How can I prolong the life of my socks, with heels worn through?

Question

Shuffling around the house in my stocking feet working at home, has left me with pairs of socks; although originally thick wool, ribbed, elastic crew-length; with the heels thread-bare or worn through.

They're beyond mending within my ability in my opinion. In the past, when this happened, I tossed them out. I don't enjoy wearing socks without heels. I have a few pairs that I've kept, thinking that there might be some other way.

I would like to find a hack to extend the useful life of the worn pairs of socks with as minimal effort as possible. The longer the hack works, the better — from simple conservation of resources if nothing better.

I thought if anyone could come up with an out-of-the-shoebox solution, it would be a lifehacker.

Ideas?

Edit: BTW, my sewing skills are great. I've made my own tunics, ditty bags and camping gear—but I'm LAZY and easily distracted. :) I have 3 pairs of different-style 'slippers' but enjoy walking on glass-smooth floors sans footwear. Yes, some rooms have carpet or rugs.

Answer 1

Hosiery Heel Hole Hack.

Stephie asked for pictures; so, while sketching a diagram to illustrate the situation I hit on a no-frills hosiery heel hole hack.

1. Begin by folding the sides of the sock inside itself to form a liner (ankle socklet.)

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2. Repeat for its mate if necessary.
3. Pull 'em on.

Answer 2

Your sewing skills might not be up to darning the hole up, but you could consider using a fabric glue (possibly heat activated, like hemming web) to bond onto the sock a circle of hard wearing fabric, like denim or leather, the size of your entire heel contact patch (or even the entire foot).. If you don't have any fabric glues to hand then perhaps (judging by how effectively it stuck to the work pants I wiped it on 7 years ago) something like bathroom silicone sealant or those "no nails" type adhesives, worked into the fabric of both the patch and the sock and left to cure, might make for a long lasting repair..

Before you sit down for a 4h work stint one day, cut a foot shape in denim, put some plastic bag or cling wrap on your foot, put the sock on and arrange it nicely, dope both the sock and patch with your chosen adhesive and then use the weight of your own leg resting on the patch - it should (with the body heat helping) be well on the way to being cured if you can sit relatively still for 4h. If you can't, consider recreating the shape of your foot by stuffing a bag with polystyrene beads into the sock, shape it and apply a weight for 24h

It might me more effective to do with the new pair of socks before they wear out. Perhaps in such a case your sewing skills might at least extend to tacking a reinforcement patch in place if the adhesive approach doesn't float your boat

Answer 3

My simple hack to extend the life of socks with worn-out heels, with the least effort, is to

• Wear them the other way up.

The fabric now at the heel won't have the extra thickness that a heel usually has, and they probably won't go as far up your legs, but you should be able to squeeze a bit more life out of the socks.

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Another suggestion when you wear just socks on your feet indoors is

• fold the top of the sock down so that it goes underneath the heel.

Answer 4

I like the denim heel patch as it is flexible and hopefully the sock can be used in a shoe. I don't need slippers, I need to prevent the holes from forming with shoes on.

Answer 5

Socks usually wear by mechanical friction: with your feet, and with the outside environment (shoes, floors, beds...).

Now what you describe is obvious: the heel takes the hardest physical in the body, which generates two favorable conditions for your socks to wear:

1. The sock is repeatedly crushed between your heel and floor / shoe.
2. The skin on the heel tends to become thicker and coarser, compared to the skin on other parts of the body.

Now it is easier to find ways to extend the life of the socks:

• make sure that the shoes that you wear are smooth on the inside;
• make sure that the foot applies uniform pressure on the inside of the shoe; otherwise, the parts of the socks getting the higher pressure / friction will die first;
• make sure you have a proper skin care, especially in the heels area. Make sure that skin is soft and smooth.
• wear some additional shoes / socks / whatever, which will take the most part of the abuse; either the additional footwear is more resistant to wear (like shoes), or is cheaper to replace them.

Once the material / fabric of the sock is gone, there is very little that can be done to revive it.

The way I see it, if a repair is done, it will either look bad, or it will be uncomfortable to wear. Or both.

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Your question sounds similar to:

How can I prolong the life of a kitchen plate, after it has got a hole in the bottom?

Maybe as a frisbee?

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Brainstorming: if the socks are long (they go up on the leg high enough), you might just cut the worn part out, close the cut by sewing, keep wearing them (obviously, they will be shorter this time). A new heel will form by itself, even though they might be slightly less comfortable to wear (compared to new socks).