It’s that time of year again, what is your buy it for life brand of merino wool socks?
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darn tough all the way, they’re pricey but worth it 100%
I have had better luck with SmartWool than with Darn Tough. My Darn Tough socks have developed pills. Both brands have dropped in quality over the past decade.
I’ve had the opposite experience. My smartwools all fall apart now.
Seconding this anecdote. Bought several pairs of smart wool and darn tough a few years back. Darn tough are still going strong, but my smart wool have significant holes.
I had a bad first experience with smartwool (the pair gifted to me are abysmally thin and I can’t stand thin socks lol) I enjoy that darn tough has midweight and heavyweight and wish they made heavier-weighted quarter-length. I got some crew socks recently that the seam rubs my toe a little in my hiking boots but my heavier weighted ones do fine. I’ve decided that at this point perhaps it’s not the sock, but that my pinky toes refuse to conform 😩
I cannot speak to SmartWool but my Darn Tough socks, while still useable, are not the same socks they were even a year ago.
Came here to say this. Beat me to it.
Darn tough Vermont
I switched over almost exclusively to 16 pairs of darn tough women’s solid basic crew socks (66% Merino Wool, 32% Nylon, 2% Lycra Spandex) in 2018. That set of socks is still holding up. The backs of the heels are starting to wear thin, but the only actual holes have been due to the dog.
The only reason I recently purchased different socks is that I found I benefit from compression socks, which darn tough does not make anymore. I got sockwell men’s elevation socks (31% merino wool, 31% bamboo rayon, 30% stretch nylon, 8% spandex), which offer 20-30mmHg graduated compression. I have not owned them long enough to speak to their durability.
Darn tough are the only socks I buy. They’re around $25 USD per pair, but that’s incredibly cheap when you consider you’ll have these socks for the rest of your life. I bought 12 pairs a few years ago and now never have to worry about socks again.
If they last your whole life, then why buy so many? I would want to put the warranty to the test and wear the same pair every day. I suppose laundry cycles are the driver. Would be ideal if they would weave silver into them like that t-shirt that can be worn 7 times between washes.
The more important question for me is, how do I avoid merino products that are the product of the most abhorrent animal abuse on the planet?
This article talks about Australia, and I don’t live there, but knowing who to trust is a difficult question in any country when it comes to merino https://www.lemonde.fr/en/m-le-mag/article/2022/09/25/with-merino-wool-the-question-of-animal-welfare-is-back-in-fashion_5998179_117.html
Shearing is pretty low impact on a sheep’s life. Idk why whoever wrote this felt the need to dramatize it. Yah, they get nicked, but I cut my self shaving every day too.
I’ve seen the video footage. I wish they were just “nicks” that the animal experienced, although I wouldn’t want that for them either. They were bloodied and beaten. The kind of thing that an adult human would be hospitalised for.
There are good farms and bad, farmers who love their sheep, and farmers who take their resentment of their lot in life out on their animals, knowingly or unknowingly. As animal welfare activists we enter dangerous territory when we speak in absolutes. Dismissing a bad farm because its offset by a good one does nothing to help the sheep at the good one. Painting all farms with the same brush as the bad one makes people less willing to hear out what we have to say.
As far as making sure you get cruelty free animal fleece products, all I can really say, given there aren’t any certifications I know anyrhing about (I’m sure they exist, I just don’t know about them), I’d say bear in mind that good products should cost extra. People vehemently criticize fairphone and teracube for being expensive AND low performance but the fact is that’s what happens when you try to cut slave labor out of your manufacturing pipeline.
This same concept will go for socks. Most of the BIFL sock options are ~$25. You can get way cheaper socks on alibaba. But to reduce the costs beyond those $25 you have to reduce quality and material cost. How do you reduce material cost of wool, while still being 100% specific kind of wool? Feed the sheep less well, and be less careful during shearing so you can shear more of them in less time.
I’m probably going to try later tonight to find some wool certifications and B Corps making socks
be less careful during shearing so you can shear more of them in less time
Counter intuitive as it may seem the best shearers, as in fastest, are some of the least likely to injure a sheep.
