Size & Shape Matter

Before we started making our Drymax socks we came to the conclusion that we could develop better fitting more comfortable socks than what were currently being made. Socks that don't fit properly are not only uncomfortable, they often times are the cause of blisters.

HOW IS SIZE OR FIT DETERMINED?

Traditionally sock knitters use flat 2 dimensional boards with a series of holes along with a Durometer tension gauge to determine sock size.  Strangely enough this is the same type gauge that is used to test the hardness of foams & rubber.  When using these boards we witnessed everyone struggling with the socks trying to get them to fit on the boards properly. After forcing a sock on a board they would say, “See it fits.” We would put this same sock on peoples' feet and it did not fit so well. Interestingly enough, no one ever bothered to use the Durometer tension gauge. Their fit system seemed to leave far too much room for individual interpretation. We still can not figure out how you can accurately use one 2 dimensional board to determine a range of sizes and widths.

We decided we couldn’t use the hosiery industry’s sizing/grading system if we were to have proper fitting socks. Instead we developed our own system. We determined that a 3D form would better represent the size, shape and volume of a foot much better than a 2 dimensional board.

To make our True Fit sock sizing system more accurate, we concluded that we would have to produce our sock forms in each of our 5 sock sizes (S, M, L, XL & XXL). These represent a size and width range we built them from the shortest/narrowest size/width to the longest/widest size/width. After several months of field studies and help from a few dozen colleges, we were able to determine an average 3D size for each and every foot size that was between a Women’s 5 AA and a Men’s 16 EE.

Once the research was completed, we produced 20 of our special 3D sock forms for our 5 sizes of socks. These are the forms we use to make the best fitting socks in the industry!

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