Shooting socks vs kilt hose

[OC Richard]

The shooting socks intended for wear over Wellies can be much longer than kilt hose.

I have a pair, to wear them with kilts I have to do a complicated multiple-fold thing.

Thing is, the traditionally made kilt hose/shooting socks are two separate pieced sewn together, the seam is hidden under the turnover cuff.

One of these days I'll take my shooting socks apart, chop the bottom sections, and sew them back together.

As an aside, goofy things can happen due to the same firms sometimes making both kilt hose and shooting socks: a pair of Cheviot kilt hose I purchased had one of each! Exactly the same sock, but one was around 5 inches longer.

[Jock Scot]

The shooting socks intended for wear over Wellies can be much longer than kilt hose. .....................

.................

Really? That is the first I have ever heard of that. I have been around shooting hose on an almost daily basis for much of the year for far too many decades to worry about and not only have I have never heard of them worn as you suggest, also, I have never seen or perhaps, never noticed them worn as you describe either.

I wear kilt hose with the kilt and happily wear them shooting, likewise I happily wear shooting hose when shooting and when wearing the kilt. Whilst I get the feeling that some shooting hose might be a tad longer than kilt hose, it’s never occurred to me that they are noticeably longer. Perhaps long legs adapt to the extra length?

[Jock Scot]

Oops sorry dual post, now deleted.

[kingandrew]

I have several pairs of kilt socks and a few pairs of shooting socks, too. The shooting socks are a wee bit longer, coming up to just under my kneecap, while the kilt socks top out a couple of finger widths below the kneecap. The contrasting colors on the shooting socks look great with my kilt, and these socks are much warmer than my kilt socks. I have a garter tie that came with a pair of shooting socks and another that came with klit socks. Both look and function fine with either kind of sock. I have a pair of flashes, but generally prefer the garter ties.

If you like the look, there is no reason to hold back from wearing them.

I will admit that I would not wear a mismatched pair like the ones OC Richard described, but I haven't encountered such a pair to date.

Andrew

[jhockin]

The shooting socks intended for wear over Wellies ….

Can they also be worn with banana shoes, whilst herding sheep? 😉
( couldn’t resist a Sir Billy reference)

[OC Richard]

[Jock Scot]

I rather thought that a picture would appear!

Oh good gracious me! Those boots, hose and the person wearing them have never seen a days shooting!

Had I been able to post pictures yesterday, I was trying to post a few pictures of hose in action where they would illustrate the contrary. I will endeavour to attempt to get the system to work later today.

Speaking from some experience, wearing the hose as you illustrate, will only catch the wet, thorns and mud and will quickly cause real discomfort around the top of the calf.

If I saw someone wearing their hose and trousers as you illustrate and honestly I have never seen it, I would instantly assume that there is a “ towny” amongst our midst and they know nothing about the countryside and its mud and wet!

[Jock Scot]

How real shooting hose are worn in , er well umm , in action. Its difficult to be too precise because of rule 11 constraints, but I hope that you can see the difference between how those "that know" and OCR's picture.



Well, well what a surprise! I cannot download pictures and I could not yesterday either. I have had problems before but-------------? Is it me? It probably is, or, is there a problem with the system? Answers in non techno-jargon would be helpful.

Anyway, for those that might be interested, I have posted pictures before here that show how shooting hose are worn in action with some shooting britches, which is very different from the "plus 4" style. Nevertheless, shooting hose are certainly not worn as OCR's picture demonstrates!

I will try again later.

[OC Richard]

I know nothing whatsoever about shooting in the UK.

"Shooting" here in the US (which I've done many years of) is a completely different thing with completely different clothes.

All I know is that when looking at British shooting socks for sale (my intention being to wear them as kilt hose) I've seen photos of them with wellies, sometimes pulled over the wellies, sometimes pulled up to the knees, either way higher than kilt hose would be, which is our topic here.

I bought a pair of shooting socks and indeed they're too long for kiltwearing without doing a tricky multiple foldover thing.

And as I had said I bought a Cheviot pair, sold as kilt hose, only to discover it was a mismatched pair, one kilt sock and one shooting sock which was around five inches too long, the same length as my pair of shooting socks.

[Micrographia]

As Jock said, in the UK "shooting socks" are specifically designed to be worn with breeks (or britches or breeches) - short trousers that are fastened by a strap at the bottom just below the knee. There are arguments over whether the sock should go under the bottom strap of the breeks or over them before being folded back (I prefer the latter - keeps the ticks out ). They are longer than kilt socks because they need to reach the knees after folding down the top, are worn with both shorter boots or wellies and as we all know are kept up by garter ties (in my case tied above the bottom strap of the breeks, effectively locking the 2 together). Since they are mainly meant to interact with breeks it would be unusual to see them folded over the top of wellies. There are welly socks designed to do this because in the absence of garter ties or similar, wellies are excellent at levering long socks down into the boot while walking and a fold-over can sometimes help with this. But if you do this you are significantly reducing the height of the waterproof protection from the boots - just walking through wet vegetation will cause water to be wicked into the boot, not ideal when you're out all day.

Wellies are actually much comfier with breeks and shooting socks as you don't have to fit trouser bottoms into the boot. The sock fold gives a double width of material that effectively plugs the top of the welly while letting the top of the boots move as you walk. In that picture it looks like the boots are being squashed down from the top, likely by the sock fold-over. Guessing a stylist thought it was a good way to show the sock tops and ties?

Regards, EEM.