Holetell

We look at the sock. Not your feet, not how you walk.

REF H-01 · SOCK, FLAT · FIVE ANNOTATED POINTS

What wore
this hole

The position of a hole is a report. What wore it through is usually not the sock.

Most people answer a hole by changing brand. Of the five things that wear a sock through, four are not the sock — so four times out of five the next pair goes in exactly the same place. Start with the drawing: press any point and read what that position points at.

Read a holeThe five, in full

No account needed to use the drawing. Nothing on it is about a body — it is a sock, seen flat, with five points marked.

Z-01Z-02Z-03Z-04Z-05SOCK, FLAT — NOT TO SCALE

Legend — the five causes

  • C-01A pressure point inside the shoe
  • C-02A hard edge in contact with the knit
  • C-03Cumulative heat from tumble drying
  • C-04Short staple fibre, pilled then thin
  • C-05No reinforcement knitted at that point

Parts list — select a point

Z-01

Directly over the big toe

The single most common place a sock goes, and the one most often blamed on the sock.

Points at, in order

  1. 01A hard edge in contact with the knit· a different brand changes nothing
  2. 02A pressure point inside the shoe· a different brand changes nothing
  3. 03No reinforcement knitted at that point

Ruled out by the position

  • Short staple fibre, pilled then thin
  • Cumulative heat from tumble drying

A new brand will not fix this one. Nothing that made the hole was part of the sock — the same spot will go again in the next pair, usually faster, because the next pair starts thinner at the front until it is broken in.

SHEET01 / 09
DRAWINGHOLETELL / POSITION READING
REVA
DATE2026-09-05

The ranking is computed from a fixed reference table. A model locates the damage and describes the break; it does not conclude.

02 / 09

Positions and what they mean

Six positions. The same five causes behind all of them.

The whole reference table, as text, with nothing to press. A hole in one of these places is not a random misfortune — it is the record of one specific thing happening repeatedly in one specific spot.

Z-01
A sock drawn in outline with one annotated point on the fabric above the toe end and a leader line running out to the sheet edge.

Directly over the big toe

The single most common place a sock goes, and the one most often blamed on the sock.

  1. 01A hard edge in contact with the knit
  2. 02A pressure point inside the shoe
  3. 03No reinforcement knitted at that point

A new brand will not fix this one. Nothing that made the hole was part of the sock — the same spot will go again in the next pair, usually faster, because the next pair starts thinner at the front until it is broken in.

Then check

Take the insole out of the shoe you wear most and look at the area under the front. A shiny or flattened patch in one spot is the thing doing it.

Z-02
A sock drawn in outline with a row of points along the very front edge of the toe, joined by one leader line.

Across the front edge

A line of wear running across the toes rather than a hole over one of them.

  1. 01A pressure point inside the shoe
  2. 02No reinforcement knitted at that point
  3. 03Short staple fibre, pilled then thin

A new brand will not fix this one. The line is being drawn by the front of the shoe, and it will draw the same line on anything you put in there.

Then check

Stand the empty shoe on a table and look at it from the front. If the front slopes down sharply, the sock is being pressed along that slope on every step.

Z-03
A sock drawn in outline with one annotated point on the outer side of its widest part.

Outer side of the ball

Off to one side, roughly where the sock is widest — and very often on the same side every time.

  1. 01A pressure point inside the shoe
  2. 02No reinforcement knitted at that point
  3. 03Short staple fibre, pilled then thin

A new brand will not fix this one. The wear is on the outer ball of the foot and it recurs on the same side — that pattern points at the shoe, not the sock.

Then check

Pull the insole right out and look at its outer edge. If there is a compressed groove or a shiny band, hold the sock against it — the marks usually line up.

Z-04
A sock drawn in outline with one annotated point high on the back of the heel curve.

Upper rear of the heel

Behind and above the heel, where the sock turns upward.

  1. 01A pressure point inside the shoe
  2. 02No reinforcement knitted at that point
  3. 03Short staple fibre, pilled then thin

A new brand will not fix this one. A heel that moves inside the shoe will wear through whatever is in the way, and a thicker sock only changes how long it takes.

Then check

Look at the inside back of the shoe, about two fingers up from the sole. A polished or fuzzed patch there is the counterpart of the hole.

Z-05
A sock drawn in outline with the ribbed cuff shown in detail and one annotated point on the rib.

The cuff and top edge

Along the ribbed top: laddering, loose threads, or a cuff that has stopped gripping.

  1. 01Cumulative heat from tumble drying
  2. 02Short staple fibre, pilled then thin
  3. 03A pressure point inside the shoe

A new brand will not fix this one on its own. A new cuff will feel better for a while, and then the same drying cycle will do the same thing to it.

