The Great Sock-Off Ends in a Tie

Several years ago now, I went shopping for cheap white ankle socks. I found that the store had two different kinds available for basically the same price: plain white (I think Hanes), and socks branded with a distinctive black swoosh. So: were the branded socks better made, to maintain brand image? Or were they cheap tat passed off with a nice logo?

I bought a package of each, and have been wearing them pretty much evenly since. I put the clean ones on the bottom of the pile). When a sock gets a hole (usually in the heel), it ends up in the trash. This sometimes left me with an odd sock of one or the other type, in which case the odd sock got paired after the next week's laundry.

I was surprised by how similarly the two piles wore out. Whenever a pair of socks in one pile got holey, a pair in the other followed a few weeks after.

A few weeks ago, I got down to only one of each sock. I started wearing them as a pair (mostly for stressful uses like sword practice).

And today? Both socks got holes simultaneously.

Conclusion: no difference, really.