Podiatrists and textile designers may have their own opinions about why stockings droop, but it is first and foremost an engineering question. That’s why a study called Prevention from Slipping Down of Top Parts of Socks, published in 2006 in the Journal of Textile Engineering, stands paramount. The authors, Toshiyuki Tsujisaka, Yoichi Matsumoto, Hiroaki Ishizawa, Yoshiaki Azuma and Hideo Morooka, are based variously at Shinsu University in Ueda, Japan, at the Nara Prefecture Institute of Industrial Technology and at the Nara Women’s University.
They summarise their report tidily:
“In this study, to design and develop socks that provide wearing comfort, the way of preventing slipping down of socks’ top parts is investigated….”
So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian.