I wear a 50. That is why OFFSCALE exists.
OFFSCALE is not a fashion brand that discovered large sizes at some point. It is the other way round: a brand that only exists because its founder has worn socks that do not fit for forty years and eventually decided to solve it himself.
Thomas Kercher · shoe size EU 50I wear shoe size EU 50, a US 15. That means I know every sock that exists for big feet, and I know the feeling when the heel sits under the arch, the toe goes see-through after three weeks and the cuff leaves a ring on the shin by the evening.
After the last unsuccessful search I stopped searching and started measuring.
Why these socks did not exist
The answer is unglamorous: quantities. Every sock size is its own machine programme and its own stock position. Above EU 46 the volumes get small for large manufacturers, so they consolidate. One knitted size gets the label "47-50" and the stretch is asked to do the rest. For the manufacturer it adds up. For anyone who actually wears a 49 or 50 it means the sock is two to three centimetres short, every day.
Technically the problem is not a big one. A sock for a 32-centimetre foot needs a 32-centimetre sole, a longer leg and a wider cuff, because big feet rarely come on thin legs. Someone just has to order it, in quantities that make it worthwhile for the mill. So I ordered it.
How OFFSCALE came about
I am an engineer by training, not a fashion person. So the beginning was not a mood board but a spreadsheet: foot lengths per shoe size, sole lengths, leg lengths, cuff widths. That became three brackets, 46-47, 48-49 and 50-51, each with its own length knitted in. A fourth bracket, 52-53, is developed and waits for enough people to reserve it.
I tested the samples on my own feet: worn, washed, tumble-dried. The first round fitted the foot perfectly and the leg too tightly. So leg and cuff were knitted wider from 48-49 upward, with a softer yarn and a looser stitch density, before I ordered a single pair for sale.
That the socks should also look good was the second decision. If you have big feet you usually get white sports socks or black. OFFSCALE are dress socks with colour: six designs, three for the office, three with a point of view, the lettering hidden on the inner sole so that only the colour shows on the outside.
Where and how they are knitted
The socks are knitted in Zhuji in China's Zhejiang province, the city where a large share of the world's socks are made. Our mill specialises in exactly this, works on 168-needle machines with combed cotton and knits to our measurements, not to its own standard. We say this openly because we think origin belongs on the label, not in the small print. Quality control, stock and shipping run through Jomicon GmbH in Mutterstadt in the Palatinate, Germany.
One price for every size. If you wear a 50 you pay no more than someone in a 46, even though there is more yarn in your sock.
The facts
What comes next
The first run is being knitted now and arrives in winter 2026. If you register your size you hear the launch date first and get first choice of designs. After that, if enough people ask, come the 52-53 bracket and larger, and at some point perhaps more than socks. But one thing at a time. First the socks have to fit.
The industry was too small.
Questions, criticism, a size we forgot? Write to me: offscale@jomiconpartners.com