Need a great pet parent or dog lovers’ gift? Sock it. Even for yourself, or especially for yourself. (Get 20% off – see below).

The eve of 2020, I made a weird New Year’s Resolution – no, it wasn’t to stay home for weeks with my dog and two cats but here we are.

My resolution was to wear something with dogs, cats or horses on it everyday. Why? No reason. It was a game that amused me each morning. Granted buying a Cocker Spaniel Swatch Watch made it easier because that covered me a lot of days, especially racing-to-work mornings.

But I had to make the game more fun than that (and I like shopping). I wanted to mix it up, and short of buying Tommy Hilfiger sweaters with a big dog motif across the front (ok, I did), I needed more subtle options.

Along came PrintsField, an online sock company that lets you create your own socks. Even better, you create your own socks with images of your own pets. Perfect, an opportunity to add customized socks to my game.

So, I did. PrintsField offered dogtrotting.net the opportunity to try out their service in exchange for an honest review. I chose an image of my cat Daisy and of course a pic of my cocker-cross dog Victor, star of our travel adventures.

Two notes about printed socks:

1. Yes, you can add whatever image you want, even people, but PrintsField offers special prints – dog bones and catty fish – that invite the addition of pet pics.
2. Yes, there are other online companies printing socks, but not all are similar quality or service.

My experience with PrintsField?

Delivery is Quick

PrintsField was reasonably fast (considering the April 2020 demand on postal services) and kept me updated via email about the status of my order. The European-based company printed the socks in the U.S. and moved through Canadian Customs (no easy task) remarkably efficiently. Allow at least two weeks for delivery, especially if you’re ordering gifts.

Ordering is Easy

Online website www.printsfield.com offers several colours and prints to choose from including just the image of the face. I choose paw prints with bones to surround the image of my dog Victor, and paw prints and paw prints with fish bones for my cat Daisy.

1. Select your colour and style – select a colour much lighter than your pet and keep in mind the image of your pet will be lighter than the image. For instance, my black dog printed more chocolate brown and grey but stood out against a beige sock.
2. Upload your image – use a good resolution, png or jpg, 1mb or higher, with the full head of the pet facing the camera (no cut off ears etc). Here’s my advice: select a really good quality photo. I like the socks with my cat Daisy, but that’s a pic I took on a compact camera. The image of my dog was taken by a professional photographer with good lighting. This image printed better. Also, you can put up to three different images on one pair – for an extra charge.
3. Select a size – I selected women’s medium (I’m a size 9 shoe). Select large for men’s sizes. The socks fit like dress socks rather than slouchy sports socks, so they are a bit narrow.

Results are fun

I’m picky about fabric – I wear soft cotton and I can’t stand most synthetic fibres like polyester and rayon. These socks have a ‘slippery’ feeling on the outside but must for the printed ink to adhere. Inside, however, they are softer like a cotton/nylon mix, and I can wear them comfortably.

The fit is tighter like a men’s dress sock, so I look forward to wearing them under dress pants for work, or ‘good’ jeans at professional pet conferences, shows and trade shows whenever we are able. If Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau can fuel conversation by carefully selecting graphic printed socks to peek out from under his pant cuff, so can I. Only with my own pets.

And you can too!

Here’s a 20% PrintsField discount for dogtrotting.net readers!

Go to PrintsField.com and use discount code dogtrotting20 at check out.