He likes it. Kari, In spite of what I have to others. Treating stinky feet is a multimillion dollar business. Socks are so you can wash them and keep your feet from shedding dead skin and perspiration inside the shoes where you cannot easily wash. It is the rotting of the dead skin, and the waste products of the little vermin who live on sweat, that smell so bad.
People think nothing of doing that with their shoes.
I never wear shoes without socks and wash my socks at least every other day. When I was a child and didn't know any better, you could smell my feet from a block away. I also had athletes foot at that time. I did not carefully rub the wash cloth and towel between my toes either. Dead skin, whether accumulated between your toes or in your shoes really stinks when it rots.