When I opened the bag of socks, they smelled awful, like a cross between a musty basement and a wet dog. I can only assume that at some point these socks got wet and then rotted and went moldy in the packaging. I washed and dried them but they smelled exactly the same. Luckily, Best Buy sent a replacement that smelled nice. My daughter was curious as to why Santa gave her moldy socks. I bought the same socks 2 years ago and they were my daughter's favorite socks. They got small and full of holes so this year I ordered a size 8-12. The new pills are awful after 5 minutes of wear, they are ridiculously small for an 8 year old and of course I still can't get rid of their musty smell. Bad quality, no problem!