These are the crew version of the ankle socks I bought last year. As they are mostly cotton, they don't hold odor and they do breathe. Because they are black, they pretty much go with everything we wear. I bought myself the ankle version for casual wear and wearing around the house to keep my feet clean and warm in winter and cool enough in summer. They are easy to change if they get dirty and very inexpensive, so they work for me if my son hasn't done the floors as that's his chore. Also, they work well inside winter slipper socks that you don't want to wash every single day. They wash up very well. I've used mine heavily and haven't gotten any holes or had any problems with them at all. I even use a very clean one for a sleep mask as it tucks softly and smoothly under my CPAP mask, unlike the masks you buy for darkness. They are easy to put in and take off and I always have a bunch of them on hand so can use a fresh one daily if I want. They fit my narrow feet very comfortably and also fit my tall son's medium feet comfortably. So, they are a real bargain for us. We have enough of the ankle socks that we could share, as we do laundry a couple of times a week, but my son prefers the crew style, so that's why I bought these for him. His old black crew socks of another brand had holes and also were rough so wore through the lining of his running shoes. With these crew socks in his new shoes, he's seeing no abrasion inside his new running shoes at all. We do need to put heel pads into the shoes, but the same is true for my shoes as y heels slip too, but these socks have never worn through any running shoe linings for me. I highly recommend them. Gildan has some really good deals in sturdy, inexpensive T-shirts, socks, and other all-cotton or mostly cotton casual items. When all of our clothing was destroyed by smoke so we had to replace everything, I initially literally just bought cotton T-shirts, sweats, socks, and knit shorts we could share (loose on me) plus jeans for him and a few presentable slightly more formal items for me. Despite later buying more trendy items for my son, he still wears the Gildan T's, sweats, socks, and other items as a preference for work, lounging and chores at home, etc. So, they have really been great for us. I'd like to also point out that we learned that when we tried to use some of the smoke-damaged household items, the non-cotton clothes we bought all ended up ruined as they absorbed smells we didn't think were still in the damaged items. The Gildan cotton and mostly cotton items, however, could be completely freshened with hot water washing and hot drying. No special care was needed and they smell perfectly fresh. I only wash knit items with other knit items but I do use hot water and normal agitation for anything my son has worn to work or doing yard work and they hold up really well. Eventually, they will slightly fade but that's after many hot washes in normal agitation. Because they are so inexpensive and wear so well with zero holes after a year, I feel this is a really smart purchase to avoid waste and save money. I know that cotton can be criticized, but when you factor in how they don't hold onto toxic chemicals when washed and dried in hot water and don't hang on to stinky working man smells either, don't have any holes after tons of wear, etc., they seem pretty green to me. I also like the idea of getting the same socks for everyone so we don't waste time sorting and end up with orphan socks. So much easier and less wasteful. So long as they are sanitized between uses and nobody has any nasty foot diseases, it works. I do tend to wash my clothes separately if I have enough for a load, so I do sometimes wash these on warm gentle, and they get very clean. When my son has worn them to work and for athletic and outdoor sports, hot water and drying is the way to go.
