Chum,
I'm on occasion still buy cotton socks despite knowing better. Usually the Dore Dore fil d'ecosse.
Better for me though are the Falke in a light wool (for summer) or the Panth's. I had dozens of Press socks. Whoever was making for them. The char woman no longer darns so socks are one of my few sartorial pleasures these days.
Cotton Pantherellas, despite their short lifespan.
I am overjoyed to learn that Boardroom Socks has expanded into a few non-drab colors, mainly red and sky blue, as well as the elusive and IMHO practical olive. I'd put them on par with the Nordstrom house brand socks as being solid workhorse stuff available in over the calf merino blend, and similarly priced.
https://boardroomsocks.com/collections/over-the-calf/products/merino-wool-over-the-calf
I'll always love single colored socks in pale or bright colors. Nothing wrong with navy socks at all. I gave my father a lot of my excess Duchamp socks and he loves them.
Pantherellas are great, made in my home town of Leicester but annoyingly they don't have a factory shop so I order them through a shop here in Oslo. The sales rep still uses pen and paper for noting orders I've been told. Socks that seem to last the longest for me are Burlington, great colours in their argyle range. Smedley socks are pretty nice.
I have a few pair of J. Press otc wool and cotton socks, which I usually wear, even with jeans. Black, charcoal, navy, and brown. I recently got down with some Ben Silver socks that look and feel like they’re made in the same factory(I could be, and ma probably wrong)— but with great colors like airforce blue, kelly green, red, etc. they seem to last pretty long, too. Win/win.
I usually wear Viccel otc. They ship from Turkey, so it takes a while, but they're comfortable and well-fitting, not expensive (I believe shipping is free), and come in a good range of color.
Since I do not support the newest "synthetic fibre in almost every product"- policy of my long time companions (35 years) Falke and Burlington, I changed to Calze Vitrano. Recommedations for good argyle-socks are still welcome. Thanks in advance!