A retired firefighter from South Carolina in the United States is hoping to break a world record – for owning the biggest collection of socks.
Darryl Parker, from North Augusta, has gathered more than 2,000 pairs of socks over the years. That’s so many pairs that he could wear a brand new pair every single day for more than five years without ever repeating one.
The current Guinness World Record for the most unique pairs of socks collected is held by Jim Donovan, a retired television news anchor from Philadelphia, who had 1,531 verified pairs as of 2025. Parker is hoping his much bigger collection will be enough to take the title.
Parker’s sock obsession started small, with a single pair given to him as a Father’s Day gift. Since then, family and friends have kept adding to the pile with socks for birthdays and anniversaries.
“My wife was like, ‘Yo, listen, you got so many socks here…’ my grandkids came and told me… ‘how about we try for the Guinness World Record?’ I was like, ‘You know what? Let’s do it,'” Parker said.
Parker plans to keep collecting for the rest of the year before officially submitting his collection to Guinness World Records for verification. Once he has the record, he’s planning to donate his spare socks to local shelters, so people in need can benefit from his hobby too.
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