Do You Wear Socks With Crocs? The Footwear Debate Weighed In

Whether you’ve got sunburned Croc feet or you hate tucking your comfy Crocs away in the winter, it might get you wondering—should you wear socks with crocs, or is it a fashion faux pas?

The short answer is that it comes down to personal preference. We’ll introduce you to why people choose to wear socks with Crocs, the famous people who make it a fashion statement, and how to pair socks with Crocs, should you choose to do so.

Do You Wear Socks with Crocs? What Does The Crocs Company Have to Say About It?

According to Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Crocs, Heidi Cooley says that the Crocs brand has always been about people expressing their identity via Crocs. Therefore, there’s no “right” way to wear Crocs—they made these shoes to be flexible according to people’s desired fashion statements.

do you wear crocs with socks
Do You Wear Socks with Crocs?

In fact, the Crocs company has taken it one step further. They created the Crocs Socks collection that offers sock lovers the option to pair their Crocks with bold sock fashion choices. So, be prepared to encounter fun and colorful designs, along with several sock styles.

Examples of socks from the ever-evolving Crocs Socks collection include:

  • Low cut
  • Quarter cut
  • Crew cut
  • Adult and child sizes

Wearing Crocs with Socks in The News

One of the best places to understand the debate about whether or not people should pair Crocs with socks is by turning to the media.

In August 2020, ELLE ran a story declaring that Crocs were the “unofficial shoe of the pandemic.” Meanwhile, teenagers were onto Crocs well before then, with CNBC publishing an article in July 2019 saying that teenager interest in Crocs boosted Crocs’ stock price. The fact that teens can pair their crocs with fun sock designs is undoubtedly a reason for their popularity.

But perhaps most famously of all, the now-former U.S. president George W. Bush made one of the first Crocs with socks statements. In 2007, many news outlets ran stories on Bush parading around in black Crocs with crew-cut golf socks. Some even called it the “foot-in-Crocs disease.”

Needless to say, that sparked a debate about whether one should wear socks with Crocs (among the older discussion of whether it’s appropriate to wear Crocs at all—a criticism Bush received back in the day).

Celebrities Spotted Wearing Socks with Crocs

If the celebrities are in on something, you know it’s worth paying attention to. So, below are some names of famous folk who the paparazzi caught dashing around wearing Crocs with socks or who’ve proudly displayed their fashion statement to the public on their own.

  • Ariana Grande
  • Lebron James
  • Pharrell Williams
  • Justin Bieber

The Benefits of Wearing Socks with Crocs

Do You Wear Socks With Crocs
The Benefits of Wearing Socks with Crocs

When considering the question, “Do you wear socks with Crocs?” Personal preference plays a role. However, there are also several practical reasons aside from style. Let’s explore some of the most common scenarios when it makes sense to pair your Crocs with socks.

1. Protect Your Feet

There are several professions where wearing Crocs is the norm. Examples include:

What do all of these professions have in common? They spend a lot of time on their feet. Furthermore, nurses, house cleaners, and chefs come in frequent contact with liquids and other items that could damage their skin. Think blood, toxic chemicals, and hot foods.

Therefore, by wearing socks with their Crocs, nurses, house cleaners, chefs, and people in other similar situations receive a layer of protection from liquids and objects reaching their skin.

2. Keep Your Feet Warm

Let’s face it—all those holes in Crocs make for excellent ventilation. So, if you want to take advantage of the comfort that Crocs provide without freezing during the winter, pairing your Crocs with socks is an excellent choice.

To help keep your feet as comfy as possible, we recommend buying a thick pair of socks. Feel free to go as tacky as you’d like, putting to use those massive socks your grandma got you as a stocking stuffer.

One of the many wonderful things about Crocs is their large openings. Therefore, they’ll fit practically any sock you wear.

3. Prevent Sunburn

Often, people think of Crocs as summer footwear, given that they offer excellent ventilation. Nevertheless, if you’ll be spending lots of time in the sun, Croc tans are a problem to consider (or a trend to take part in, according to BuzzFeed).

If you’d rather not jump on the polka-dot foot tan bandwagon, it’s best to pair your Crocs with socks. Since it’ll be hot out, choosing thin socks with excellent ventilation is ideal.

Of course, you could also put sunscreen on your feet instead of wearing socks during the summer. However, the disadvantage of this is the bottom of your Crocs may get slippery. Plus, you’ll still run the risk of getting a tan (assuming you want to avoid the infamous Croc tan).

4. Avoid Blisters

As comfortable as Crocs are, they can spark blisters for certain users. Most notably, foot blisters occur on people who are on their feet a lot and wearing Crocs all day long. Therefore, nurses and other people who wear Crocs while at work commonly wear socks to prevent blisters from forming.

If a blister forms on your foot from your Crocs before you start wearing socks, treat the blister and cover it with a bandaid. Then, start wearing your Crocs with socks. You might want to use thicker socks than usual at first to prevent your Crocs from rubbing against the blister.


You might also like:


Disadvantages of Wearing Socks with Crocs

Wearing Socks with Crocs
Wearing Socks with Crocs

Some people would argue that the non-traditional appearance of wearing socks with Crocs is enough of a disadvantage to doing so. But fashion aside, there are some legitimate reasons why you may not always want to don your favorite pair of socks with your Crocs.

1. The Smell

Although Crocs have excellent upper ventilation, their lower ventilation (the part that’s flush with the sole of your foot) leaves a lot to be desired. Therefore, if you’re in an environment where you’ll be sweating, skipping wearing socks with your Crocs is probably best.

Otherwise, smells from sweating into the bottom rubber portion of your Crocs could give rise to smelly feet. Although this can happen without socks, the cloth material in socks will hold in the smells even more strongly.

