Overknee socks in reality?

[Khaos]

Lots of female anime characters wear overknee socks (those things are truly moe-maximisers) but at least here in germany you don't see anyone wearing them (apart from gothic lolita cosplayers).
Are they as common in Japan now as depicted in anime or is it primarily fanservice (Zettai Ryouiki )?
How common are they in other countries?

[deathreape98]

dont know about in Japan, but in America, I've never seen anyone wear them.

[BaltazarDZ]

They aren't really popular. I don't know all the reasoning behind it, but my sister said that they are uncomfortable and tend to slip down a lot and it's a hassle to fix them time after time.

[Ichihara Asako]

Originally Posted by BaltazarDZ

They aren't really popular. I don't know all the reasoning behind it, but my sister said that they are uncomfortable and tend to slip down a lot and it's a hassle to fix them time after time.

That's why you use sock-glue!

[2H-Dragon]

Originally Posted by Ichihara Asako

That's why you use sock-glue!

Amen to that.

Remembering again how hard I rofled when I heard that stuff is real. On to the topic well. I have seen them in the netherlands, but it's that ghotic typa thing I guess. With those stripes on em. Now that I think about it also on normal girls(without the stripes), but if it ain't on a school uniform it ain't that special I guess. You don't need sock glue though. At least the type girls wear here don't.

[LynnieS]

Thigh-high stockings? Not sure about the rest of Japan, but certainly around the parts of Tokyo (the western side of the city) in which I usually travel, they're still pretty popular with the girls/young women wearing knee-high boots, skirts, and so on. "Sock glue"? LOL.

-- LynnieS (who, these days, wonders why mini-skirts with go-go boots ever went out of fashion )

[Miko Miko]

i wear over knee stripy ones all the time

[Honda Boy Techy]

Live in Tennessee and never see the damn things.

[Thrasher187]

I live in Florida and I have yet to report a single girl wearing those type socks. Although I have seen a girl with a pair of socks that come up to just below the knee.

[Vexx]

I see them on the US West Coast occasionally (northwest from SFO on up) if you're talking about the loose and thick legwarmers that come up to the thigh. Occasionally meaning a few times a month. More often I see the full striped 'all the way up' thick panty-stockings though. Both are actually made and sold by a local Oregon company (which is where I get my tabi socks) so they're not uber-expensive either. I've not seen the thigh-high tight leg-huggers outside of an anime convention here though.

My wife will wear the loose and thick legwarmers on occasion when she has the whim to wear a skirt (since it rarely gets over 25C here in the US Northwest most of the year).

Your local weather will have a great deal to do with whether they're practical at all (aka they'd just be warmth overkill anywhere south of the 35 degree latitude).

They just don't seem to have caught on in most of the southern US -- but watch almost any youtubey video of 'streets of Japan/Tokyo' and you'll see them being worn by some.

[Jiah]

I had to get a pair of plain white over-the-knee socks for a shouta costume, and was able to find a pair in my sister's sock drawer! Most I've seen only cover up to the shin, though.

[XxKawaiiAngelxX]

Haha im wearing some right now but they do fall down alot i'll have to get some sock glue!!
I dont see alot of people wearing them other than cosplay...i guess im just a random!

[DaFool]

I can't even remember the last time I saw a miniskirt.

It must have been years ago...

Without a miniskirt, there's no practical way of telling if someone's wearing overknees (without, um...)

[Vexx]

Mostly in terms of skirts, I see mid-thigh skirts at the most (no one wears minis much anymore, bunch of Victorian Prudes I tell ya). My wife has a fair collection from her high school days and will pull them out occasionally just to show disbelieving teens how short things got

[Hotaru Suzume]

I have gloves that go past my elbows, but I've never seen any real person wearing said socks.

[Risaa]

Yes, yes yes.... I've seen every sock shown in anime in some random store or another. The rumpled loose socks (with sock glue! Flashback to Chiri+Kafuka scene!) and thigh-length socks would be perfect for my trip to Akihabara this winter....

It's true!

[Kang Seung Jae]

The only place I've seen such socks besides Japan is over here in Korea, and it's now out of fashion.

[Li Jianliang]

I wear thigh-high socks (a slightly longer cousin of over-the-knee) but they are awfully hard to find in stores nowadays. Last year I was able to find a pair of black thigh-highs on Amazon.com, but this year only the garter-lace-fetish type is available. I've tried searching local department stores and nobody sells them plain and opaque.

Anyways, I do own a few pairs that I wear with shorts and skirts. They are very good for keeping legs warm when you just want to wear something short. Sock-dreams.net is probably anyone's best bet to get the widest variety of thigh-high and over-the-knee socks possible.

Originally Posted by Thrasher187

Although I have seen a girl with a pair of socks that come up to just below the knee.

Those, my friend, are knee-high socks.

[Deathkillz]

never here...just never...and the people here probably never heard such blasphemy (unless its a person who is into anime ofc...but it seems that none are around...maybe when i hit uni ).

[Orchunter226]

Very VERY rarely I'll see some. Though it is usually on a girl who clearly is trying to dress differently, normally erotically. Like the "goth" girl who wants to stand out, or a girl who is trying her hardest to look sexy.

Most girls just wear nearly the exact same clothes as every other girl, kinda annoying.