Sock
Videos
A sock is a piece of clothing worn on the feet and often covering the ankle or some part of the calf. Some types of shoes or boots are typically worn over socks. In ancient times, socks were made from
A hand-knitted sock
Silk woven socks from the Mawangdui tomb, Western Han, 2nd century BC. Ancient Chinese socks are loose fitting and were tied with strings at the back.
Egyptian socks created by naalbinding. Dating from 300 to 500, these were excavated from Oxyrhynchus on the Nile in Egypt. The split toes were designed for use with sandals. On display in the Victoria and Albert museum, reference 2085&A-1900.
12th-century cotton sock, found in Egypt. The knitter of this sock started work at the toe and then worked up towards the leg. The heel was made last and then attached to loops formed while knitting the leg. This practice allowed the heel to be easily replaced when it wore out.
Footwrap
Videos
Footwraps are rectangular pieces of cloth that are worn wrapped around the feet to reduce chafing from other footwear, absorb sweat and improve the foothold. Footwraps were worn with boots before sock
Sock
…shoes. Because the manufacture of socks was relatively time-consuming in preindustrial times, they were long used only by the rich. The poor wore footwraps, simple cloths wrapped around the feet. These remained in use in Eastern European armies until the end of the 20th century. According to the Greek poet…
One method of putting on footwraps
Footwraps of this style were issued to Finnish Army soldiers until the 1990s.
A Soviet soldier drying his footwraps. 1962 painting by Y. G. Gorelov.