What Color Socks Go With Brown Shoes And Khakis?

As far as pants and shoes go, it’s a color pairing that’s tough to go wrong with. However, choosing the right pair of socks is often made more complicated than it needs to be. 

So, here are some great sock colors you can wear with brown shoes and khakis: 

• Khaki
• Tan
• Light Taupe
• Beige
• Dark Brown

So, just choose a shade of brown. 

Simple, right? Well, sort of. There’s definitely more to it than that. 

After going through a few essential tips for color-matching socks with brown shoes and khakis in the best way possible, we’ll run through each of those combinations in more detail. 

How To Color Coordinate Socks With Brown Shoes And Khakis

Consider all of these before putting your outfit together. Khakis are versatile, but the wrong sock color can really derail the look. 

1. The Socks Should Match The Pants  

Coordinating your socks to your pants is a basic principle that’ll always serve you well. 

It’s more important when dressing for formal settings, but even in more casual environments, it’s a simple way to make it clear that you know what you’re doing. 

Trying to match the socks with the shoes or anything else is a common mistake that’s best avoided whenever possible. 

Try to match your socks to your pants. 

So, when wearing khakis, choosing a pair of socks that’s as close in color to khaki as possible is always a good way to go. 

Having said that, wearing brown shoes does make things a whole lot easier. 

Ultimately, khaki is a pale shade of brown in any case. 

It could be argued that socks in any shade of brown would work well here, forming a nice bridge between the khaki (i.e pale brown) pants and the brown shoes. 

This is true, but the closer your socks are to khaki, the more coordinated it’ll look as a whole. 

2. Consider The Dress Code   

The dressier or more formal the setting, the more important it is that your socks coordinate well with your pants. 

Khakis wouldn’t ever be worn in truly formal settings in any case. The most formal dress code you’d wear them to would be business-casual. 

But even in business-casual settings, you’d be much better served by closely coordinating your socks to the khakis. 

In more casual settings, you can choose to go for a pair of socks that add more contrast. 

In fact, you could really go pretty wild with your choice of socks if you wanted to.

For example, khakis, brown shoes, and burgundy, burnt orange, or even mustard yellow socks. 

Sure, the socks will clearly stand out from the shoe and pants pairing and won’t exactly coordinate. 

But if you’re looking to make more of a statement with your socks in a casual environment, does it really matter? 

We won’t be covering these more fun and vibrant sock colors because, at the end of the day, anything goes. 

You don’t really need an article to explain it. 

The bottom line here is that if you do want to coordinate your socks to your khakis and brown shoes, there are certain colors you should stick to. 

They just happen to be varying shades of brown. 

3. Wear A Brown Belt  

Wearing a brown belt is a great way to round off a khakis and brown shoe combination no matter what sock color you happen to be wearing. 

In many ways, coordinating your belt with your shoes is even more important than coordinating your socks with your pants. 

So, make an effort to match your brown shoes with a brown belt as closely as possible. 

It’s a simple way to make a khakis and brown shoe outfit look “complete” and well-coordinated. 

5 Sock Colors That Go With Brown Shoes And Khakis

Here are those sock colors/shades displayed and described in a little more detail. 

Khaki Socks

In many ways, a pair of khaki-colored socks would be the best option when wearing khaki pants and brown shoes. 

As explained earlier on, the reason for this is that the socks should ideally match the pants as best as possible. 

This is especially true in dressier settings such as business-casual environments or office settings. 

At the end of the day, your socks aren’t going to be very visible to people until you sit down and your khakis ride up. 

When they do, however, seeing a pair of socks in a color that closely resembles that of the khakis is impressive. 

This would be the case no matter what shade your brown shoes are. Whether they’re light, medium, or dark brown, it’ll matter. 

It isn’t essential, but it’s the little things like this that make all the difference. 

Dark Brown Socks

Dark brown socks can be worn with khaki pants and brown shoes when you’re looking to add contrast to the combination. 

Given how pale khaki is a shade of brown, a pair of dark brown socks will add enough contrast to be noticeable. 

But it isn’t so much contrast that it becomes a distraction. This is especially true when you’re wearing a pair of dark brown shoes with them. 

Overall, dark brown socks would be a good option in smart-casual settings where you aren’t too worried about coordinating your pants to your socks closely. 

Having said that, the two items still coordinate enough for it to make sense. 

It isn’t just a random choice. 

Tan Socks

Tan socks work well with khakis and brown shoes because it’s a shade of brown that’s close enough to khaki to coordinate. 

Tan, much like khaki, is a pale shade of brown. However, it has a duller tone to it than khaki without the same yellowish hue. 

The term comes from “tannum” – another name for oak bark. It’s a substance used in the tanning of leather. 

Overall, tan socks work perfectly well with khakis. The two shades coordinate seamlessly with each other. 

Light Taupe Socks

Taupe socks look great when wearing brown shoes and khakis. While taupe is a shade of brown, it has dull grey undertones that add a nice sense of contrast to the warm yellowish hue of khaki. 

While taupe is considerably darker than tan or khaki, light taupe is, as the name would suggest, a lighter shade of the same greyish-brown color. 

Although you could go for a dark taupe, light taupe often pairs more seamlessly with khaki pants, simply because they’re both light shades of brown. 

Remember, the closer you can get to khaki, the better. 

Beige Socks

Beige socks can easily be worn with khakis and brown shoes, although they won’t coordinate as effectively as socks in slightly darker shades of brown would. 

At the end of the day, it’ll work. 

Although the definition of beige is sometimes confusing, it’s generally considered to be a light and sandy shade of brown with both grey and yellow hues. 

It’s the lightest shade of brown on this list. 

As a result, it’s one of the options that’ll lead to the most contrast with the khakis. 

Having said that, it’s still close enough to be considered well-coordinated. It’s definitely another great option. 

In addition, it’s a sock color that plenty of people already own. 

Conclusion

Brown shoes are ideal when wearing khakis, but choosing the wrong sock color can completely undo the benefits of the pairing. 

In short, it’s tough to go wrong with a pair of socks in any shade of brown. However, the closer the sock color is to khaki, the better. 

Enjoy.