When most of us think of athletic socks, we think of the long, thick, white socks often seen on the basketball court, soccer field, or other sports fields and courts that involve teams rather than individual players. The athletes who wear long athletic knee socks need them to protect them against other players, to hold shin guards in place, and to protect them as they slide around in the grass or across the court.

While there will always be a need for long athletic socks to protect players from conditions such as these, there are other kinds of athletic socks that don’t get much air time. That’s because they are generally associated with the extreme sports or other activities that for the everyday person are still on the fringes of what they may even consider a sport at all. For athletes in these categories, no-show socks are the name of the game — literally. So who are we talking about? Everyone from skateboarders to (some) golfers, from professional bowlers to many tennis players, and even cyclists and snowboarders have a lot to gain from wearing a no-show athletic sock.

No-show socks for snowboarding? Yes — because this type of sock creates the compression these athletes need to perform, and they wear them beneath other gear before putting on their snowboarding boots. Yes, some may laugh at the idea of bowling being a sport, but it is, and a competitive one at that! Many who bowl professionally or seriously need a no show sock that stays in place but that doesn’t go all the way up the leg, as many bowlers engage in their sport while wearing shorts or three-quarter length pants.

Athletic socks of all lengths are getting a much needed makeover in 2016, and a lot of this has to do with necessity — the mother of invention. For the executive who likes to get in a quick game of racquetball on his lunch break, changing socks takes up time when only an hour is allotted. Hence the need for an athletic-crew sock hybrid. Socks that can be worn with both dress shoes and tennis shoes is what you can expect to see coming up in 2016 from top brands that know all about what needs to be incorporated into a sock that can meet the needs of either.

Regardless of the length of a sock, there are some features newer to the industry that are becoming the new normal in terms of features. Air-wicking technology, compression around the arch of the foot and calf, silicone sole tread to stop sock slippage (when shoes “eat” socks as you walk) are all amenities we can expect to see more of in athletic socks, including no-show socks worn by many extreme sports athletes. All this is good news for everyone from the weekend (or lunch time) warrior to the professional sportsman and everyone between.