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No matter which activity you&#;re doing, socks with extra traction on the bottom can help prevent your feet from slipping and sliding, giving you more control and stability. Though they do often cost a little more than regular socks, the difference is one you&#;ll feel right away. Before purchasing a pair, here&#;s everything you need to look for in the best socks with grip.
From fit to the type of material they&#;re designed with, read on for our guide to purchasing the best pair of socks for you.
Fit: Your socks should fit tight, but they should still feel comfortable. You want them to be fitted under the arch of your foot and around the heel, while still letting you move your toes freely. On cheaper-made socks that don&#;t fit right, the material can bunch up while inside your boot or shoe, which can affect the way you walk, run and perform during a game.
Some brands focus their fit down to individual socks for both the left and right foot, which is a huge help when finding the right pair. Socks that come in different sizes, much like shoes, are another big advantage over a one-size-fits-all pair.
Material: Lower-quality material is something you&#;ll feel right away. It&#;s scratchy, stiff, overstretches and can leave feet feeling sweaty and fatigued. To deal with things like sweat, heat and painful friction, companies often use a blend of different synthetic materials that can help wick away sweat, like polyester, nylon and acrylic. Lycra is another material to help with stretch, and can last a long time without losing its fit and shape.
For the grips, they&#;re often made from rubber, and can get stickier over time after multiple washes. Over time, the pads themselves can come off after heavy use. Overall, you should expect years of use for a well-made pair of socks with grip.
Traction and Grips: Most of today&#;s athletic socks feature traction in contact zone areas of your feet. Narrowing down the grips to where your toes and heel hit the floor (or even within a shoe) can streamline the stability right where it&#;s needed most. It&#;s not a dealbreaker, and a sock with grips all over will still get the job done. Some socks also offer grips on the inside as well as the outside, which is really helpful for sports where cleats are involved.
Cost: These are going to be pricier than regular socks, but they provide superior performance and better protection against sweat and blisters. We&#;ve selected four favorites for your feet below.
For sports like soccer and lacrosse, TruSox take the top prize. These are not only plenty grippy, but also do an awesome job of preventing blisters. The socks&#; pads provide a solid and steadfast grip, on both the outside and the inside. Whether your feet are on the floor or in a shoe, the pads allow you to confidently make sudden stops and change directions in an instant.
These full-length socks are the longest type that TruSox makes. They are wearable over shin pads, and they&#;re also really comfortable even off the field.
Buy TruSox Unisex Cushioned Socks $43.66
Falke has crafted fashionable footwear and other clothing since . Over a century later, that tradition continues with these comfortable, high-quality socks. The socks form to your feet, with individual cushioning designated for your right and left foot. They&#;re made with triple-layered, moisture-wicking fabric. But the real standout feature here is the silicone grip on each sock, letting you move freely without having to compensate for a loose or bunchy sock.
Buy Falke Unisex Grip Running Socks $40.00
These stretchy socks fit most feet like a glove, and still provide the traction you need both on the inside and outside of your feet. The grips are thick and cushioned, and you can definitely feel them working when you wear them. While that might make it a little harder to put on a soccer cleat at times, they&#;re actually pretty ideal for activities like yoga or even hiking. They&#;re also comfortable, breathable and a reliable alternative when shopping on a budget.
Buy Lux Anti-Slip Socks
Adidas Alphaskins feature comfy cushioning all around, but especially where you&#;ll need it most, like in your heels and toes. Combine that with its arch support and full footbed grip yarns, and you have socks that can handle it all.
These are specifically fitted for left and right feet, and are woven with moisture-wicking yarn to keep your feet dry when you break a sweat. Besides being great for athletes, these socks also have a cool aesthetic, with sleek Adidas stripes on the heel and a front logo.
Buy Adidas Unisex Alphaskin Traxion Maximum&#;
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ONE of the best ways to prevent blisters while playing football is to wear football grip socks and they can also help improve your running.
According to APEX, 72% of Premier League footballers wear grip socks as it&#;s been statistically proven to help boost performance in a match.
So, what are grip socks exactly? There are a few types of grip socks available including ones for pilates or spinning, but football grip socks are uniquely designed with grippy material to help prevent slippage while running on grass or astroturf, which makes them better than regular socks.
This, worn with football boots, ensures players feel &#;locked in&#; when running and can help bolster physical attributes like speed and agility.
I&#;ve been playing football for 15 years - from representing my school to now being in a grassroots team and over the years, I&#;ve learned that improving my stride has had a significant impact on my performance. I can&#;t count the number of times I&#;ve slipped over sprinting after a ball, and while I luckily have never had any broken bones, having a sprained ankle is never pleasant.
In order to see whether they could really help prevent blisters and improve my game, I tested out the best football grip socks in .
7
VYPR
Vypr&#;s grip socks have become increasingly popular online and their Performance Grip Socks are a particular favourite of footballers. Uniquely designed with SUREGRIP&#; Unique proprietary grip technology, the socks have velvet grips as opposed to silicon and are designed in anatomical shaping to help stimulate nerve endings and blood circulation.
The result is that it&#;s got a tight grip but doesn&#;t feel difficult to move in at all and is extremely firm, even in rainy weather. I play in defence and a lot of my position requires kicking long balls so I need socks that will protect my feet from heavy impact. These were definitely helpful in keeping my feet secure and locked in while I kicked the ball and the material felt premium. Another benefit was that the socks come with small sizing options which made it fit well to my feet. Although I did find that the mid-crew length cut off at an awkward length on my legs, it didn&#;t dig into my skin and I really enjoyed wearing them throughout my training sessions.
