Fits (socks) like a dream
An often overlooked gear item is a chart topper for my consideration, socks! When it comes to adventure, keeping feet healthy and happy can make the difference between a day of agony or a day crushing miles. Before I started running ultra marathons the idea of spending time, energy and money on sock consideration never really entered my thought process. However once I started hitting the big miles I immediately found out the importance of a well made sock and happily paid for a sock that would make those miles pass by with more ease. Suddenly after a certain point you can feel any flaw in a sock, the way the seam rubs on your toes, the way they bunch up as you move, the lack of padding, etc. A great sock is a sock that after double digit miles you still don’t notice at all.
When we first started hiking and adventuring Smartwool was our go to sock, and for years and for our needs they go the job done just fine. They were a game changer back in the day, suddenly a wool sock existed that was pleasant to wear instead of the scratchy and bulky predecessors. But in the past couple of years something seemed to change and what were once super dependable socks suddenly started to wear out far too quickly for the price tag they carry.
A pair of Darn Toughs and a pair of Smartwools with similar use, you can see how the heels of the smartwool are already worn almost completely out.
Which lead us to try out Darn Tough socks, which have pulled into the lead among outdoor adventurers, a company that stands behind their product with a lifetime guarantee of which we have yet to need use of since all the socks we’ve purchased from them are still on active duty. Darn Tough makes an amazing product, a comfortable wool sock, but with the durability that the Smartwools were lacking. So for a sock company to impress us and be considered taking command of our sock drawer instead of our Darn Toughs is going to take a lot!
We may just have a contender with the Fits socks! As luck would have it, just as I was looking into socks for my thruhike, to see if I wanted to start stock piling Darn Toughs or see about a bulk buying program, I kid you not, that very same day, a representative for Fits Socks, just happened to walk into the Inn my husband runs. My husband had just days before completed his Quad climb of Mt McLoughlin and upon hearing that and discovering my plans to hike the PCT next year, they asked if we would test out and let them know what we think of their socks. You have to love that in any gear company, that they care enough to put their products in the hands of people they know will go out there and put them to the test and let them know how they perform, knowing they will get honest feedback.
As I told Michael it doesn’t matter if gear is free if it doesn’t work. That’s why those of us doing these epic adventures look to those we trust for intel on gear, or get out there and test it ourselves rather than rely on advertising. I hope with this endeavor I can be one of those people you can rely on for intel as I share with you what works for us and doesn’t.
So what did we think? So far we'd say we're quite pleased with their socks! We purposely headed out this weekend to do something that would provide a more reliable test than just a simple wear around town comfort test. We chose Mt Bailey (a mountain summit with a 3,200ft elevation climb) a 10 mile roundtrip hike, anything less than that doesn't really test a sock. We headed out in light snow, wearing our usual trail runner sneakers instead of boots, as that’s what I’ll be trekking the PCT in. I tell you nothing tells you faster how a wool sock performs than putting them on and promptly getting your feet wet and cold. I wore the lightweight hiker crew sock, and Michael wore the midweight hiker crew sock, I was wearing my Altra Running Lone Peak 3.0’s, he was wearing his Salomon XA Pro 3D.
On the ascent our feet were pretty much wet within a couple miles, but our feet stayed nice and comfortably warm inside their cozy wool socks. Even the lightweight’s I had on kept my feet comfortable, though I was moving, and my body working hard to climb so I was generating a lot of internal heat. But I was super pleased to see that these socks could work for me in these conditions that my feet will find themselves in often while hiking the PCT. I switched out my socks for the descent because I wanted to compare the lightweights with the midweights, so after we started down I swapped out, oh my gosh the wonder and joy that is a warm dry sock in those conditions, heaven!
As we descended I noticed something interesting, the way this sock hugged my foot! Usually on a descent even with my Darn Toughs I occasionally have to reach down and pull up my socks because the gravity of the descent starts to make the sock start to slip forward and bunch a bit in my midfoot, so I have to pull the socks up at my heel to get rid of the wrinkles that start to bug my feet. I never once had to adjust these socks, they stayed right where they belong. I guess I never noticed the way that slight slipping of the socks, as it is very subtle, affected my traction, but my feet felt much more secure. It was a funny moment as I described what I was feeling and Michael agreed that he noticed a big difference in that as well compared to other socks and suddenly I got it, “ohhhhh, that’s probably why they call them *fits* hahahahhahahaha”. It was very cool though, to feel that and recognize it legitimately, when I wasn’t even looking for that. Sometimes it’s good to be a little slow on the uptake for a solid objective review;)
The midweight was very comfy and cozy and kept my feet very warm despite my shoes being thoroughly soaked. I think they will make a great backup second sock to hike in, and a good sleeping sock option. Most everything else about the sock is hard to tell apart from the Darn Toughs, they have the comfortable seemless toe, they are padded in all the same important places. The Fits stocks are designed to more properly fit your calves, however I’ll be honest, I almost never pull my socks up over my calves, they prefer to be naked and free, so usually I just let the socks bunch up above my ankles so I can’t really comment on that feature.
Oh and another great feature if you are an adventure couple like we are, the sizes are color coded with the stitching at the toe so we can easily tell apart mine from Michael’s. Oh how many arguments this will solve, “My socks shrunk!”, “hey, those are my socks, you are going to stretch them out!!!”. Yeah, so many of our Darn Tough socks look EXACTLY the same, and the way wool sort of crunches up when you wash them, makes it a bit of a challenge sorting out who’s who’s.
So all in all, we are super stoked about these socks and look forward to taking them on lots more adventures! I’ll withhold my complete backing until I see how they hold up to repeated uses/washes and lots more miles so I can be sure they don’t deteriorate as quickly as the Smartwools did. But our initial assessment of these socks is they seem to be great, they Fits like a dream, stay put, keep our feet comfortable and warm and as you want in all socks, you hardly notice they are there.
Team Hiker Pup, Dawn, Emily & Michael