Cloth vs Grip vs Clear vs Sock Tape: What's the Difference?

Walk into any hockey shop and you will see a wall of tape. Most of it falls into four groups. Each one is made from a different material and does a different job, so using the wrong one usually means it will not last or will not work.

The four main types at a glance

Tape	Made of	Goes on	Main job
Cloth	Woven poly-cotton with rubber-based adhesive	Blade and knob	Protects the blade and grips the puck
Grip	Self-adhering gauze or stretch wrap	Upper shaft	Stops your top hand slipping
Clear	Stretchy polyethylene	Shin pads	Holds pads in place with little bulk
Sock (coloured)	Stretchy polyethylene, coloured	Over socks	Same job as clear, in a colour

The material details come from the manufacturers. Renfrew Pro and Howies both list polyethylene for their shin pad tapes. Renfrew Pro and Lowry both describe their cloth tapes as a polyester and cotton blend.

Cloth tape

This is the tape most people mean when they say “hockey tape.” You tear it off the roll by hand and wrap it around the blade. Renfrew Pro recommends its cloth tape for both stick handles and blades. Bauer’s stick buying guide says blade tape adds friction to help you grip the puck when you shoot, stickhandle or take a pass, and that most players also use tape to build a knob at the end of the shaft.

Cloth tape comes in black, white, colours and printed patterns. Widths are covered in hockey tape widths and roll lengths.

Grip tape

Grip tape goes on the top of the shaft where your top hand sits. It is thicker and tackier than cloth. Many grip tapes are cohesive, which means they stick mainly to themselves. Renfrew Pro says its stretch grip leaves no residue.

Howies tells you to start at the top of the handle, wrap downward, and stretch the tape gently until the grip is as thick as you like. Lowry lists a 36 mm cohesive grip tape. For the trade-offs, see grip tape vs a grip-finish stick.

Clear tape

Clear tape holds shin pads in place. Renfrew Pro describes its Polyflex tape as moisture-resistant polyethylene that stretches, has memory and tears by hand. Howies says its clear tape conforms to the pad and the leg and stretches with your muscles. Because it is thin and smooth, it adds almost no bulk and does not catch on anything.

Sock tape

Sock tape is the coloured version of clear tape. Renfrew Pro sells Polyflex in colours as well as clear, so you can pick a colour that blends with your socks instead of showing as a shiny band. The job is the same: keep the pads and socks from sliding. See clear tape or sock tape for shin pads.

Two more you will see

• Friction tape is cloth tape that is tacky on the outside as well as sticky on the inside. Some players use it on the blade or handle. See friction tape vs cloth tape.
• Stick wax is not tape, but it goes on top of cloth tape to keep water and snow out. See stick wax.

Which do you need?

For one stick and one set of shin pads, most players need:

1. One roll of cloth tape for the blade and knob.
2. One roll of clear or sock tape for the shin pads.
3. Grip tape only if your top hand slips or you want a thicker handle.

The tape types page has care tips for each one, and the how to tape a stick tutorials show where each goes.