Socks? Socks!

And get a copy of
How to Wear Socks
from Boswell, too!

From Madi: Have you seen the sock posts on the Boswell Book Company Instagram? Those are my feet. The posts themselves were also my insistence. I was even recently described by a fellow Boswellian as “socks champion.” What is especially weird is that as soon as the weather warms, I usually wear slip on shoes, and cut out the socks all together, But that was before I moved to Wisconsin, and here my toes are always cold. So, I am very happy that Boswell has such a great collection of what I affectionately call foot cozies to keep my cold toes covered! Men’s, women’s, even some children’s and no-show options - we’ve got ‘em! Well, since I can’t stop talking about socks, I might as well write some recommendations to keep my fellow Milwaukeeans comfortable.

We have three main brands of socks here at Boswell. The first kind is called Socksmith - I think of these as the classy ones of the crew (sock pun!). They come in unisex or women's sizing, and their patterns tend to be a bit more general. One fancy yellow pair for women has badgers all over them, so you KNOW they sell well. I personally lose my mind any time a pair with a cow comes in. We even have a unisex option that is black and white cow print with pink at the toes. A lot of this brand has animal and floral motifs, but the unisex options have some funky green math socks for anyone missing their math classes, and a colorful puzzle piece sock to wear while you try to sort out the 1,000 jumble of puzzle pieces monopolizing your coffee table. Plenty of variety.

The second brand we have is Out of Print. They also make fun tote bags and zipper pouches that we carry at Boswell, but lately, we have expanded the sock variety of this brand. My favorite socks I have purchased from Boswell is a Fahrenheit 451 themed pair featured in a recent Instagram post; the abstract swirl of colors is perfectly fiery for this sci-fi classic. The Out of Print selection is the most literary-centric. The Harry Potter socks from like collection are quite popular, but I get a giggle out of the “Poe-lka Dots” pair - they have Edgar Allen Poe all over them. If that isn’t enough, we even have a matching tote! But if you still want a general yet bookish foot cozy, the Cats on Stacks pair or the “Banned Books” pair are super cute without the genre commitment. These socks are the perfect way to show the world how well read your ankles are.

The brand that offers the largest variety and tends toward the silly side has the best name: Sock It to Me! My favorite pair I own from this brand are sharks wearing 3-D glasses (I warned you they were silly). It seems that a lot of fellow book sellers also go a little crazy over this brand. Margaret bought the “Area 51” pair depicting a cow being abducted by a UFO. Rachel bought the “Head over Heel” pair that have different body parts on them. Even Kira fell in love with a pair depicting squirrels paddling a canoe. We carry a few no-show socks from this brand for those who want to be the only ones know what cool patterns are hidden under their shoes, or knee socks for those who can’t show the patterns off enough. We currently have a four pair series depicting four different trailblazing women scientists for all the STEM feminists (STEMinists!). But if you want to keep it fun and silly, we have dinosaurs, donuts, bigfoot on a bicycle, sparkles socks, space themed socks, and more!

There’s something for everybody’s toes at Boswell - browse our socks virtually right here on our website. Best of all, all the socks we carry are at least 55% cotton, so you can wear these socks without worrying about stinky feet - so people will SEE your cool socks first, not smell them. Never did I think I would be working at a bookstore and be so excited about the sock selection, but here we are. Just ask for Madi if you want to talk sock!