Though some feet don’t seem to mind the seam across the toes of their socks, others do. Sensitive toes and certain kinds of toe seams can be pretty uncomfortable. Our Woven Toe Seam section is there to help you find styles that will cause less discomfort!

Before we go into what styles have woven toes seams, let’s look at some regular, machine-stitched toe seams. Socks are knit in a tube by a machine and in large production they’re finished off by another machine that tightly sews the toe closed. It sort of looks like a serged edge, like most seams you see in store bought clothing.



toe seams on B.Ella, Nouvella, EG Smith and Tabbisocks styles

For a lot of folks, this kind of seam isn’t noticeable. On styles with a formed heel, the seam falls across the top of your toes where there is often room in your shoe for toe wiggling. That gives you some ease for things like seams.

In tube style socks, that seam runs across the end of the sock and falls across the tip of your toes, or at the edge of your toenails. Even if you’re someone regular seams don’t bother, the kind on tube socks can be an irritation, depending on where it lands (smaller and narrower feet have more problems with tube socks sometimes, due to excess fabric) and what shoes they’re paired with.

Above, you can see the seam at the end of the toes on the Signature Cotton Thigh Highs on the left, compared to the kind of seam a formed heel style has in the Althea Cashmere Crew on the right. Some Dreamers with sensitive toes choose to turn styles like the Semi-Opaque Color Tights inside-out, so they keep the look but don’t have to deal with the seam. Not all styles are reversible (the nature of patterns and knit!) but there are styles in openwork, fishnet and lace that can work just as well outsides in.

Sensitive toes can also avoid the tyranny of a machine-stitched toe seam by choosing squishier styles. The nature of bouclé, for example (as we’ve discussed previously) adds a lot of loft that cushions your toes from a seam. And terry-lined styles work in the same way. You can see how comparatively minimal the toe seam on the Top Striped OTK Tubes is, once you pack terry loops around it!



From left to right: Top Striped OTK Tubes, a Gumball Poodle “athletic” style, the thicker Erin Wool & Silk and a bouclé style

In the same vein, thicker styles like the Erin Wool & Silk Socks (or the larger footed Maniche) can cushion around a seam, making for a more comfy fit. If you’re ever curious about how thick a seam is, drop us a line before ordering, our toes run the range of sensitivity, so we’re familiar with all sorts of comfort levels!

But for the ultimate avoidance of toe seams, it's the woven (or “hand-linked”, or “flat”) toe seam. There’s barely a bump where the edges meet, perfect for those particular feet. Some brands, like Stance (on the left, below) or Sockwell (on the right, below) never use anything other than a woven toe.





Now, depending on the style or process, the join can be virtually invisible, barely there, or there can be a little, looser gap. If it’s a style with a bit of a gap, that’s not a defect, it’s just the different process of linking a toe, like on these Circulator Compression Knee Highs, below. How much the gap shows depends on the size and width of your feet.

There are some pretty great “seamless” options in our woven toe seam section. Most are your regular socks, but there are two particular types of socks where the woven toe is ideal. Toe socks and no-shows.

It makes sense that toe socks have no seams. Can you imagine that much bulk, running between your toes?! Tabi-style socks have more space, since they have just the one separation, so the lack of seamless tabi socks isn’t as big an issue (and, we’ve found, the machines that make seamless tabi are all at one place in China!). But toe socks need that smoothness for comfort. It’s no wonder then that their woven seam is practically non-existent.



• ToeToe Anklets •

• Color Block Toe Socks •

When you barely want a sock, because it’s warm or you’ve got snug shoes, the seam in a no-show or half sock can be just too much, even if seams don’t normally bother you. It’s a little wild to us that there aren’t more seamless options for this coverage level, but there are some! They tend to be a bit technical, but their comfort levels are not to be denied. Seamless half socks, in particular, are great worn under other styles with machine-stitched seams, as a barrier to irritation.



• Lo Liner No Show •

• Bamboo Half Sock •

Don’t let seams be a bump in your road! Check out our woven toe seam section and drop us a line with any questions you have about comfort.