Most men either ignore socks entirely or go so loud they look like they lost a bet. Neither is right. The sweet spot is a pattern that adds something without announcing itself, the kind of thing someone notices when you sit down and cross your legs rather than something that reads across a room. We’ve spent a reasonable amount of time thinking about this, probably more than is strictly healthy, because the wrong pattern against the wrong trouser is a small disaster and the right one finishes an outfit properly. Argyle works harder than people give it credit for. A tonal stripe on a navy sock is nearly always the correct answer. Geometric patterns in muted colours have their moment too. We’ve been looking specifically at pairs where the quality of the knit matches the quality of the design, because a pattern sock that pills after three wears is worse than no pattern at all. These are the ones worth putting on your feet.