Socks

I mean, really.
How technical can you make a sock? I remember back in the day you had a pair of normal cotton type socks, and a pair of thick red ones, you put on your boots and off you went.
If you were REALLY rebellious, you might be able to find a pair of thick socks that WEREN'T red, ( still have a pair of turquoise ones stuffed at the back of a cupboard somewhere.
And then technical fabrics started coming in, and we had a choice of socks, and a choice of how many to wear. Some people still wear 2 pairs, a liner and a thick one, some swear by one pair, (be it wool or polyester), others are still staunchly advocating red socks and nothing but.

Old school. (Sorry, I don't own red ones)

Ive worn a couple of pairs in the past decade, some good, some bad, some horrendous, and this is a basic run down of them, with photos where I can find the socks to take pictures of.

1000 mile socks
Some people love these things, they swear by them. Bascially its a sock with a thin inner lining that is attached to an outer along a seam, and "floats" inside the sock. A sock within a sock. Theoretically friction takes place between the inner and outer sock.
In my experience, they are the worst things ever concieved and taken through to market. I wore them a couple of times and suffered the worst blisters I have ever had. As far as I am concerned they are a waste of money and are best left on the shelf.

Sealskinz
Waterproof socks. Genius idea. Its a sock with a membrane that doesn't let liquid through. Excellent. However, they feel really odd, and I certainly wouldnt go a long distance in them without some kind of liner. I can vouch for the fact they don't let water through- mainly because I have commuted in them a few times- the rain ran down my legs and into the socks, and I ended up with a cupful of water in the socks which didnt drain out, not nice at all.
So, if you want waterproof socks- make sure that you are wearing trousers, and that water doesn't flow down your legs and into the socks- or you will have wet, cold feet. Not nice.
Personally, I see them as a bit of a gimic. I would only ever use them for cycling, never for walking or running, and their place at the back of the drawer confirms their place in the pantheon of socks. To me, a waste of money. (the gloves are a different matter altogether, and I shall talk about them in a different post).

Sealskinz- not quite new school foot mapping....

Bridgedale

Now we start getting into those socks which have different weaves and thicknesses, the specific type I have here are Medium weight socks- called Endurance Trekkers. They are an elastic, wool and polyprop mix and have cushioning around the heel and toe areas while wrapping around the foot. I have had 3 pairs of these, the first bought in 1998, which were thrown away last year- and the other two still appear to be going strong. They have been through thick and thin, raced in, walked in, biked in and generally abused. The heels are still there, the sock is still fully integrated and I cannot think of a better general purpose sock.
My running partner says I must be mad to run in them as they look too hot, but I can safely say that I havent ever actually massively overheated with them on.
All in all. Awesome socks, and apparently indestructable. (the only reason I got rid of the first ones was because they had been washed and re-worn that many times they were beginning to literally stand up on their own).

Bridgedale trekkers. Still going strong. I have a confession. That green sock... thats the 1998 sock, I thought I'd thrown it out, but no, it battles on!

Smartwool

Foot mapping on a smartwool sock

I have a couple of pairs of these, from ski socks to running socks. The Mid-weight hiking socks are one of the new additions to my quiver and seem to be holding up well. The whole idea of Smartwool is that the socks are body-mapped around the foot with padding around the heel and the toe- a bit like the bridgedales, they hug the feet- (which is really quite comfortable and nice), and that they are primarily made of wool. (merino wool, for those of you who are interested- farmed ecologically and sustainably in America)- the whole idea of merino wool- especially with that in Smartwool- is that it is very fine indeed, none of that horrible scratchy itchy stuff from days of yore, but a fabric that is comfortable, soft and wicks moisture away quickly.
Excellent idea, and in the thicker socks seems to work brilliantly.

Heel on the back of a low cut Smartwool sock.

On some Smartwool socks I have found that the heels do wear rather damn quickly, having gone through the backs of a pair of them in about 6-8 months. When you're paying a tenner or more for a pair of socks, you do expect them to last a fair amount longer than that. However, others have withstood much more abuse. It may be luck of the draw, I'd appreciate some feedback from the guys at Smartwool about that...

