Feet smell like roadkill

[Ian]

Mostly a tale about stinky feet with a question at the end.

I’m on my umpteenth pair of LS Wildcats, but decided to go with their new gray color instead of green.  I’ve always paired them up with the white Wright coolmax ankle socks on the trail and gray Wright crew sock in the front country.  For the most part, my feet have almost no odor unless they’ve been wet for a few days and I’ve put a lot of miles on them.

That was until a bit less than two weeks ago when I bought the new gray ones and whoo doggy, when I take my shoes off I feel compelled to apologize to everyone around me.

So I swapped out my Wright socks for my heavier Kirkland wool socks and regardless if I worked an 8 or 16 hour shift, I’m back to normal and no cadaver smelling feet.

Having owned over a dozen pairs of the green LS wildcats and never having this problem with them paired with the Wright socks, and not seeing any difference between the two structurally, I’m left to assume that it’s one of two things:

1. There’s something about the color gray that makes my feet overheat, or

2. LS has made some change to the Wildcat where my feet aren’t breathing as well anymore.

Either way, I don’t feel right taking these shoes back to REI so I’m just going to ride them out with wool socks.

With that disgusting story out of the way, this was the best example I’ve personally come across that illustrates how great wool is when it comes to odor.  Enough so that I’m finally willing to give up my tried and true Wright socks and give the Darn Tough socks a go.

i know many here really like them but what are your thoughts on their thinner vertex 1/4 crew socks and their durability?

https://darntough.com/collections/mens-run/products/vertex-1-4-sock-ultra-light?variant=30180571143

 

 

[Steofan M]

Ian,
No experience with the Vertex. I gave up on Wrights for the same reasons as you 3 years ago and bought 4 pair of Darn Tough Endurance Micro Crew Ultra-Light Non-cushion socks that I wear everywhere/everyday. These are 56% wool, 38% nylon and 6% lycra/spandex. Darn Tough seems to one of the better socks at stopping the sweaty feet, bacterial growth and the roadkill stench. Can’t beat socks with an unconditional lifetime guarantee but I’m keeping the packaging just in case.
Check in at the REI website on returns or recommended cleaning procedures for the Wildcats and the offending foam inserts. It would be nice to not void any warranty if you plan on returning them.

[Ian]

There’s enough wear on them that they can’t be sold as new, so I’ll just keep them and stick with the green LS Wildcats after this pair has been retired.

Thanks for the feedback.  There are more than a few BPLers who swear by them but I mistakenly thought that they only made a thicker traditional backpacking sock.  Until now, I’ve been happy enough with the Wright socks that I never felt compelled to do any research on the matter.  I’ll likely head to our local REI tomorrow and see which ones they carry in the store.

The Kirkland wool socks have been nothing short of amazing.  I think I paid $15 for a pack of them over four years ago and they are still going strong.  They are great for winter and shoulder seasons but I’d like something thinner for this summer, or I’d just stick with them.

 

[BlackHatGuy]

Are you sure it was your feet? You say your feet were hot, did you blow on them to cool them off? If so, maybe it wasn’t your feet that smelled…..

[Author]

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