Firstly, sports socks choose different raw materials to meet different sports characteristics, but they can be roughly divided into natural fibers such as cotton, linen, silk, and wool, and artificial fibers mainly made of polyester.
Among natural fibers, cotton fiber is mainly used, while other pure natural fibers are rarely used in sports socks. The main artificial fiber is polyester, which has many variants due to its artificial synthesis. However, in sports socks, two main characteristics are highlighted: wear resistance and the sweating properties of modified polyester. Of course, another important factor is the relatively low price of polyester.
Speaking of cotton fiber, in fact, cotton is the most familiar natural fiber to humans, and humans have been using cotton for about 7000 years. Throughout this long history, human genes have had a natural fondness for cotton.
Human beings have also accumulated a lot of experience in using cotton. In terms of production, the highest quality long staple cotton is generally found in Egypt, and there is also a portion in Xinjiang, China. From picking grading to processing of cotton strips, there are many levels. The coarsest classification method is to divide the cotton strips into ordinary cotton, semi combed cotton, and combed cotton.
Plain cotton is the most basic cotton yarn (in fact, there are also grades of good, medium, and poor in plain cotton, but since they are all in the plain cotton level, there is no need to delve deeper). Simply put, plain cotton can meet the basic needs of textile technology. Compared to combed cotton, cotton yarn is not as clean and has a harder texture with more impurities. And combed cotton undergoes finer combing, with a soft and smooth texture, good skin friendly feeling, and fewer impurities. And semi combed cotton is between regular cotton and combed cotton. In terms of cotton raw materials, it is also better for cotton to have longer and more delicate fibers, which can meet the requirements of the combing process. Therefore, the grade of cotton used in combing must be better than ordinary cotton.
Now that we know the basic classification of cotton fibers, let’s take a look at the characteristics of cotton fibers.
Cotton fiber, as a natural fiber and the longest used fiber by humans, is undoubtedly the best in terms of skin friendliness and comfort. In addition, cotton fibers have characteristics such as moisture absorption, breathability, and antibacterial properties.
However, there are several characteristics of cotton fiber that need to be noted when making sports socks:
1. Cotton fibers absorb moisture but are not easy to dry.
That is to say, if you sweat, cotton will quickly absorb sweat, but sweat is stored inside the fibers and is not easily evaporated, so pure cotton is generally not used on sportswear. They all use polyester fibers with quick sweat wicking function.
But this feature needs to be viewed separately in the field of sports socks.
The fields with special requirements for the functionality of sports socks can be roughly divided into two categories:
One type is outdoor hiking socks that require long-term wear, quick drying, warmth retention, and wear resistance. These types of socks, due to their prolonged use in the wild, have the water absorbing but not easily drying properties of cotton, which can lead to a decrease in the warmth retention effect of the socks after prolonged use, posing a risk of toe frostbite in harsh outdoor environments. Therefore, professional outdoor socks will not be made of pure cotton.
However, in most sports such as ball games and running (excluding long-distance running such as marathons), professional sports equipment is usually replaced during regular exercise. The duration of exercise generally does not exceed 3 hours. After exercising, they will change to daily wear, so in these exercises, quick moisture absorption is an advantage, and slow drying can be completely ignored. Because it needs to be replaced immediately after exercise.
On the contrary, the skin friendly, moisture absorbing, and breathable properties of cotton fiber are more suitable for athletes who have requirements for quality and foot feel.
2. Cotton fiber is a natural fiber, and its surface roughness is better than that of artificial fiber, in simple terms, it has better anti slip performance.
Moreover, cotton fibers have better anti slip effects when wet. And the anti slip feel of cotton fiber is the most natural.
This is particularly crucial for sports like badminton and tennis that have a lot of sudden turns and stops.
I once conducted an experiment using polyester outdoor socks with sweat wicking function, although the socks were very thick. However, due to sweat being quickly passed through the socks but unable to be expelled from the shoes, a layer of water film will form between the socks and the shoes. Originally, polyester silk has poor slip resistance, and wearing these socks to play ball feels like wearing a pair of watered but non breathable plastic rain boots. You can imagine this feeling on your own.
Although cotton fiber has good anti slip performance, there are two things to pay attention to:
The better the first grade of cotton fiber, the more oil it is rich in. Although processed, high-grade cotton fiber may still have oil residue in the first few uses, although this amount is very small. It can generally be ignored.
The better the second level, the smoother the cotton fiber combing. The neater the fibers.
Due to the above two points, sports socks made of high-grade cotton fiber may feel a bit slippery during the first few wearing, but after washing and wearing them a few times, the grease is removed and the fibers are stepped on. This problem will not occur, and the anti slip and foot feel will be significantly improved.
The wear resistance of 3 cotton fibers is not as good as that of polyester, but high-quality sports socks, such as those produced by Zhang Weichao, have been reinforced with both the number of yarns and the number of pieces used. In addition, the thickened loop weaving method does not have any problems in terms of durability.
Zhang Weichao’s sports socks are not mixed with any artificial fibers, such as polyester. Its durability can also reach the level of abnormality. Generally, it takes at least 6-12 months, and some may not even break through for 2-3 years.
4. Cotton fibers have no cost advantage. Compared to artificial fibers, cotton fibers require planting, growing, picking, sorting, processing (many processes), and transportation to become a pair of practical socks.
Therefore, the price of cotton yarn is inevitably much higher than that of artificial fibers such as polyester. The higher the quality of cotton yarn, the higher the cost. However, artificial fibers cannot achieve the fiber structure formed by natural fibers and the intimate touch with humans.
Of course, there are also many techniques for blending cotton with other artificial fibers nowadays, such as polyester cotton blending, which can have a ratio of 50:50 or 40:60, and can be freely blended. To reduce costs and neutralize some properties between fibers.
The main raw materials for making sports socks are natural fibers represented by cotton and artificial fibers represented by polyester.
For intense ball sports and short distance running where socks can be changed in a timely manner after exercise, cotton fiber has an absolute advantage in skin friendly comfort, breathability, moisture absorption, health and antibacterial properties, as well as providing natural and high-quality anti slip foot feel.