Hole in the back of a High cut Smartwool sock.

Teko




The thicker of the Tekos are excellent and I have abused mine a fair amount in the last year. They are a much stiffer sock than any of the others that I have worn- by that I mean that the elastic appears to be a stronger material, and they even seem (to a point) a more difficult sock to put on- a wierd thing to say perhaps, but perfectly true from my point of view.

I have noticed that after some time wearing them, clumps of wool do come loose from inside the socks and fall out, not something that I have noticed from any other socks really- and I would imagine that this is because of the large loops of wool inside.

Synthetic on the left, wool on the right, both the same thickness, both worn about the same amount, but the wool showing MUCH more wear

Again, with the thinner versions- light hiker and runner socks, I have seen the heels go pretty quickly- so Im not the biggest fan of them, though while they last, they are comfortable and breathe very well.

Icebreaker

Ive only had a chance to wear the low thin versions of these socks, and so far I am mightily impressed. There has been no wear through the heel, they are just as good as the day I bought them, and Im off to run a fellrace in them this evening. They work. Again a merino wool mix, but this time, as mentioned, no heel rub through. I'd buy these again over teko and smartwool light hiking socks every time.







I haven't talked about pHD running socks because I don't own any yet, and I know that Sealskinz have just released a new and improved hiking version of their sock- and at £30, its pretty damn expensive, so unless I get given a pair at some point, I'll be spending my money on something else that I need more urgently.

All the socks have been through much the same abuse, and I can safely say that anyone that tries to sell you a merino sock on the basis that it won't smell is a big fat liar.
If going thick, any of them will do, if going thin, I'd tend to head more along the Icebreaker route, and I will never skimp on buying a pair of socks. They are as important to a boot fitting your foot as the shape of the boot itself.
1 sock, 2 socks? you decide. personal preference is best.
and last but not least, MAKE SURE the sock FITS your foot.
You can spend a lot of money on socks, and if they don't fit, its a waste of time and money, and you'll end up paying for it in blisters and blood.

As a final note, I have recieved a text telling me that Falke socks are brilliant, though I haven't tested them myself, I know that the ski socks are awesome. Running and walking... who knows?

Odlo thermals

So. As captain sceptic, I was shown some new thermals a couple of months ago. Something that apparently was as good as Icebreaker, if not better.

Icebreaker, as we all know is made from merino wool, and as such, does not smell, does not really need washing for a fairly long time, and is a very versatile and warm bit of kit. As someone with sensitive skin, however, I have sometimes found them to be a little itchy and irritating. Wash them with some jeans, and they become comfortable and bearable, but still, just a tad itchy.

Odlo have taken the synthetic idea and run with it, which is great news if you are slightly (or very) allergic to wool in any way shape or form.
I have been wearing Helly Hansen thermals for years, and am fully used to the horrific smell emenating from them at all times- though apparently this has now been fixed- I'll go onto that another time. Silver has been used in the past- woven into the polyester in order to give the fabric an anti-bacterial finish.

(silver ions are highly toxic to some bacteria, fungus and algae)

The woven silver thread was good, and did the job, until the fabric was worn, the thread broke down, and hey presto- once more, a garment that reeks.

Odlo has apparently got around this by adding silver ions to the polymer mix in liquid form before the extrusion of the fibres, so when the fibres are actually extruded, the silver is actually a part of the fabric itself. The Antibacterial qualities are inherent within the thread.
genius.

Does it work?

Well, onto that in a minute.
The trunk of the top is woven in a circular pattern up the body, which means that there are no seams on the trunk. Seamless construction, which also has an element of elastin in there, so, very stretchy indeed. (at this point, I have to point out to the pedants that yes, there are 2 seams where the arms join the torso, but thats it).
There is a whole "body mapping" thing going on as well. (body mapping being the buzz word of the season, it appears). What this means is that they have worked out where the body gets hotter or colder and added or removed layers of polymer where needed- or not. So you get a body contoured effect on the torso which makes you look something of a greek god. Which isnt bad.

