Sock It To Dad

The dad in our house has everything, but loves everything, which makes him simultaneously super-easy and really, really hard to shop for. Finding Father's Day gifts for him often falls into a I'll-know-it-when-I-see-it groove, which can mean lots of thinking and legwork on my part. But he's totally worth it. And I'm not just saying that because he might be reading this.

And when I say he loves everything, I mean he loves everything. Darth Vader-shaped USB drive? He loved it. Nice designer shirt with French cuffs? Wears it often. Robot-shaped desk clock? Couldn't live without it. But one of his loves took me by surprise: This man loves socks. And when I surveyed a few wives in the office, I discovered that a lot of other men really like socks. Good socks ... the kind with arch supports and special patterns. The fluffy, absorbent ones and that classic otherwise known as "the perfect dress sock."

That's why I was intrigued by a new service called blacksocks.com. It just launched here in the U.S., after long serving the sock-loving men in Europe.

Here's how it works: For an annual fee of $89, "sockscribers," as they call them, receive three pairs of Italian-made socks every four months, for a total of nine pairs per year. Choose from calf, knee, athletic, ski or the cashmere silk variety – and watch the dad in your life bask in the glow of his happy feet.