Inexperienced shearers and slow shearers are more likely to have the sheep struggle and result in a cut.
Farmers don’t ever want their sheep getting cuts because they lead to infection, infections mean dead sheep. Dead sheep are lost money.
There are good slavers and bad slavers, let’s not speak in absolutes. As human welfare activists we enter dangerous territory when we speak in absolutes. 🥺
For athletic socks you ultimately run into the problem of your options are either bad or worse. Your best bet for cruelty free athletic socks is probably farm to feet reprieve socks, but those can feel a bit heavy during summer months, and still contain some wool. This is anecdotal, but the farms farm to feet used back in the day when I was visiting farms were run by people who loved their sheep and made sure the sheering process was as gentle and cut free as possible.
All of this said, the washing of wool is also costly on the environment and I’d be on the lookout for alpaca fleece socks
Thanks. I hadn’t considered the environmental aspect in this instance. I’ll keep that in mind.
No I think asking if the animals are well treated and fed good grass is a critical question. And one I made the mistake of skipping when I gave my top level answer below. I’m probably going to seek out some alpaca socks tonight
Paywall bypass on the linked article: https://archive.ph/bRBjE
I didn’t notice the paywall. I just used the web reader button and it displayed the entire article. Weird.
Definitely not BIFL, but I use bamboo socks nowadays. Super comfy, soft, cool and dry quickly. However, they do wear out relatively quickly, hence not BIFL material.
The pollution and horrific chemical exposures (to workers) from the production of rayon is pretty nasty. I was excited about bamboo (natural! Biodegradable!) until I started reading about it. Very disappointing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayon
Edit: bamboo “viscose” is just another name for rayon
Probably true, pretty much all clothing manufacturing is nasty, or at least specific components of them. Lots of shitry chemicals and colorings are used and without the appropriate safety measures lots of possible toxic exposures.
I should probably check where these socks are being made in, I think it’s EU but not actually sure.
Darn Tough or Farm to Feet depending on what you like in a BIFL sock. Farm to Feet has more selection, generally a narrower fit (though not by much) and doesn’t make your feet so sweaty. Darn Tough is more widely available, fits a bit wider in the toes (again, not by much) and can turn into a feeling of wearing sweaty bags in your feet. So we’re clear, both are moisture wicking. Neither are going to create an environment that encourages fungal growth. It’s all preference, especially since they have effectively the same warranty
Darn tough socks are the only brand I’ve tried. I bought mine about 4 years ago and no issues. I’m worried what people are saying about lower quality recently. Hope that’s not the case
You might take a look at “Point 6” socks. They have a lifetime guarantee. https://point6.com/pages/merino-wool
I have one pair, and have had that same pair for 10 years or so. They are doing fine, though I prefer the fit of Darn Tough and wear those more often.
The woman who started Smartwool aeons ago had to sell the company when she was diagnosed with cancer. Her interest was socks, and of course the new owners expanded Smartwool quite a bit, with some iffy quality changes here and there. After she recovered, she started Point 6 and brought the focus onto socks at first. So Point 6 is pretty much the same as the original Smartwool from a couple decades ago.
These aren’t 100% wool, but I bought these for the wife and 2 teen girls almost 3 years ago, and they love ‘em and the socks are still on heavy rotation with no complaints:
Fitsok is pretty great too. I’ve had pairs last nearly a decade so far through years of daily use and endurance exercise without any holes.
Are there many brands offering the lifetime guarantee on socks? I only read about one supplier doing that (#DarnTough). In this thread, folks so far also mentioned:
- Farm to Feet ← Cloudflare website thus show stopper for me unless there’s an alternate merchant
- joycaco.com ← Cloudflare website thus show stopper for me unless there’s an alternate merchant
- smartwool ← not a brand. There are many smartwool sock makers and from what I’ve worn (although comfortable) they have no hope of lasting a lifetime.
You can get Farm to Feet socks from a bunch of merchants, including most outdoor stores in the south eastern United States. For online retailers REI and sportsmans.com both carry them, as well as Jeffy B (please don’t buy from Jeffy B)
