Completely different company……but OK.
Given that you have to where socks anyway and a decent pair of socks cost, say, £12 then the watts saving is “only” costing £18 assuming the $ changes to a £ as it crosses the pond.
Same company, different owner. Josh has certainly branched out into some new areas since buying it, but they also still sell pretty much the same original pump design at a fairly sensible price, as well as replacement parts for those pumps from the 70s and 80s.
Same brand, but not the same company. New owners, no longer based in Italy, new product lines, etc.
Josh has moved the company into a completely different direction (and has done a great job of it, IMO).
Velotecs aero socks at €29 are great value… aero lycra with silicon grips.
Velotec aero shoe covers at €49…
On closer review of the new Silca sock I would say that the leg portion has about the same ‘ribbing’/texture as the DeFeet Disruptor. Maybe a little less pronounced on the Silca sock but more ‘ribs per inch’.
The silca product has no silicon grip at all. It just stays up like a normal sock would. Foot portion is really airy…this is definitely a warm weather sock. Trip pattern on the side definitely protrudes even when the sock is on.
Special thanks to Silca for getting me some early. I don’t know if I like the look but they’re probably better than my ‘I’m kind of a big dill’ pickle socks.
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So its basically a normal sock with fluff on it?
Wonder if you could make some yourself…
Functionally you could say it’s a normal sock but it’s definitely not. The weave on the upper portion is different than the weave on the lower portion but there is no seam. And the whole thing tapers like a funnel down to the toes.
But I don’t know that any of that stuff makes it anything other than just a sock! 
The trip patterns on the side are definitely intrinsic to the weave, though. When I saw the online pic I thought they might just be stuck on there. They are not. They are part of the weave. They’re not coming off.
BTW, here is an aero sock for about $3 a pair:
Note the pronounced aero ribs. Very aggressive.
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I’d love to see testing and what difference the exact pattern of the ribs makes. Are there instructions as to how to put the sock on, ie, where to position the ribs exactly?
Yeah, the silca sock looka weaved, but maybe sticking some bits of felt on would do for a test…
@splash Rule 28 showed me a lot of data on different materials/texture patterns at different angles and different wind speeds. Try sweet talking them & see what they’ll provide.
Just FYI, if you’re going to be riding at 23mph you probably want a different material texture than if you are going to be riding 28mph. Picking the best material isn’t trivial.
For me personally, not riding in mtb shoes and pedals would be a start 
I find it strangely fascinating though, such a simple way to save a couple of W.
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cough SILCA's New Aero Racing Sock - #31 by jnye131 cough this data?
My understanding is that trip strip socks are pointless outside of the track, you’re better off with a ribbed / uniform texture sock when there are yaw angles.
Oh, I missed that graph the first time you posted it. Horrible data fitting and conclusions, it actually hurts to see that. Think what it shows is that most aero socks perform very similar (maybe the rule28 slightly better), apart from the one that is clearly different/worse.
I’m also a bit suspicious about “all socks were pulled up to the same height”. So some socks had wrinkles? That’d deffo affect their aerodynamics.
Someone help. Currently I’m going for the no tan line look, with socks barely peeking out of shoes. Perfect for all those weekends in sandals.
But watts are watts, and this seems like an interesting value play in the quest to go (imperceptibly) faster. All those watts add up.
Can someone that has experimented with aero socks help me pick a pair that:
- don’t fall down
- have some wind tunnel credentials
- look sick / have some style
- don’t cost the same as a new Silca pump
Because I’m ready to toss on some business casual socks, maybe the black gold toes with ribbing, and do some testing. But that would make me look stupid without my Greg Norman pants 
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is that the redacted document? Either way, it’s got a lot of good info to think about.
We need conclusive sock data!
Btw, here are some ribbed aero socks at a very affordable price. I call these ‘business socks’ because when you ride with these on, it’s time to get down to business. Anyhow, these socks just might perform better at higher yaw angles than the Silca socks. It’s hard to say w/o data.
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Dude you nailed it on giving me the green light to open the sock drawer and experiment without putting on my Greg Norman microfiber pants. 
Plenty of windy yaw angles around here…
just need a black jersey and I could go for the Johnny Cash man in black on a bike look…
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Evidently, you can put kinesio tape on your legs to save watts! A year’s supply at Amazon is only $20.
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I found some interesting comments here about aero socks:
I will tell you, socks and shoe covers are some of the most perplexing items you will ever test. Nothing makes sense at all when it comes to testing around the feet and ankles; just when you think you’ve got a handle on it and know what is and isn’t fast, you’re proven wrong.
Good story…When testing in the tunnel for the US Women’s Pursuit Team in the lead up to Rio, we spent quite a bit of time testing prototype socks of all kinds (shoes covers are not allowed on the track). Some of this stuff was really cool; super-secret sht from around the world that had to cost seom serious coin to make, and I thought we were in for some breakthroughs. Test after test, sock after sock - nothing worked consistently, and virtually every design increased drag for each girl. Everyone just kept shaking their heads. Nothing seemed to work better than our plain white sock baseline. A completely innocuous fcking white sock that didn’t even go up mid-calf on the girls. Why did nothing work? Well, we finally realized that white sock was actually really fast. Like, 4-5 watts faster on every athlete we tested! Wtf?! It’s a sock! It wasn’t an aero sock, it wasn’t designed to be fast, there was nothing seemingly special about the material, but on each of the girls (and subsequent athletes since), it just worked. Okay, cool, but obviously I had to keep my mouth shut and not say anything.
Fast forward to Interbike a few weeks ago. I walk over to Assos and we start talking about those socks and how fast they tested. Blank stares from them…they had no idea what I was talking about. Of course, they were intrigued, and obviously wanted to know what socks they were. Well, I didn’t know. I came to them wanting the info so I could finally give them some online love by posting about their crazy-fast socks. Phones rang around the globe, and a little crowd gathered at their booth as we all tried to find out what model of sock it was. Nothing. Crickets. No one from Assos or USA Cycling could definitively tell us what sock tested so fast. You know what? We still don’t know. Best they can tell, it was hybrid sock they probably made but never brought to market. Likely one of those sponsor-type things, “Here’s a bunch of white socks we don’t need. Let your athletes wear them for training or something.”
I’m not kidding, the consistently fastest sock I’ve ever seen is a no-name model form Assos that can’t be replicated because no one knows exactly what it was. Go figure.
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I like their tubes and associated stem fairings and Josh was interesting to listen to on the Flo (I think) podcast. The socks look promising.
I am irked that a $200 pump only lasted for a year though.
I think I just died a little on the inside reading this.
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