Then check

Stretch the cuff between two hands and let go. If it does not come back, the elastane has already hardened.

Z-06NOT A POINT — NO DOT ON THE DRAWING
A sock drawn in outline with several small marks scattered over the whole surface and a dotted contour suggesting broad thinning.

Several thin patches at once

Not one hole but two or three, arriving together, with the fabric generally thinner.

  1. 01Short staple fibre, pilled then thin
  2. 02Cumulative heat from tumble drying
  3. 03No reinforcement knitted at that point

This is the one case on the list where a different pair genuinely changes the outcome — and it is one case out of six. If the wear is at a single point instead, changing brand changes nothing.

Then check

Hold the sock up to a window. If light comes through in several places, the whole fabric has thinned rather than one spot failing.

03 / 09

What happens

Photograph it, read the position, go and look at the shoe.

Three steps, and the third one is the point. A cause you cannot check is just a theory; the reading ends by telling you exactly where to go and confirm it.

A printed check sheet on a drafting table: ruled rows with empty checkbox squares and a small sock outline in the corner.
The sheet you take to the shoePL-10
  1. A framing guide drawn around a sock laid flat, with sight lines from a lens diagram above.

    S-01

    Photograph where it went

    Two pictures of the sock: one close-up of the opening, one of the whole thing laid flat. Daylight, no flash, sock alone in the frame.

    Nothing else goes in the frame. There is no upload slot for anything else.

  2. A ranked board of five ruled rows of different lengths, each beginning with an annotation dot.

    S-02

    See what the position points at

    The position and the shape of the break are matched against the reference table. You get the causes ranked, what has been ruled out, and a plain line on whether a different brand changes any of it.

    The ranking is computed from the table, here. A model only locates the damage.

  3. An empty shoe in side view with the insole partly withdrawn and a magnifier over one spot on it.

    S-03

    Go and check the shoe

    Four of the five causes are outside the sock. So the reading ends with something specific: which shoe, which part of it, and what you would be looking at if it were the answer.

    We do not read shoes. We tell you where to look and you look.

04 / 09

The question everyone arrives with

Will a different brand fix it

Almost always no, and it is worth being exact about why. Here are the five causes with a plain mark against each. Nothing in this table is an opinion about any product — it is a statement about where the wear is coming from.

We name no sock brand and no footwear brand, and we reach no conclusion about the quality of anything you own. If you tell us what you bought, the name is masked before it appears anywhere.

  • A cutaway drawing of the inside of a shoe with the insole lifted out and one hard ridge on its edge marked. The shoe is empty.

    C-01

  • A magnified drawing of knitted loops with an angular hard wedge parting them from beneath.

    C-02

  • A diagram of an elastic filament coiled inside a yarn, hardened and flattened on one side after repeated heating.

    C-03

  • Two knitted panels side by side, one densely cross-hatched with reinforcement stitching and one plain.

    C-04

  • A magnified drawing of yarn made of short staple fibres, with fibre ends working out and pills forming on the surface.

    C-05

RefWhat wore it throughA different brand
  • C-01A pressure point inside the shoechanges nothing

    Something inside the shoe presses on one spot and works the yarn back and forth until it thins: a hard edge on the insole, a seam, a worn patch of lining, or simply not enough room at the front.

  • C-02A hard edge in contact with the knitchanges nothing

    A nail edge is a hard object sitting against the inside of the knit. Where it makes contact, the yarn abrades from the inside out — which is why the hole often has clean edges rather than a thinned halo.

  • C-03Cumulative heat from tumble dryingchanges nothing

    The elastane that holds a sock's shape does not like repeated high heat. Over many cycles it hardens, and the knit around it goes stiff and brittle before it goes thin.

  • C-04No reinforcement knitted at that pointchanges this

    Reinforcement is extra yarn knitted into the places a sock is expected to be worked hardest. Where a pair carries none, ordinary wear arrives at that spot sooner. Whether reinforcement is present is visible in the flat photograph.

  • C-05Short staple fibre, pilled then thinchanges this

    Shorter fibres work their ends out of the yarn, pill, and the pills carry material away. The fabric loses thickness across an area rather than at a point. This is a neutral description of a material, not a judgement about any product.

One of the five is about the sock. The other four are about the shoe, the laundry, or where the extra yarn was knitted in — and none of those moves because you bought a different pair. Every reading says which of the two you are in, in that many words.

05 / 09

What this cannot know

This is a reading of position and shape. It is not a test. The things below would each change the answer, and we have no way of seeing any of them — so they are printed on every reading, on every plan, and nothing is ever laid over them.

And the line that does not move: we look at the sock. Not your feet, not how you walk. Anything to do with feet, nails or pain belongs with a podiatrist, and there is no upload here for a photograph of a body.

