I have exactly 2 colors of socks. Black for work and "fancy" stuff, white for exercise and kicking about. Both of these could be classed as "athletic", though you would be hard-pressed to identify the black ones as such.

Socks are folded in half, in singles. They are "stacked" edge up in a drawer insert (little Ikea box for drawers). Fresh socks are placed at the back. Socks are picked from the front (making this a FIFO), keeping the wear even across the batch.

Once or twice a year, I visit my discount sports store, which sells these in bundles of 6 pairs. I buy 2 bundles of each color. New socks replace all old socks (this is best done on laundry day, so all old socks are in one place, and binned all at once).

Matching socks is easy, even in the dark of winter at 6am.

I admit to having some spares, because the store-bought bundles don't fit into the drawer boxes exactly, and I don't really need that many in rotation.

I have much more interesting things to do on laundry day or every morning than match socks.