What the model does

This service compares the visual and structural relationship between two socks: whether a colour on one turns up somewhere on the other, whether their patterns belong to the same family, and whether their length and cuff width match.

A model reads each sock on its own and reports what it sees. It is never asked which socks go together. That decision is made in your browser by rules that are written down and can be read: length and cuff width are hard vetoes, tested first; colour relationships are scored afterwards; and each accepted group is returned with the rule that produced it.

Every photograph carries a colour cast, and this service works from the image you supply. The light in the room, the white balance of the camera and the screen you look at it on all move the colour. Two shades a clear step apart on screen can be the same in daylight; two that look identical can be a step apart.

Where two socks are near-identical in colour, put them next to each other in daylight and compare the actual items before you decide. That advice is printed on every plan, on every plan tier, and it is never obscured by the free-plan watermark.

• The actual wear of each sock. A thin heel, a stretched cuff, a pilled ankle or a small hole does not show in a flat photograph. A worn sock will not read as chosen however well it pairs.
• Your own tolerance. Where the line falls between deliberate and careless is a matter of taste, and it is yours. The service can tell you what the relationship is; it cannot tell you whether you are content with it.
• Anything the photograph hides. A sock lying partly under another is read only from what is visible.
• Fibre, weight and how it behaves after a wash. These are not readable from an image and are not guessed at.

Every plan carries this list. It is never empty, and the colour cast is always the first item on it.

This service gives no styling or clothing advice. It makes no judgement about how a combination looks on a person, whether it suits an occasion, whether anyone should like it, or whether it is a good idea.

It does not accept photographs of anyone wearing socks and it does not generate images of people. Uploads that appear to contain a person are refused at the point of upload and are not stored. Nothing the service produces contains a human figure.

Socks only. Whether it looks good on you is not something a photograph of a drawer can answer.

This service recommends no brand and no product, and gives no restocking advice. It will not suggest buying a replacement for the one that went missing, will not rank manufacturers and contains no shopping links.

It offers no disposal, donation or resale suggestion for the socks that cannot be paired. It says which pair and which do not, and stops there. It does not introduce you to anyone, list anything for sale, or take a position on what should happen next.

Readings can be wrong. Lengths and cuff widths are estimated from a photograph and are approximations; colours are named from pixels that carry a cast; a pattern can be misread when the knit is fine or the light is low.

Check a reading against the socks themselves before acting on it, particularly where the plan says two things are close. If a reading looks wrong, tell us at support@wbrewin.shop — it will be re-run at no cost.

Models can carry the biases of what they were trained on, including in how colours are named. Report anything that looks like that and it will be looked at.

This notice describes what the output is and where it stops. It does not reduce your rights: see terms of service, which states that nothing in it affects your statutory rights.

The output is a description of the relationship between two knitted items. It must not be used for, or as any input to, decisions in:

• medical diagnosis, treatment or care;
• legal advice or legal proceedings;
• financial, insurance or credit decisions;
• safety-critical or life-critical systems;
• employment, recruitment or performance decisions;
• housing decisions;
• criminal justice, policing or the administration of justice.

Nor may it be used to identify, describe or make any inference about a person.