Journalist obsessed with socks collection

By Agni Amorita

JAKARTA (JP): Don't underestimate your socks. Although they are hidden in your shoes and covered by your trousers, socks still follow fashions and trends, for both men and women. Back in the 1980s and early 1990s girls were fond of long socks, thanks to Madonna and her Material Girl video where she wore leg warmers. Boys started wearing white socks with black shoes after watching Michael Jackson's Moonwalk video. Little did they know that megastar Jackson wore the white socks with ankle-length black trousers only to focus attention on his moonwalk dancing and its flashy footsteps. In short, socks are as important as the other items in your wardrobe.

Arief Suharto, a sock collector, believes this strongly. At first he collected socks by accident.

"I always found it difficult to find good socks. Wearing most socks makes my feet itch," he said. He even started to hate wearing socks altogether, until the day came in 1987 when Arief, now a journalist at the international desk of Suara Bangsa daily newspaper, had to cover a tennis match .

"I was interested in the tennis player's socks which looked very comfortable, even when the athletes were perspiring."

Arief then asked the athletes about their socks and was told that they were 100 percent cotton, which were not easily found in regular Indonesian department stores.

"Shortly after that, when ever I got an overseas assignment the first thing I did was to buy 100 percent cotton socks," he recalled.

Arief, now 40-years old, flew to Europe and found out that cotton socks were not only comfortable but also very attractive. "So I didn't just buy one or two pairs but 10," Arief said.

He began to become obsessed with socks. "Every time I have to go abroad, I will leave enough space in my suitcase so half of it can be filled with socks. It means that I go home with 20 to 30 pairs of new socks," Arief laughed.

Now Arief has a collection more than 500 pairs of socks from all around the world. "I have a special cupboard for my socks," he explained.

The news that Arief had a huge sock collection soon spread among his friends and relatives. Some of them borrowed socks but never returned them. As he often lost socks in this way, he had the idea to buy Indonesian-made socks and keep them in a special cupboard.

"This is to protect my collection from my relatives and from my own 12-year-old son, who always used to come to me asking for socks. This trick works well in protecting my 500 overseas socks from being borrowed or even stolen like they were before," Arief said smiling.

Arief gives a lot of his attention to his collection and knows its details well. "For example, I can tell which ones are socks from England just by looking at their colors. Socks made in England have mostly classic royal motives embroidered in red and green. While socks from The Netherlands are dominated by blue or gray colors.

"On the other hand, the Latin American sock is very thick and usually made from white strong textured thread," Arief explained.

His favorite are those from South Africa. "It is because of the way they are made. The craftswomen knit the lamb's wool while singing a spiritual song specially arranged for that purpose," he said.

His most expensive socks are the pair he bought in Harrods Department Store, London, a few years ago. "They cost me Rp 300,000 and it made my wife angry because it was equal to the cost of 200 kilograms of rice in Jakarta," he laughed.

Arief also collects special-shaped socks such as those he got from Argentina. "They are called winter socks, and designed like gloves so that every toe has its own space." Arief always wears these whenever he gets a fever or a cold.

"My other warm socks are from Chili and Nepal. My Chilean socks are very interesting because they never leave a mark on my leg although they are very thick and I use them all day long. They are very strong but they never 'bite' my skin."

Arief knows every detail of his collections because he wears them for his daily activities.

"I will never wear the same pair of socks more than once in one or two years. And I still have some pairs that I haven't worn."

Arief takes good care for his collection. He has a personal schedule to control his socks and after wearing a pair he will send them to the laundry for drycleaning. "For me," Arief said, "Socks are my identity."