Socks are where a lot of men’s wardrobes quietly give up, and that is a shame because it costs very little to get them right. A well chosen check sock does something specific. It adds a point of interest to an outfit that is otherwise doing everything correctly, and it does it without the wearer having to make a song and dance about it. The check works because it reads as considered rather than loud. A windowpane or a Glen plaid on a sock sits naturally with tailoring, works just as well rolled up with chinos, and adds something to a plain trouser that a solid colour simply cannot. We have been looking specifically at weight, pattern scale, and how the sock holds its shape through a full day of wear. Thin socks with oversized patterns tend to look cheap in a way that is hard to explain until you see them next to the good ones. These are the good ones.