  • K-01Which shoes you actually wear these in, and how many pairs are in rotation.
  • K-02How far you walk in a day, and on what.
  • K-03How this pair is washed and dried, and at what temperature.
  • K-04How long this pair has been in service, and how many washes that is.
  • K-05Whether anything has changed recently — a new pair of shoes, a new insole, a different dryer.

06 / 09

What comes out

A position diagram and a check list. Both printable.

The deliverable is a picture and a list, because that is what you can hold next to a shoe. Every plate below is a drawing of a sock, a fabric or an empty shoe — there is no photograph of a person anywhere on this site.

An evidence board: a sock wireframe with a magnified detail circle joined to it by a long leader line, and an empty ruled table block.
A reading, assembledPL-01
Six identical small sock outlines, three of them marked at exactly the same position, three unmarked.
Three pairs, same point, same sidePL-05
An empty shoe drawn in section beside a sock outline, with a dashed line joining one point in the shoe to one point on the sock.
Where the shoe and the sock line upPL-04
A ruled checklist of empty rows with checkbox squares, joined by leader lines to three points on a sock outline.
The check list, before you fill it inPL-08
Two sock outlines side by side, one with a hatched reinforcement panel and one without, with a comparison bracket between them.
Reinforced, and notPL-03
A ribbed cuff drawn in detail with a stretch-and-return diagram beneath it as two nested arcs.
A cuff that stopped coming backPL-06
Three magnified circular views of knitted fabric at irregular heights, each tied by a leader line to a point on a sock outline.
Three details, one sockPL-02
A sock outline crossed by dotted contour rings indicating broad thinning, with several small marks at irregular spots.
Thinning everywhere at oncePL-07
An exploded orthographic study of a knitted heel turn, four separated layers with leader lines between them.
A heel turn, taken apartPL-09

07 / 09

Three plans

Free tells you it is the shoe. Paid tells you which part of it.

Prices include VAT at the UK standard rate of 20%. Three subscriptions and nothing else — no credit packs, no top-ups, no stored balance, and no allowance that carries over.

Prices include VAT at the UK standard rate of 20%.

Free

P-00

$0always

The ranking, for five socks a month. Enough to find out whether the answer is the shoe.

  • Five socks a month
  • Ranked causes, with what has been ruled out
  • The health referral and the list of what this cannot know, never obscured
  • 50 units of allowance a month
  • The position diagram carries a watermark
  • No check list, so no specific part of the shoe to go and look at
  • No print sheet
Start free

No card

Trace

P-01

$8per month

The part that turns a reading into something you can do this evening: the diagram without a watermark, and the check list.

  • Unlimited socks
  • The position diagram, clean, at print resolution
  • The check list — which part of the shoe to look at, in order
  • A one-page print sheet you can take to the shoe
  • 400 units of allowance a month
  • One sock at a time; no grouping across a wardrobe
Choose Trace

Cancel in one step, any time

Pattern

P-02

$24per month

For when it keeps happening. Reads several socks together and shows you the thing they have in common.

  • Everything in Trace
  • Several socks read together, with the shared position called out
  • Recurrence tracking across months
  • Grouping by which shoes a pair is worn with
  • 1,500 units of allowance a month
Choose Pattern

Cancel in one step, any time

Where the line is drawn

Free gives you the ranking. That tells you it is probably the shoe — which is interesting and not yet useful.

What you can act on this evening is the specific version of it: take the insole out of the right shoe and look at the spot under the big toe. That is the check list, and it is the paid part, along with the clean diagram and the print sheet. Pattern adds reading several socks together, which is the only way to see that three pairs went at the same point on the same side.

Put plainly: this pays for itself the first time it stops you buying three more pairs that would have gone in the same place.

The free tier watermarks the diagram. It never covers the referral notice and it never covers the list of what this cannot know. Those two are not the paid part and never will be.

What an action costs

  • A question, answered01
  • Locating the damage from your two photographs02
  • The position diagram and the check list05

An allowance is a measure of use for the period it belongs to. It is not money, not stored value, not redeemable for cash, non-transferable. It does not carry over, and there is nothing to buy to extend it — if you run out you wait for the reset or move up a tier.

08 / 09

Questions

Two of these are the reason this page exists.

Q-01Is something wrong with my feet?

We have no idea, and we are not going to guess. Holetell reads a sock. It makes no judgement about the health of nails or skin, it performs no analysis of arches, foot shape or pressure, and it never infers how you walk or anything about your body from where a sock has worn through.

There is no facility here for a photograph of a body, and there is not going to be one. If anything about your feet, your nails or any pain is on your mind, that belongs with a podiatrist or a doctor, not with a tool that looks at knitwear.