Well, thats the premise.

Ive been wearing one pretty much constantly for the past few weeks in the shop and around town, (not heavy exercise at the moment).
In terms of heat quality, its coming in at about Icebreaker 200- 220 or so. Quite warm enough for pretty much everything in the autumn and winter, no problem there. The stretchi-ness is excellent, and it feels really nice on.
As soon as I wore it, there was no feeling of slight --mmm--- not sure about this, as I did with icebreakers, and Ive had no issues with it at all.

Another neat touch is that the care instructions are woven into the hem- so no labels to cut off and lose. Nice.

I wore it for 2 weeks first, without washing it, and figured that perhaps it might need a bit of tlc, or else I might start repelling customers and the general public. Taking it home, the majority of the top still smelt like it was new, un worn and straight from the box. (under the arm was a slightly different matter, but anything that can still be non-smelly after 2 weeks of that must be witchcraft).

Having washed it now, it is still comfortable etc, and smells fine- im now into the first week since washing it, so we shall see how it goes.
As a final note for the moment, the fabric on the arms is fraying sightly where I think I may have caught it on some velcro, but we shall have to see how that goes. Its not massively fragile, but its worth noting at this point.

icebreaker GT180- longsleeved

I have been using my tried and trusted helly hansen tops since... oh, I bought the first one in 1998 and the second in probably 2003 ish- for everything adventure racing, running and cycling, including cycle commuting, day in day out for the past 5 years.
They however, are going to be the suject for another review a little later.

I have seen icebreaker around for a while, made of merino wool, they apparently dont smell, wick sweat away in record time, and, most importantly for a wool garment- dont itch.

I make no bones about the fact that I hate wool- it itches me like crazy, and I have never really been able to wear it against my skin. I have tried on a couple of merino tops on in shops, and they havent impressed me- they do feel like they itch a bit, and could turn into absolute nightmares if worn for a while.

I have been convinced to try one- at a 180 weight. (they tend to come in a number of weights, 150 for light, 200, mid and 260 for warmth. - there is also a 320 weight but this is more for mid layers) the 180 GT I have is made as a base layer- like a helly- which can also be used as a single layer for high perspiration activities- it also has a slightly perforated effect in the side panels and down the back.

The first time I put it on, it itched. It did. so it went straight into the washing machine with a pair of jeans to soften it up.
Try again... and this time it wasnt so bad. Still a slight - ever so slight feeling- but not one of discomfort, so time to actually try it on in action.
So far I have commuted in and done a few training runs in it- and performance-wise- it has certainly been as warm- but- more importantly- more wind-proof, than the hellys. Ok- so its not a windstopper, and its not made to be, but hacking along in quite a breeze, I am noticably more comfortable in the icebreaker than I am in the helly- which the wind just cuts straight through.

The shirt seems to wick very well indeed, sweat translation is fast, but this is just on first appearances, but is as good as a helly.

There is also a small zip pocket on the right hip area, which is very useful- now I dont have to hold my keys in my hand as I run around the heath- you can also use it for an ipod, routing the cable internally and up into the cable stows by the neck area, which stop it floating about the place as you run. Used them once and they seemed to be fine, though Im not really into running with earphones anymore, however, they work.

The Thumbloops are cool. Never had a top with thumbloops before, and these are great. Was out for an hours fartlek last night, it was cool, and I wouldnt have noticed not having them if I was in an old helly, however, I used them, and they were great.
Only minor issue with them was when I put them on under cycle gloves- you obviously have to take your gloves off before you can roll the sleeves up- so if you are going to have to vent quickly, its best to think about it in advance.

Does it smell?
Well, it doesnt smell as bad as the hellys, in fact, it smells different to hellys. It certainly doesnt NOT smell after a week of wearing it- its more like a slight damp wool smell than anything else. I suppose its the difference between gagging on synthetic smell, and thinking- oh, I smell like a slightly damp sheep.