With all the advancements in manufacturing technology and sports science, today’s athletes are like finely tuned machines. But it’s on the exterior where huge leaps are being made. While at first you may think basketball shoe design, the use of compression sleeves on arms and legs or even KT Tape worn by NBA basketball stars such as James Harden, the reality is you probably haven’t given much consideration to socks! If you’re like most people, then you probably just grab the nearest 3 pack at the $1 shop. It might save a few bucks at the time, but chances are they’ll fall apart after a single wash and you’ll be right back where you began.
So if cheap socks aren’t really that cheap after all, and we spend so much of our lives on our feet with day-to-day life, work, gym or maybe a game of pick-up ball at the outdoor courts, it makes sense to wear premium socks.
Strideline and Stance
When it comes to professional sports, there’s really only two contenders in the sock world in terms of performance, quality, comfort and printing – Strideline and Stance. But there are some differences worth noting.
This isn’t meant to be a puff piece pushing “Strideline over Stance”, but instead highlight how these two sock innovators are raising the bar for high performance sports socks in an industry renowned for low quality, unethical manufacturing and unreliable products that do nothing to aid the athlete.
Both Stance and Strideline are specialists, not mass producers. Both companies spend big $’s on product innovation and collaboration with athletes to produce a sock that does more than warm your feet.
Stance have taken the approach of focusing all their energy on improvements in the knitted design process. Basically, their socks have the design and different colours woven directly into the sock. The benefit of this is a consistent material and level of comfort throughout the entire sock. This technique does, however, limit the level of detail that can be captured in the design, as it’s only as good as the weaving process.
While Stance no longer offer customisation of their socks, the weaving method lends itself to designs that can be applied to the entire sock. The other benefit achieved by this process is the seamless feel between sock and design. Strideline on the other hand have placed their efforts into perfecting digital ink printing to achieve a level of colour not seen in other performance socks used for sport or active living.
Quality Basketball Socks Crafted By Athletes
The reason for Strideline’s success crafting a basketball sock is because the brand was created by athletes, not marketing executives trying to make a quick buck. Due to this fact, it’s fair to say Strideline socks have the same focus on quality and performance as sports socks produced by Nike, Asics and Adidas.
This commitment to purposeful benefits and high performance, plus being designed by athletes, is why Strideline socks are being worn and endorsed by the NFL Players Association, Major League Baseball Players Association, over 250 NCAA Colleges, Major League Soccer, and last but not least, the Australian Baseball League. In the past, the major sacrifice to achieving this level of performance was having space to offer customisation. It used to be a matter of trading off between performance and what was or wasn’t possible with digital ink printing, however with recent advancements in materials, machinery and 3D printing technology, Strideline now doesn’t have to make that compromise between overall performance of the sock and digital print design.
“We use Italian made Lonati knitting machines and proprietary 3D printing technology. Every stitch, every fibre has been painstakingly designed, tested, and retested to create an experience unlike any other.” – Jake Director (Strideline Co-Founder)
With this innovation has come the ability for Strideline to now offer an all-over printable sock, coupled with reinforcements and stitching in the areas baller’s need most. If you’re not totally convinced that Strideline has gone the extra mile to produce what we @TheBallerStore consider to be the premier high performance basketball socks, then perhaps when you read about their humble beginnings you’ll see why Strideline isn’t just some revenue driven sports line.
The Birth of Strideline
The company started out in the early days when a few athletes wanted to use their personal experiences to design a quality sports sock to not only perform on the hardwood, but also handle the rigorous training schedule of today’s athletes. Once the they had their product designed and ready for sale, the guys started popping up at basketball tournaments and lacrosse matches across the US selling socks from the boot of their car. The office and storage unit was pretty basic to say the least – it was one of the guys parents’ garage, and was filled with boxes of socks from floor to ceiling.
These days you might be more familiar with the Strideline brand, thanks to a partnership with ESPN and high-profile athletes like NFL player Marshawn Lynch of the Oakland Raiders.
Simply put, if you’re after high performance, high quality basketball socks that don’t cost an arm and a leg, then Strideline is our #1 pick.
It’s that easy – feel free to get creative!