What products are available that will keep your socks from falling
down while wearing boots. I am looking for a variety of products (if
available)-- not just one product. I wish to see what is one the
market to help with this problem. I do not want socks that stay up by
themselves. Only products that help keep your socks up. Please feel
free to ask clarfying questions.
Thanks!

Hi puravida,

There are actually quite a few choices when it comes to means of
keeping your socks from falling down, certainly a common problem, and
the solutions range from the tried-and-true to quite inventive.  These
solutions are available for both men and women, for every length of
socks including boot socks and support hose.

For instance, here's a link for a roll-on body adhesive you apply
directly to your skin. 
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/ames-walker/itstayad.html  Sounds
interesting, but they claim it's non-irritating and will hold until
you remove it.

And then there is the old-fashioned garter belt.  An example can be
found here: http://shop.store.yahoo.com/ames-walker/noname.html
Basically it's a belt worn 'round the waist, from which dangle
(usually) four straps at the end of which are fasteners you attach to
your socks.

A variation on the garter belt is a set of individual garters,
sometimes called "shirt garters," which have fasteners at both ends. 
You clip one end to your shirttail, the other to the top of your
socks.  This is popular among military personnel, and can be found at
BX's, PX's, military clothing stores and military surplus stores, as
well as uniform stores catering to police, firefighters and other
similar uniformed professions.  There are some of these available
online here: http://www.muldoons.com/sgarter.html , here:
http://www.leonuniform.com/ShirtGarter.htm , and here:
http://www.grunt.com/catalog/shopdisplayproducts.asp?Search=Yes

And then there are the traditional tie or elastic-type garters, which
are worn around the top of the sock to hold them in place.  Scottish
highland dress is a good example of these for men; the traditional
lace wedding style for women.  Find the first here:
http://www.cuillinn.com/newhd.html where there's a description, with a
link to a picture and an email address for ordering; and more here:
http://www.highland-dress.co.uk/catalogue/index.cfm?items=2265 .

See just one of many examples of the second here:
http://highxpress.tripod.com/noveltypics3.html or here:
http://www.sonies.com/garters.html

The simplest, of course, would be a strip of leather, ribbon or cloth
tied around the stocking to hold it up.  There're even instructions
for knitting your own here: http://www.nwta.com/cforum/613.html which
claims they don't bind as tightly!

I hope these links have given you some ideas and a start on locating
exactly what you want.  The search terms I used included:

hose hosiery garters men's women's
shirt garters
garters purchase online
socks accessories
garter belt

Best wishes,
Byrd

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Request for Answer Clarification by puravida77-ga on 27 Oct 2002 13:14 PST

Are there any products that do not involve the strapping of the sock
to a shirt, or glueing to the body, or strapping around the
circumferance of the upper calf?
If not-- let me know and I will give you five stars.
The products you cited seem to use the above three methods, any other
methods? (as opposed to other products that use one of the same three
methods).
Thanks!

---

Clarification of Answer by byrd-ga on 27 Oct 2002 16:27 PST

Thanks much for giving me the opportunity to clarify.  Though I was
away for awhile today, I did find myself musing on your question and
wondering the same thing myself, so I'm glad to look further for you.

Just to reiterate first, actually I did mention a fourth method, which
is the use of a garter belt.  Although related to the shirt garters,
this does not actually attach to your shirt; the belt is a separate
garment.  Of course, corsets and girdles as well can and often do also
have garter straps on them, and such garments are also separate
pieces, available for both genders.  But I did think with these I had
covered all the methods.

However, on your request I did some further searching to see what
would turn up.  First I came up with something called "sock ties,"
which are designed to be used by hockey and soccer players and such,
and sounded promising.  But they turned out to be just another
variation of the standard garter, using a combination of elastic and
velcro for a better fit.  Here are a couple of links for those in case
you're interested: http://www.biziworks.com.au/biziworks/BiziGen?ownerID=HOCK787&docID=1209
 and http://www.gray-nicolls.com.au/steacc.html

Then on reading the previous desciption, it did occur to me that it
might be possible to fashion a band of velcro to which the sock would
adhere when pulled over it, in contrast to being compressed underneath
a band, but I wasn't able to find anything like that commercially
available. I did find mention, however, of a "silicone band," that
sounds somewhat similar in concept:
http://www.sockdoctor.com/FittingQuestions_F2.html#2A  However, these
seem to be built into the "stay-up" types of stockings, rather than
available for purchase separately, though one could certainly
improvise and it does seem to be another methods.

And then, on looking further, I also found that some athletes (esp.
hockey players) use shorts with velcro on them to hold up their
socks/stockings.  See examples of these here:
http://www.hockeynut.ca/cgi-bin/uni?cat=9&subcat=39&item=80 or here:
http://www.fogdog.com/product/index.jsp?productId=503331 . Related to
these might be the old trick we used to use in winter of pulling our
socks on over our longjohns.  Doing it that way ensured they'd stay up
indefinitely.

And then here is a suggestion for using rubber strips for holding up
socks: http://www.thematking.com/business_industry/we-aint-just-mats/surplus/scraprubber/lot5762-11-7.htm
 However, the site's author(s) don't clearly explain exactly how this
should be done, so I would say this probably doesn't exactly count as
another method.

Therefore, in conclusion, after a quite extensive search, I feel
fairly confident in saying that at present, there appear to be six
main methods of holding up socks, that is:

1) Strapping the sock to a belt, corset, or girdle.
2) Strapping the sock to one's shirt.
3) Strapping the sock around the calf or upper leg.
4) Securing the sock to a band of velcro, silicone or rubber placed
around the leg.
5) Gluing or otherwise (e.g. duct tape) adhering the sock to the skin.
6) Securing the sock by means of velcro or friction adhesion (e.g.
socks over long underwear) to a pair of shorts or other item of
clothing.
 
I could not locate any other methods.  Additional search terms I used
were:

"hold up socks" 
velcro shorts
socks "silicone band"
keeping socks up

I hope this has been of help to you.  Please do let me know if you
need any further clarification.

Regards and thanks,
Byrd

Excellent research. First rate.