Injinji fans

injini socks are great! I don't do leather boots anymore so no personal experience to recommend from. According to the research by Dr. Murray Hamlet of the Army Cold Weather Research Center you want a poly/wool blend sock worn with the the fuzzy side out.

I use trail runners rather than books. For me, the performance line of injinji work fine without anything else, though I do use the liner weight injinji inside vapor barrier socks in the winter.

–Mark

Yep, LOVE them! It is all I wear – I have 10 pairs now.

As for what I wear for shoes? I wear low cuts now, they fit great with the socks. My feet breathe well now also.

Now though, if I wear my boots? Not an issue, I just wear my socks. Only issue I have is trail duff getting in my boots due to the thinness of the socks at the top. So I wear low gaiters :-)

Maybe not thin but I use Darntough Merino Boot Sock Cushion with my Salomon shoes and boots.

OK Ininji fans, I have a few operational questions that you might be able to answer. Is there a trick to either taking them off so the toes don't turn inside out, or turning them out after removing them? And how do you manage putting them on/taking them off when wet?

Footwear depends on condtions. A leather boot + goretex gaiter is pretty much something best used for slushy winter condtions or other such significant reasons to have such a heavy and impermiable system. No matter what you do sock wise, that system will produce damp feet. Instead, you would only use that system when the perpiration from inside your boot is less important than what could get in, which frankly is pretty uncommon for most peoples hikes as a small amount of dew or rain will cause less problems than swamp foot in a leather boot because the more breathable footwear will dry quickly, leaving you with happier feet overall.

All that said, I like injini socks, they are my go to sock for long days during the summer, but I usually pair them with a mesh shoe like the Saloman trail runners. If yours are getting too damp, I'd suggest you change other parts in your system, perhaps switching to a more breathable gaiter, or preferably a different pair of footwear for summer use. For the record, you do NOT need an oversock with Injini socks.

"or other such significant reasons to have such a heavy and impermiable system"

That would be me :0

I started out, eons ago, with the traditional heavy (3lb/boot) leather boot and double socks. A light synthetic liner sock and a heavy wool sock over that. Worked remarkably well except my legs got tired of lifting 3lb with every step. roughly a ton every 333 steps! (1000kg every 367 steps).

When I went ultralight I switched to trail runners (< 1lb/shoe) and one synthetic sock. My legs were happier but my feet suffered from blisters. The Injinjis helped my toes but my heels still had trouble. Eventually I went back to a double sock with my trail runners and no more blisters. I wear a medium wt Smartwool hiker sock with the Injinjis for a liner.

-Mark

Coolmax liners over my Injinji's work great for me year around. Not enough to heat my feet up or interfere with breathability, but enough to protect the fragile Injinji's from abrasion that wears holes in them across the tops of my second toe.

". Is there a trick to either taking them off so the toes don't turn inside out, or turning them out after removing them? And how do you manage putting them on/taking them off when wet?"

Hi Lynn,

Pull the socks almost off, down to where you can just see the base of your toes. It doesn't matter if they are inside out at this point. Then pinch a bit of the sock material at the end of each toe between your thumb and forefinger, in turn, and wiggle it off the toe. It's easy when you don't have the entire sock in contact with your foot(less friction). Then pull the body of the sock back to outside out while hanging on to the toe sections. This works equally well with the socks wet or dry. If you do turn the entire sock inside out by stripping it off your foot, turn it outside out again until only the toes are outside in. Then insert your fingers into the sock and use them to push the toes outside out again. That is pretty easy, too.

"I'd suggest you change other parts in your system, perhaps switching to a more breathable gaiter, or preferably a different pair of footwear for summer use."

Joe and friends, Another thread is posted partially in regards to your suggestions….please respond. I may have to stick with this leather boot system for lack of time. Thanks again for your insights. Cheers!

I don't mean to hijack this thread but since it concerns Injinji socks, I'll ask anyway. I mostly use Vibram FiveFingers when I backpack. For others who do the same, do you find that the Injinji liners, when used with the Vibrams, reduce the oder retention problem with the Vibrams?

Mark,

Sounds like your heel blisters are probably a shoe fitment issue. You might try alternative lacing techniques to adjust the heel cup fit, or possibly swap out insoles. Essentially it sounds like you are using the second sock to make up for a shoe that has too much volume for your foot.

Hey mark

Were could i read the Dr. Murray Hamlet of the Army Cold Weather Research Center article ?

Thanks

> Were could i read the Dr. Murray Hamlet of the Army Cold Weather Research Center article ?

I read about this in an interview with Hamlet several years ago. I don’t have a link to the interview on my clothing page, so that article must have gone offline and I removed the link :-(. A quick search turned up one of the technical studies Hamlet participated on this subject:

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA263581&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

I believe there was work after this study… but a few minute of searching didn’t uncover it. The socks sold by techspun are based on some (if not all) of this research.

I mostly wear Five Fingers(Flow) as well. I found that the Injinji socks added enough friction to make them incredibly uncomfortable to me. I'd rather have smelly feet then rubbed raw feet. I can only assume the socks would have at least some odor reducing benefit if you can stand them.

I do take a pair of Injinji to wear around camp at night though.

I blow through them way to fast. Major durability issues.

Yup, I only switch back to injinji's when I'm for-whatever-reason temporarily having smaller-toe overlap problems. This seems to come and go, and I ditch the Injinji's when the problem abates as they don't last more than a couple or three hundred miles a pair before starting to wear through at the ball of the foot (for me, anyway).

> I blow through them way to fast. Major durability issues.

I have mostly been using the coolmax (non liner) injinji. I am pretty sure that I have gotten more than 1000 miles on my first pair and they are in still in good shape. I do have some wool injinji, but I haven't worn them that much yet so I have no ideal if they wool would be significantly worse than the coolmax.

I would be interested in other people's experiences.. and durability of wool -vs- coolmax -vs- liners.

Yep..the Coolmax ones are more durable. My wool ones show wear, the CM ones look like new.

I now own 10 pairs and they are all I wear. Even if they fell apart in one wear I would still wear them! (And having said that, the CM ones get worn a couple times a week and none have shredded in the time owned, from a couple weeks to a year old.) Keep sand and grit out of the shoes and the wool ones will last longer as well.

Toe blister free is an awesome thing indeed!

+1 injinji with liners on the outside. Muy Bueno!