It’s time for an update on the Hard Yards grip sock range for 2024.

We get a lot of questions on Instagram about the range however we most frequently hear, ‘I love the look of your grip socks, but I’m not sure which one is best for me, could you guys explain the difference?’.

While we aim to give you the low-down in the shop, sometimes a side-by-side comparison is more helpful!

For reference you can go to the product pages for the all our socks below. I’ll just be focussing on the core range in this run down, but you can find our Limited Edition pieces in the shop here.

Here’s a quick summary breakdown.

The Detail.

1 - The Grip

This is the only aspect that is identical between all our grip socks.

We use the same medical-grade silicone both inside and outside. This ensures that your foot grips the sock and the sock grips your shoe, locking you in as one, giving you maximal stability and power transfer with each and every step.

The grip pattern is unique in that they are ‘offset’.

This means that they alternate inside-outside-inside-outside along the length of the sock (see Fig. 1). This design means that when you step down on the grips, they align into a single row and work together to fully lock you in (see Fig. 2). The extra benefit of this alignment is that they don’t sit on top of each other, which would create uncomfortable pressure points. This design is patent-protected and sets us apart as the best-in-class grip sock on the market! Almost all other grip socks only have 1-layer of grip. You can read more about our collaboration with PremGripp and the grip technology here.

— __ — __ Fig.1 (HY ‘offset’ grips)

— — — — Fig. 2 (HY grips align together when you stand up)

2 - The Weight & Cushioning

The Original 365 Pro + Trainer socks were created as utility/all-round athletic socks and can therefore be used in any sporting endeavour. It is a mid-weight sock with our standard levels of cushioning added around the toes and heel. To contrast with a ‘generic’ off-the-rack sports sock, the HY OGs are thicker, with more padding, but are not overwhelming and so you can wear your usual shoe size. This is a really nicely balanced sock, with a reassuring feel, keeping you comfortable for as long as you need.

By contrast, the Performance Bowler’s sock (right bottom ->) was designed specifically to reduce the high impacts felt in the feet and toes of cricket bowlers when they plant their front foot down at the end of the run up. Players were telling us that their toes were hitting the inside of their shoes and some even cut holes in the ends off to prevent injury! To meet this need, we combined our double-sided medical-grade silicone grip with a heavy-gauge cotton fibre, increased the thread count and doubled the level of cushioning over the toe cap and the heel. This means the sock feels much more solid and robust on your feet, but with minimal added weight. The grip eliminates any forward travel and the cushioning keeps things snug and supported. While it was designed for cricket bowlers, we have found that many other athletes, big and small, ladies and gents like to use the Performance Bowler’s sock for these added benefits. To give you something to compare it to that you might have worn before, it is somewhere between a mid-weight general sports sock and a performance hiking sock.

The Original 365 Pro v2.0 sock is somewhere in between. It is based weight-wise on the Original 365 Pro, but does have a bit more padding over the heel and toes to reduce the impact when you are hitting the hard court surface.

3 - Ventilation

To account for the heavier knit of the Performance Bowler’s sock, we designed custom air vents over the top of the foot. This ensures that you get all the added benefits described above, without overheating. The Basketball also benefits from this custom feature.

The Original 365 Pro and Trainer socks have our standard slim vents to keep your feet at the optimum temperature.

4 - Ankle support

You’ll notice that the ankle area is slightly thicker and textured compared to the rest of the sock and has a more defined shape.

At this crucial bio-mechanical point, we’ve added 2 things:

Extra padding to ensure that any pressure points with the tops of your boots or any straps are minimised.
Engineered 3D-twisted honeycomb weave creates a mild compression effect around your ankle joint providing added stability and support. It expands as you mobilise but keeps things nice and snug around the ankle.

The Performance Bowler’s sock has both of these features the full 360-degrees around the ankle joing.

While the Original 365 Pro and Original 365 Pro v2.0 socks keep the front of the ankle open to give an improved range of movement in the joint, with little reduction in ankle support generally.

The Original 365 Trainer sock has no ankle support but does have a tab to keep it from slipping off your foot!

5 - Aesthetics

Finally, a subtle point.

They do look similar, but you’ll notice that the Performance Bowler’s sock has double the number of ‘track lines’ as the Original 365 to reflect the heavier and more dense knit.

For those of you with a keen eye, you might have even spotted below our internal details at the cuff and the braille markers on the back that help our vision-impaired athletes give their best on the field!

Summary

All our socks were designed for quite different and specific purposes however don’t let the ‘Bowler’s’ part of the name put you off from using them for other sports. We’ve found that some basketball, tennis players and weightlifters love the extra weight of the Performance Bowler’s Sock and reap the benefits on the court! However, if you are unsure where to start, we’d always reccommend the Original 365 Pro Sock v1.0 or v2.0 as your introduction to the Hard Yards grip sock tech.

Whichever you choose, you’ll always get the best in class grip to make sure that every step counts! If you’d like to read more about the tech behind the grip, you can read more here.