Socks that hold in the sweat on feet can cause numerous issues, including athlete’s foot and toenail fungus. So, do yourself and those around you a favor by leaving your socks off when you’re in sweat-inducing environments.

2. It Can Get Messy

You may not have thought of your socks as having messy material until you pair them with your Croc’s rubber surface. Poorly made socks or those that already have some fuzz on them will create a nightmare cleaning situation for you and your Crocs.

Cotton, spandex, and artificial materials (such as polyester and nylon) tend to be ideal to pair with Crocs. Just make sure to spend a few extra dollars to invest in a higher-quality sock pair—the clean-up-free result it’ll produce will be well worth it.

Read Also: Do Crocs Run Big?

How to Wear Socks with Crocs?

Do You Wear Socks With Crocs
How to Wear Socks With Crocs?

Now that you know the answer to “Do you wear socks with Crocs?” is that it depends on personal preference, let’s explore some of the many ways you can wear socks with your Crocs.

1. For an Almost No-Show Look

If you’re still trying to adjust to the fashion statement that Crocs have become and don’t want to draw any more attention to them than you have to, wearing no-show socks is ideal.

Of course, because of the open-style design of the Croc, it’s impossible to 100% hide your socks. However, pairing your Crocs with no-show socks will undoubtedly help. Furthermore, purchasing the same color socks as your Crocs will help them blend even more for a relatively visible-free look.

2. For a Completely No-Show Look

If you’ve never heard of half socks, we’re happy to be the ones to introduce them to you. Half socks look like a regular sock from your toes down to past the ball of your foot. After that, the material cuts off, and the remainder of your foot is bare.

We won’t get into all the advantages and disadvantages of half socks here. But if you’d like some protection that socks offer while having the confidence that no one will see a sock around your heel, wearing half socks with your Crocs is an excellent option.

3. For Shorts and Skirts

If you’d like to make a statement wearing socks with your Crocs when wearing shorts or skirts, it’s often best to choose white socks. That way, the bold pattern that many Croc socks have won’t distract from your outfit.

That said, if your clothes are a solid color, particularly white, then it can be fun and stylish to spruce your Croc socks up with a fun color or design.

4. For Sweatpants and Winter Apparel

There’s no need to be shy when wearing socks with your Crocs in the winter. On the contrary, you should go all out with quarter or crew-cut socks to keep your feet and ankles toasty in cold weather.

Since you’ll likely be wearing pants or sweatpants with your Crocs in the wintertime, the color or design of your Crocs won’t matter as much since people will only get a glimpse of them, at best.

5. For Water Activities

Although designers made Crocs for wearing around pools and other bodies of water without socks, the good ‘ole threat of sunburn might leave you wanting to toss on a pair.

So, if you expect your feet to get wet while you’re outside, consider purchasing a pair of waterproof socks. That way, you don’t have to worry about the discomfort of wet socks, which can also be a breeding ground for bacteria and fungus.

Built-in Crocs with Socks

Yes, you read that right—it’s possible to purchase Crocs with socks built right into its rubber fabric. Needless to say, this is for the truly lazy or those not wanting to rack their brain over what type of sock matches best with a specific Croc color.

Do You Wear Socks With Crocs?
Source Pinterest: (@evange_____)

The Sun dubbed Alfie’s built-in sock Crocs as “The shoe nobody needed.” We’re not here to argue for or against that claim, but we can tell you this—Alfie’s built-in sock Crocs come in a white crock with a crew-cut sock that has a red and blue band around the calf.

Undoubtedly, this Croc is for show more than anything, as the sock attaches to the outer opening of the Croc only. In other words, it doesn’t protect your foot from the small open holes over the front of the shoe. We also imagine it would be more challenging to give it a good wash.

Alfie claims their goal with the built-in sock Croc was to bring back the 1970s fashion, which involved wearing socks with sandals. Needless to say, Alfie was confident that people would embrace their built-in sock; the Crocs sold for $140 each.

Anyone familiar with Alfie’s history of partnerships with Croc can breathe a sigh of relief, though—their built-in sock Crocs didn’t run for the $600 price tag that their Art Croc did.

Read Also: Do You Wear Socks with Hey Dudes?

Keeping Your Crocs Clean

Socks help create a barrier between your bare feet and rubber Crocs. Nevertheless, wearing socks with your Crocs isn’t the time to dismiss personal hygiene and assume that your Crocs never need cleaning.

Cleaning Crocs isn’t as easy as tossing your tennis shoes in the washing machine, but it isn’t too time-consuming either. To start, run your Crocs under cool water to remove dirt and other particles. Then, mix some laundry detergent in a bowl until it suds up.

Keeping Your Crocs Clean
Keeping Your Crocs Clean

Take a cloth and run it over your Crocs, using a circular motion to encourage grime to release. It’s best to use a fabric with some texture to help remove hard-to-reach grime. However, avoid using brushes or anything else with solid bristles, as you don’t want to damage the rubber.

Once you’re satisfied with your cleaning, run your Crocs back over cool water to remove all the detergent. Then, let them dry before getting back to rocking your Crocs with socks.

Read Also: Are Crocs Considered Closed Toe Shoes?


Latest Posts:


Final Thought

Wearing socks with Crocs is a personal choice. There are many reasons to choose this option, from being a safer way to wear Crocs in some professions to it being a favorite fashion statement.

Of course, not everyone has the same taste in fashion. So, one person’s trendy socks with Crocs fashion statement is another person’s fashion nightmare.

Regardless of whether you decide to don your Crocs with or without socks, you made the right choice if you’re happy and comfortable.