The Uncommon Thread

Since The Running Works began stocking Stance a fair few months ago they have become my favourite socks. I used to choose between a variety of sock brands depending on what type of running I was doing, which trainers I was going to wear and what the weather was like. I choose to wear Stance now because I find them super comfortable. This is due to the fact they feature a breathable performance mesh, lightweight terry select cushioning, left/right engineered arch support and are reinforced in the toe and heel.I have run in Stance socks for so many months now and have never had any issues. I put this down to the moisture wicking fibres that keep your feet cool and dry. They’re also really durable, I believe this is because they have a 200 needle count stitching and are well padded in the toe and heel. When one of the Stance reps came into work to show us the product he explained that if you put the sock into a foot shape it will stay in that position. This showed that the socks will hold their shape well even after being through the wash a large number of times, there aren’t many socks that do that.

The Fusion Run range of socks is vast and therefore you can find a sock suitable for each run. If I’m hitting the trails I’ll opt for some OTC (over the calf) whereas if I’m heading to run around in circles aka track I’ll put on lightweight tabs. When I’m road running I’ll wear the Crew height, mainly because they are comfortable and due to the massive range of styles/colours they look good. Due to having lots of styles of Stance socks, I have been alternating them and pairing them with various trainers. James Poole and Claudia Schroegel (the founders of Advent Running) and I came up with #STANCEOFF for us to share our favorite sock and trainer combinations on Twitter & Instagram. It has been fun to see everyone’s choices and styles, including the likes of Anton Krupicka & Rickey Gates.

Here’s a few of my #STANCEOFF combinations:

With Christmas just around the corner I am teaming up with Stance and Freestak to gift someone a pair of lifestyle socks and someone a pair of running socks. All you have to do to enter is:

Take an artistic photo (if it’s festive even better) of where you run

Tag @StephenSkinner6
& hashtag: #StanceRun #Stance #StanceSocks #Stancemas #GiftStance on Twitter and/or Instagram

I will be choosing the winners on 18/12/16
Good luck!
Steve

Stance European Street Art Tour – London

As I work in The Running Works (http://run-fast-retail.net/) I was lucky enough to be invited to the first part of the Stance European Street Art Tour in London a couple of months ago. Stance is an American sock and underwear brand. They produce all kinds of socks, ranging from casual everyday socks to technical socks for professional athletes competing in the NBA and MLB to name just a few.

Over the last few months we have been selling the technical running socks in store. I have to admit before the tech rep/s came in to the store to let us know about the product I hadn’t heard of Stance. My manager and the reps let me know that they are massive in the states especially as they are the official sock of the NBA and MLB. As members of staff we were given a pair to try out. Initially I was thinking “Oh it’s just another sock, it’ll just be pretty comfortable as they all are”. Prior to wearing Stance I wore lots of different running socks. I would make a day to day decision based on what trainers I was going to wear and what the weather was like, I’d alternate between Balega, X-socks, Hilly and Adidas. Now I generally always opt for Stance. The reason being they are super comfortable due to the 200 needle count and they have a reinforced heel and toe so they hold their shape really well. This was demonstrated to me by one of the reps, if you put the sock into a foot shape it will stay in that position. There aren’t many socks that will do that. They also come in a variety of heights (tab, crew, OTC) so you can choose which you prefer depending on what run your about to head out on, for instance if I’m going to do some trail running I’ll put on the OTC to save my legs from being scratched and to provide some compression.

Another big selling point for Stance is that they look good. There is a wide variety of Fusion Run socks available (https://www.stance.com/shop/men/performance/run) so depending on what trainers you wear there will always be a pair to match them up with. Having a large (read massive) collection of running trainers it has been fun in recent months to play around with different sock/trainer combos.  

James, Claudia (Advent Running founders and Adidas Runners captains) and I coined the phrase #STANCEOFF a while back and have been sharing our favourite sock and trainer combos on Twitter & Instagram, just search the hashtag and get involved. It has been funny to see the likes of Anton Krupicka & Rickey Gates sharing their Stance sock pics with the hashtag too.

Right where was I, oh yeh the Stance European Street Art Tour. When I received the invite I was excited because I knew that they would organise a cool, fun event. It was definitely that. I arrived at the venue, which was a basement in East London, after work around 6pm. I’d sprinted up from the office to make it in time as it was a pretty early start.  

On arrival there were displays showcasing some of the Stance collection and there were a lot of blank rectangular cardboard boxes stacked on the back wall. I had a look around the venue, checked out what socks and goodies I’d been given in a tote bag and dropped off my bag so that I was ready to run. Having been on a street art tour (organised by Freestak/Like the Wind mag) before I was looking forward to it. It was a really nice evening to be exploring East London.  

 We convened outside for a group photo and then we were led off by our tour guide.  

    
There was a pretty big group of us running, it was good to catch up with Claudia and James, Mollie (PT Mollie) and have a good chat with Kieran Alger (ManVMiles).   
The tour took in a lot of street art including works by Banksy, Eine, ROA and Stik etc. 
   When we arrived back to base we realised that the blank rectangular boxes were actually a canvas for a graffiti artist to create a work of art on.  

We watched him working his magic for a bit but then pizza arrived, pizza is always a big priority. Another cool thing Stance put on was you could have a photo taken and it could be printed onto the side of a bottle of beer, clever! Most people stuck around for a while to enjoy the DJ set, eat food, drink beer and chat about running basically. 

As the event was coming to a close Simon, Julie, Lenka and Alex (all of Freestak/Like the Wind) dismantled the wall of cardboard boxes and handed one out to each of us. 

We were all given a piece of art to take away with us which was a nice touch. Overall it was a great event! Here is a link to a video of the evening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oeeKPKurVg

If you want to find out more about Stance follow them @Stance & @StanceRun #theuncommonthread

See a lot of you soon

Steve

P.s. Stance even do socks with cactus with sunglasses on  

 P.p.s. Excuse the pasty white legs!