Sock It to Me!

Shopping for socks used to mean dragging one's threadbare feet to the most obscure corner of the department store. No more: socks have come to the storefront. From London to New York City to Los Angeles, hundreds of quick- stop sock shops are sprouting up all over, purveying hip leg wear to a crowd of hurried shoppers. The sock emporiums typically offer attentive service and an eccentric inventory of hose adorned with happy faces, world maps, tie-dyed patterns, jack-o'-lanterns and even Scottie-dog appliques.

The pioneer of stockings-on-the-run is an ex-secretary in London named Sophie Mirman, who opened her first Sock Shop in 1983 at the busy Knightsbridge Underground station. Her philosophy: "Socks should be as easy to buy as a newspaper." Since then her Sock Shop chain has expanded to 118 outlets in Britain, France, Belgium and the U.S. Her most famous customer: Princess Diana.

While Sock Shop buys most of its wares from manufacturers, the four-store Sock Express chain in Manhattan has its own factory. Company founder Barton Weiss favors socks with rhinestones, zippers and buttons, all of which would be difficult for a mass manufacturer to produce. Weiss gets around the problem by employing 28 skilled costume builders to cut fabrics and put his socks + together. "I can have an idea tonight and have it in the stores tomorrow," he boasts. Growing curbside competition is proving a spur to innovation. One of the most popular styles in California is an anklet adorned with scenes of grazing cows. Picking up one's socks may never be the same again.