Loose socks are slightly longer and thicker than ordinary socks. They are usually worn with black leather shoes and girls’ school uniforms. Originated from the boot socks made for protecting legs when climbing in the United States. The socks became popular when they were imported from the United States to Japan in large quantities because of their warm effect. In the 1990s, parts of Japan, such as Sendai and Mito, adopted these boot socks as a part of uniforms for high school girls. It soon became popular in Tokyo and Osaka, then spread across Japan, and adopted by most high schools as a necessity part of uniforms. Another reason was that girls could hide their large legs, and let them (especially their calves) look thinner when the socks are loose. Later, it gradually became popular among Japanese junior high school girls and became a part of the school uniform of junior high school. Since loose socks are only popular with high school girls between the ages of 12 and 18, they have sometimes even become a symbol of high school and middle school girls.
In addition, loose socks appear at Japanese photo and pornographic industry and become a kind of dressing up type of heroines, represent the youth schoolgirls who dress with sailor suit and loose socks namely.
In Japan, loose socks, a variation of the student uniform, have long been the norm. Loose socks were first worn by high school girls, but they were later copied by junior high school girls in Taiwan in an attempt to make themselves look more like mature high school girls. Loose socks are usually suitable for young girls.
