Khaki hose ... again

[McMurdo]

Steve, I actually own a pair of those in oatmeal as well as Lovat blue just like your photo shows. Yeah, I'm looking for something with a plainer top, and perhaps more substantial in thickness in both the hose and the cuff. And a darker brown to greenish shade, approaching olive.

Tobus you could check out Sally Pointer. I have 2 pair of her hose you can't beat the price either. in any colour you like

https://www.sallypointer.com/product...kilt-stockings

[Bruce Scott]

Juniper Tyberton Cushion Foot Merino Shooting Sock:

https://www.shootingsocks.co.uk/prod...ck_colour=1769

[bodhran4me]

Perhaps dying a pair of the oft-maligned white/cream hose?

Any of these ? (Be sure to read recent reviews as there is often a large variance in quality from one batch to the next)

https://www.sportsmansguide.com/prod...22&c=160&s=338

or what about puttees?

https://onlinemilitaria.net/products/1523-US-or-British-Long-Puttees/

[Tobus]

Perhaps dying a pair of the oft-maligned white/cream hose?

I have done that before. Dyeing a pair of hose can be tricky, depending on the type of material it's made from. With all the synthetic materials in modern hose, they don't take the dye as well as one would hope. Below is a pair of cream hose that I dyed with dark (bottle) green Rit dye. This was as dark as they would get. I'm not unhappy with the final result, but it wasn't what I thought it would be. If dyeing a pair of white/cream hose, it would probably be worth making sure they have a high wool content, or even cotton. But the less synthetic fibers, the better.

And on that note, I may actually take the pair of oatmeal/stone hose that I mentioned in a previous post and try to dye them a little darker. Maybe even just tea-stain them or something. I thought I would like that colour when I bought them, but they just "wash out" with my skin tone and look like I'm bare-legged.

[OC Richard]

It's a problem for re-enactors.

The standard "Day" hose with diamond pattern turnover cuffs won't do.

The What Price Glory hose are sort of OK, but thin and (in my opinion) not quite the right colour.

And that's an interesting and complex question: just what is the proper colour for military No2 Dress Non-Ceremonial hose? It depends on what time period, which regiment, and which rank.

The modern RRS ones are widely available. No problems there. They're Lovat.



These shooting socks on Ebay are very close to the RRS Lovat hose

https://www.ebay.com/itm/GREEN-EXTRA...9Uo7iu2mfzLtJQ

Since my outfit is WWII it's another thing.

Officers (and certain senior NCOs) of The Black Watch wore hose in the colour often called "natural", I suppose it could be called beige. In general the Officers' hose of the various Highland regiments looked to me more or less like civilian shooting socks/kilt hose, in natural or Lovat depending on the regiment.



Here's an Officer of the Argylls wearing these natural/beige Officer's hose. They are not tan and have no tinge of green. "Stone" might be a good description.



These look very much like the Black Watch WWII Officers' hose; notice they don't have the yellow tinge that typifies various colours called "khaki" and "tan" in the US, but have a cool tinge, very slightly bluish tinge.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-WW2-Bri...WxAb:rk:2:pf:0

The Other Ranks hose varied from a colour more or less like US "khaki" to a colour more or less like British "khaki". (British "khaki" is close to US "olive drab" while US "khaki" is close to British "stone" cf the British military "stone" shirts.) There doesn't seem to have been a notion of matching the hose to the colour of the tunics, for example. The tunics would be British khaki but the hose more of a Lovat sometimes, more of a stone sometimes.

This painting shows a variety of colours worn by Officers of the 51st Division in North Africa in WWII (beige for Black Watch, Lovat for Seaforths, etc)



Bottom line is that "shooting socks" are widely available with the military-style look in a wide variety of colours. I got mine off Ebay. Here are some that have the right look.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Alpaca-COUN...cguhelBGGO1s-g

If it's British khaki you want here's hose that are very close. They call the colour "derby"

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pennine-Gam...sC_6bLJf7PW-Zg

Which goes to show you can't go by what they call the colours… different makers are all over the map.

[Tobus]

And on that note, I may actually take the pair of oatmeal/stone hose that I mentioned in a previous post and try to dye them a little darker. Maybe even just tea-stain them or something. I thought I would like that colour when I bought them, but they just "wash out" with my skin tone and look like I'm bare-legged.

With some free time on my hands this week (I took a staycation, as they call it), I went ahead and coffee-stained those oatmeal/stone hose.

One large pot of coffee, cooled to lukewarm. One pair of hose. Stir.



After soaking for 24 hours, I took them out and squeezed the excess coffee out, but did not rinse them. I just laid them out to air-dry, which took a couple of days. Then rinsed them in cold water, hoping to retain as much staining as I could.

As I suspected, these hose have a high content of synthetic fibers and didn't darken a whole lot. The difference from before and after was pretty slight. But they did pick up a yellowish-brownish tint. I'm not sure I like them any better than before, but I guess I'll just have to see how they look with my kilts.

Before and after, trying to photograph them in the same light:

[Tobus]

Tobus you could check out Sally Pointer. I have 2 pair of her hose you can't beat the price either. in any colour you like

https://www.sallypointer.com/product...kilt-stockings

Thanks McMurdo, those look exactly like what I was wanting! I just ordered two pair of them - one in moss green and one in mid brown.