I scrolled through three saved searches of me trying to find a specific Chloé bag last night, because lets face it when it comes to internet shopping nothing gets you in the feels like wanting one single specific item and realizing how many other perfectly good versions of it there are for sale, when a sidebar video autoplayed that I had absolutely no business looking at. A random listing photo that made its way into content created just for me on some random resellers feed, showing them off-model standing in their frankly suspiciously tidy converted garage wearing nothing separating their knees from their boots. Knee high boots. With leggings. And I paused my painstaking bag search, credit card still idly copied to my clipboard, and realised I wanted those too.
(I don’t strictly mean the pair in the photo, that photo was garbage. But I wanted boots like that, wanted the boots.)
I think the issue knee high boots are running into for 2025 isn’t if they’re trendy or not, it’s that wanting them has become less of a style choice and more of an emotional decision for me, and for a lot of other people I see buying them obsessively. Are knee high boots dead? If you asked me two paragraphs ago I would have immediately said hell no and rattled through every single pair I owned to prove my dedication to the cause. Ask me now and I hesitate. Because the knee high boot is having a weird pivot year.
On one level I think they are ending as we know them. They’re moving away from being THE statement piece that everything else is built around and photo staged for and trending… elsewhere. But they’re nowhere near dead yet. They’re just entering a phase most memes don’t talk about; the popular whatever becomes niche-yet-reliable thing that you either realise you really love and commit to fully or forget you own entirely six months after buying it.
There’s a fit issue no one wants to talk about
Knee highs suffer from a practical problem that no amount of good styling will fix; they either fit your leg or they don’t. I say that as someone who confidently purchased four pairs of knee highs off apps last year and this year based solely on how they looked in a listing photo, nearly three of which do not actually fit over my calf. I kept one of the ones that didn’t fit because I’m obsessive like that, but let me tell you there is nothing chic about wearing boots that open at the top and look like your leg is in them by a terrible stroke of luck rather than actually fit into them. It’s a hack, a workaround that highlights exactly how unready for my leg your average knee high is. But that was never really a secret, was it? Calf fit on boots and trousers has always been the problem area if you want something that actually fits versus something that just vaguely works most of the time. But I think where knee highs went wrong for a few years there were enough of them being sold that it didn’t matter. People bought them tight and dealt with the elephant riding your calf.
What’s happening now though is different. The trend is splintering because people have finally had enough of dealing with that elephant. Instagram is full of people I follow gnashing their teeth about wanting a pair of knee highs so badly but nothing actually fitting. Me included. It’s made both of us better buyers though, because I’m not just buying knee highs that slide over my damn leg damnit regardless of brand because they look good on the Instagram hashtag, I’m only buying ones that I know will fit without a fight. If you’ve found reliable wide calf boots on brands I’ve never heard of send them my way please.
Same goes for resale. The knee highs that sell instantly for me are ones with brand-level reputations for decent stretch or being explicitly built with wide calves in mind. They used to sell regardless but not anymore. The customer base has gotten wise to how much of a pain these boots can be if they’re not right and are no longer bothering with boots so rigid they can’t bend enough to get over bumps in a sidewalk. I’m looking at you beautiful suede boots I kept swearing I was gonna get around to trying again despite what happening to the three pairs I already own.
The replacement isn’t even boots, which sucks
The sad part about all of this from my perspective is that there isn’t really a shoe out there that feels like it’s taken knee highs’ place. If anything what they’re being replaced with is the concept of knee level leg coverage itself. Slip into something slouchier and your leg is still getting swallowed up by boots, throw them under a skirt so only two inches are showing, slip on opaque tights and booties and you’re halfway there. Hell I knew someone who did that last combo with sneakers in the summer and legit never wore leggings because it was easier than bothering with taller boots. The whole point of knee highs was to give you that unfussy, universally flattering leg line and people have definitely found alternatives to it that don’t require as much… effort.
That right there is the thing that keeps me up at night about knee highs more than them being on display somewhere and not “feeling cool” enough to buy. If there’s a lazy workaround that gives you almost all of the benefit for a fraction of the effort why buy the real thing? The what-have-you whenever that may be. Same rules that apply to people buying Coach over Everlane Jeans… I’m sure. My point is someone, somewhere decided knee highs weren’t worth the hassle and found their happy place elsewhere and now imaaagine how tricky that is to compete with when you actually need those two inches to clear your leggings. Will knee highs fully die? Of course not, the architectural shoe obsessed will buy them forever just like they’ll buy classic trenches in all black. Will they ever be quite as easy to grab off the rack and just know they’ll work for you like they did at the peak of their popularity? I think not.
So what does that leave a boot-buying lunatic like me? Hunting through eBay with a visceral craving for a pair I know isn’t out there in the sizes I need? Knowing the bulk of the knee high market is moving to fit-friendly brands and styles I love but that there will never be one that hits in the way I want? Yeah. That.
My hot take is if you’re looking for knee highs this year and you know already know your calf measurement, buy them. Buy them knowing they might not totally fit the ‘it’ atmosphere we’re all magically supposed to be purchasing into right now because as much as influencers say knee highs are back knee highs are not back. They’re just knee highs being knee highs now. Not cool enough for anybody to lose their minds over but also not going anywhere. I’m buying a pair myself tonight because mine still fit, I know exactly how and why they fit and that’ll never change.
Do you own knee highs? Were knee highs once your jam but you struggled to find ones that fit? Let me know!