A nail appears in our reasoning in one role only: a hard object that can sit against the inside of the knit. That is a statement about an object touching fabric, and it stops there.

Q-02Won't a different brand just fix it?

Usually not. Of the five things that wear a sock through, four of them are not the sock: a pressure point inside the shoe, a hard edge in contact with the knit, cumulative heat from tumble drying, and the absence of reinforcement at the point that failed — and of those, only the last is something you choose when you buy.

One cause genuinely is the material: shorter fibres that pill and carry thickness away. That one shows up as several thin patches arriving together rather than one hole in one place, and for that one, a different pair does change the outcome.

So the honest answer is: a different brand is the right move in roughly one case out of the six positions we read, and the wrong move in the rest — where it costs you the price of the socks and puts you back here in two months with a hole in the same place. Every reading tells you which of the two you are in, and says so in plain words.

Q-03What happens to my photographs?

They are stored against your account so that you can look at a past reading, and they are deleted when you delete the reading or close the account. You can delete any reading yourself at any time, and deletion removes the images as well as the result.

Your photographs are not used to train models. Not ours, not anyone else's. That is stated in the Privacy Policy and in the Terms, and it is not a setting that can be quietly changed.

We accept photographs of socks. We do not accept photographs of feet, and there is no upload facility through which such a photograph could be submitted.

Q-04How reliable is the reading?

It is a reading of position and shape, and it is not a test. What decides which of the five causes is really doing it is often something we cannot see: which shoes these are worn with, how far you walk, how they are washed, how long the pair has been in service. Every reading lists those out, plainly, under what this cannot know.

The ranking itself is computed from a fixed reference table, in your browser, from the position and the break shape. A model is used to locate the damage on the sock and describe the shape of the opening. It does not rank the causes and it does not reach the conclusion.

Treat the result as a shortlist and a place to start looking, which is why every reading ends with something specific to go and check rather than with a verdict.

Q-05How do I cancel, and can I get a refund?

You cancel from the billing page, in one step, with no call and no email and no retention flow. Cancellation stops the next payment and you keep access until the end of the period you have already paid for.

You have 14 days to change your mind after subscribing, under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. If you asked us to start straight away and acknowledged that starting straight away ends that right, then it ends once the service has been supplied — those two acknowledgements are separate, unticked boxes at checkout, and we repeat both back to you in the order confirmation email.

We also give you a fresh 14 days after each renewal, which is not yet required of us. See the Cancellation & Refunds page for the full position, including the statutory cancellation form.

Q-06What is an allowance, and does it roll over?

An allowance is how much of the service you may use in the month it belongs to. A question costs 1, locating the damage from your photographs costs 2, and the position diagram with the check list costs 5.

It does not roll over. Unused allowance resets at the start of each period.

There are no credit packs, no top-ups and no stored balance. An allowance is not money, not stored value, not redeemable for cash, non-transferable. If you run out, you wait for the reset or move up a tier.

Q-07What do the two photographs need to show?

One close-up of the damage, filling the frame, with roughly a hand's width of fabric around it — that is what the position and the shape of the break are read from.

One of the whole sock laid flat on a plain surface, seen from above. That is what locates the damage on the sock, and it is also where any reinforcement is visible.

Daylight, no flash, sock alone. Nothing else needs to be in the frame, and nothing else should be.

Q-08Do you tell me which socks to buy, or which shoes?

No. We recommend no sock brand and no footwear brand, and we reach no conclusion about the quality of any product.

Where the material is part of the reading, we describe it as a material — shorter fibres pill and lose thickness — which is a neutral description of how yarn behaves and not an accusation about anything you own.

We also ask you not to use a reading as evidence in a return, a complaint or a quality claim against anyone. It is not built for that and it would not be fair to the other side.

Q-09Who can use this?

Anyone aged 18 or over can hold an account. It is not intended for children, and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18.

It works anywhere. Prices are in US dollars and include VAT at the UK standard rate of 20%.

Q-10Can I print the check list?

Yes, and it is meant to be printed. The check list exists so you can take it to the shoe and work down it, and on Trace and above it prints to a single sheet with the navigation and the decoration stripped out.

It prints in black on white so it survives any printer, and the annotation dots become hollow rings rather than solid ones so they still read without colour.

09 / 09

Find out before you buy the next pair

Five socks a month, free, no card. If the position points at the shoe, you will know this evening — and you will know which part of the shoe to pick up.

Start freeSee the plans
SHEET09 / 09
DRAWINGHOLETELL
REVA
DATE2026-09-05

Support: support@bulwellhosiery.shop · +44 115 822 5576. Monday to Friday, 09:00–17:30 UK time.