are taking an interest in crew socks: Renee Raina Glennon, a 39-year-old podcast host from Ontario, Canada, ordered a six-pair set on Amazon after seeing how popular they were with Gen Z. She says she’s also encouraging her husband to hang up his ankle socks.
“I’m trying to explain to him that it’s not cool anymore,” she said.
Shay Panzal, a 17-year-old from Carmel, Indiana, believes the sock boom is due in part to a trend of highlighting generational differences online: She thinks millennials should be less concerned with wearing “trendy socks” and more about wearing what makes them comfortable.
Shay’s mother recently pulled a pair of crew socks from her daughter’s laundry and slipped them on over her leggings. “Do I look young?” she asked.