Don't be alarmed: this is how long the Dutch wear their socks!

Be honest: how often do you put on clean socks? For a sock seller, it is the most normal thing in the world to put on clean socks every day. But after eight years in the sock industry, Carlo Lanza started to suspect that this is not the case for everyone. That is why he decided to investigate, and the results were shocking. Carlo soon came to the conclusion that the foot hygiene of the average Dutch person is poor.

The research

To answer his burning question, Carlo joined forces with Bureau Fris (what's in a name?). He asked over 1,000 men and women from all over the country and from all walks of life how often they put on clean socks. Carlo says: 'Because the question could be answered digitally, they could give an honest answer without shame. This led to shocking results: 32% of respondents said they wear their socks for more than a day. Some of them even wear their socks for more than two days!' ( Market research May 2024 Carlo Lanza in collaboration with BV Bureau Fris)

Worrying results

'Personally, I find the results worrying, especially because hygiene is very important to me,' Carlo explains. Medical research also shows: Poor foot hygiene significantly increases the risk of fungal infections and these infections are responsible for 23% of foot disorders in people and 50% of nail disorders, such as nail fungus*. In other words, to prevent or help cure these types of fungal infections, it is also recommended to wear clean socks every day, in addition to a number of other things. We can at least conclude that poor foot hygiene costs the Netherlands a lot of money.

New sock line

Carlo continues: 'After seeing these results I can only say how unhygienic it is, and I can only conclude that there must be a need for a new antibacterial sock line, treated with Polygiene. Polygiene not only combats odors, but also limits the growth of bacteria and even extends the life of your garment because bacteria have less chance to spread and attack the fabric. Coincidentally, there were contacts with the distributor of this active substance last year. I hope I don't have to switch to socks treated with an antibacterial substance, but it seems that there is no other way!'

Sources:

Market research May 2024 Carlo Lanza BV in collaboration with Bureau Fris

Ferrari J. 2008. Fungal toenail infections. BMJ Clinical Evidence.