Gear of the Week | Merino socks

Growing up - or growing old but not growing up - has always been a popular topic in literature and feature articles. How do you define adulthood? Growing up in books for so-called young adults often has to do with resistance against the regime in fictional dystopias or the fight against evil itself - either with a bow and arrow, magic wand or tame dragon. In Spiegel and on Zeit online, on the other hand, building society savings contracts and private pensions are the order of the day. It feels like you read every two weeks that millennials simply don't want to grow up properly for various reasons. Or, alternatively, that they are returning to traditional values in the face of uncertain times, taking out building society savings contracts and preferring to get married in white.

In the ski and outdoor industry, it's all much easier. How grown up you are can be reliably measured by where you get your socks from.

When we were kids, we considered socks under the Christmas tree almost an insult, received from well-meaning but completely unworldly adults. Along with our passion for skiing, our understanding of adequate socks as a thing of necessity slowly grew over the years.

It's all the nicer when the grandparents ask what you want for Christmas or your birthday and you can tell them the exact model and color of your favorite high-end outdoor socks with a clear conscience. Both generations are helped by this: busy grandparents don't have to give impersonal vouchers and we can continue to imagine that we are still too young to have to think seriously about socks and retirement planning.

However, it can be assumed that millennials will also have to grow up sooner or later. I suspect that I too will find my way to the sock shop all by myself at some point. I will seek detailed advice from a specialist on the standards of sheep farming in the countries of origin, wool thicknesses and padding for specific uses and then make a well-considered decision. On the way home, I'll suddenly realize how my tax return works.

I'll finally feel like a real grown-up.