5/5
7
Gripworx makes some of the more affordable grip socks you can get, but I was impressed with the performance nonetheless.
They don't provide the same level of compression support as some of the other socks in this article, but they are well-ventilated and help keep your feet cool rather than stuffy, which will be a help in the summer months.
The ankle socks I tested are ideal for training sessions, especially on artificial 3G/4G pitches where you've got the most grip underfoot and foot movement is at a maximum in your boot.
Link to yipin
But if you're looking for socks compatible with shinpads, you'd be best off looking elsewhere.
5/5
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7
UMBRO
Umbro has made a name as one of the oldest British football brands and so it&#;s no surprise that their Protex Grip Socks have been designed for football. Its main feature is that it&#;s equipped with Premgripp Technology and has silicon grips, enabling the socks to grip firmly onto the insides of football boots.
I wore these during a sweaty training session that included a lot of quick turns and I was happily surprised to discover that these socks did not slip during the entire 90 minutes. The silicon didn&#;t feel uncomfortable at all and my feet felt quite snug.
However, it&#;s worth noting that if you&#;re playing on grass, then white socks will stain easily with dirt. But, I&#;d buy a couple of pairs to keep on rotation to avoid constantly washing. Of all the socks, these were my favourites as they prevented slippage and my feet felt supported.
5/5
7
ADIDAS
When I first put these Adidas socks on, they felt lighter than I expected them to be and didn&#;t feel too restrictive on my feet. I used to dread putting on football socks as I often found them really tight on my legs, but these socks felt extremely comfortable to wear thanks to the lightweight material.
They&#;ve got mesh ventilation and HEAT.RDY tech to keep feet cool and traction pods on the heel and toe area that help with grip. I didn&#;t have any blisters while wearing these socks and they were very easy to slip on and off. While my feet didn&#;t feel tightly locked into my boots, the socks provided decent traction when I was running on a grass pitch.
Sometimes, I found that the back of the socks slipped down my ankle as the size was a little bit too big for my feet. But when the weather gets hotter, I&#;ll definitely be using this pair to train in.
4/5
7
FALKE
With the exception of being a goalkeeper, most positions in football require a heavy amount of running, especially in defensive midfield, which is the position I play. The Falke RU4 run socks are a pair of lightweight socks designed with endurance in mind. The socks help keep sweat off with a three-layer construction that keeps feet protected from blisters.
I liked the medium cushioning and when I was jogging on an astroturf pitch, I found that the socks gave me a decent bounce in my run and there wasn&#;t much slippage. The grip wasn&#;t as strong as other pairs but its padding helped to keep my steps springing on hard ground.
They are designed for running so while I&#;m not sure whether I would wear them during a game as I&#;ll need to make faster turns, overall, I think they were great for improving my running abilities.
3/5
7
UNDER ARMOUR
Under Armour is known for being a pioneer in running gear and these mid-crew socks are made to be worn for hot weather thanks to its sweat-wicking material. They&#;re designed from a supportive knit fabric that has ArmourDry® yarns that disperses moisture evenly so you avoid sweating through the socks.
While the grip feels subtle in texture, I was actually pleasantly surprised at how snug my feet felt in my boots. I had a tumble during an 11-aside match on a grass pitch but managed to recover pretty fast as my foot was secured tightly in my boots. I&#;d definitely pick these socks for a match as the cushioning provided all-round protection and I walked away without any blisters after a 90-minute game.
Plus, the socks dry quickly so I was able to wash and wear them to the next day&#;s training. The only downside was that the unisex sizing was a bit too big for my size 5 feet and I wish more football grip socks were designed with more options for smaller feet.
5/5
7
UNDER ARMOUR
These over-the-calf socks from Under Armour are the ideal pick for football matches as the supportive knit keeps legs cool while holding shin pads in place. I used to dread putting on long socks because they felt so tight around my calves and these ones took a bit of a wiggle to get on. However, once on it felt quite comfortable around my legs and didn&#;t dig in too much.
It also stretched nicely over my shin pads and helped them stay put throughout my 5-aside match. There&#;s very subtle contouring around the ankle to help mould the sock to the foot and the main grip comes from its material, which is sweat-wicking to prevent slippage.
I&#;m shorter so I found that the material did bunch slightly around my ankle, but overall I enjoy playing in these socks. Plus, the simple design makes it work for most kits so it&#;ll definitely be staying in my rotation.
4/5
Grip socks are now worn by the majority of the players in the Premier League but they really became more popular in , when former Tottenham Hotspur striker Gareth Bale started wearing Trusox grip socks in his matches to improve his goal-scoring performance.
Trusox was the first brand to pioneer grip socks and since then, has been worn by Raheem Sterling, Eric Dier and Dele Alli in the World Cup. In addition, Heung-min Son has been seen training in We Foot socks, while Erling Haaland has worn GearXPro SoxPro Socks.
Typically, they can last anywhere from 6 - 12 months. But this is dependent on how often you wear them. It&#;s always recommended to wash the socks after each use so you can care for them in the long run.
Always make sure that when washing your socks, you turn them inside out and put them on a gentle run to preserve the grip. Either air dry them or put them on a low-tumble dryer setting.
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