These are some pretty dandy socks. I'm a big guy, six foot tall and pushing 300 lbs, and they come up to just above mid calf. The texture is smooth and I haven't noticed the seams on my toes. I do wear garters with them, since my legs taper more than any sock could ever compensate for. But if you don't have huge calves and chicken ankles they'd probably stay up on they're own. My only real complaint is that the color contrast on the grey/black socks is too great. The grey almost looks white against the black. Still nice looking socks.