Long Term Review
Last spring I received 4 pairs of socks from Swiftwick. Two of the four have become staples and fan favorites in the sock drawer. This review will briefly describe what I experienced over the past six months of use from the Colorado Rockies to the fjords of Norway. The pairs I have been testing are as follows:
Pursuit Hike Four Ultra-light
The Ultra-Light was a good cuff height for hiking or trail running (kept the dirt and rocks out but didn’t look like I was wearing a men’s sock). The pink and grey color combo was also nice, feminine but not over the top feminine. They are light and versatile and kept my foot dry and secure in the shoe across many miles of trails and travels. They were never soggy or sloppy, always dry while maintaining a comfortable foot temperature.
Aspire Four
The Aspire Four was my favorite from a feel and compression perspective as it has the most compression out of the bunch. These also performed well and were never soggy or bunched up, always dry while maintaining a comfortable foot temperature. The thinness coupled with the compression around my ankle were especially key for me. These qualities kept me comfortable all day in a steel toe work boot. I wore these socks unwashed for 3 days straight, trekking through cow pasture and cornfields while visiting farmers for work. Although the sock was thin, it had just enough cushion to ensure that my feet were protected inside an uncomfortable boot. I could feel the compression gently rebounding my toes back into place after spreading them out and it was a welcomed feeling as that compression helped me be able to stay comfortable and on my feet for those three days. Considering how well these socks did inside an uncomfortable work boot, you can imagine they were a dream inside of my hikers and trail runners.
Pursuit Two
The Pursuit Two is a great all around sock and I certainly wore them a ton, however, my foot does get a little warm in a medium cushioned sock and I didn’t feel like I needed the cushion in my trail runners or my hikers. This is simply a feel preference. Although my feet ran quite warm in these socks, my feet stayed dry in them the whole time. I think that this level of warmth and cushioning would be best suited for Fall and Winter months when foot warmth is more critical. Most of my testing happened in the spring and summer of 2019.
Pursuit Hike Six Medium Cushion
The only sock that personally didn’t work for me was the Pursuit Hike Six Medium Cushion. This is largely due to the fact that I generally only wear light cushioned socks. These however were graciously received by my husband (a mountaineer and climber) and he loves them. The Pursuit Hike Ultra-Light along with the Aspire Four were hands down my favorite socks. I will continue to wear them daily long past this review.
Testing Note: Size/Durability
Three out of four of the socks I was sent were crew cuff height, which isn’t my first choice in cuff height, unless I’m in my hiking boots, but they have plenty of cuff heights to choose from (0,1,2,4,7,8 & 12 to be exact outlined on their website). As a female, I prefer the one or two cuff height for most of my activities, but the four cuff height was great for my hikers and keeping the rocks out. Something to be aware of when making your purchases. There is an incredible variety to choose from so find what works best for you.
The durability and construction of the socks continues to hold up after many wears and washes. I also like how they are not left or right specific so I don’t have to think to put on socks. I already only wear merino wool socks for all of my activities so this was a natural sock for me to test. The other item I noticed is that these socks have never smelled or felt stretched out after days and days of repeated wear.
Overall:
I wore the ever living heck out of these socks. I alternated between two pair of Swiftwick socks for three weeks in Norway, hiking everything from glaciers to slick rock. Side note, it rains 300 days a year in Norway, and my feet stayed completely dry and comfortable the whole time. I wore these socks on overnight backpacking trips, camping trips and on countless jogs, dog walks and lunchtime gym workouts. I’m a Swiftwick convert. I run about 30 miles a week along with regular gym workouts. This activity is paired with longer weekend hikes and trail runs in my beloved Colorado Rocky Mountains. Collectively, my Swiftwick socks and I have logged over 400 miles together.
The conclusion I’ve come to about these socks is that it would be just fine if I never owned another brand of socks again. Swiftwick has a type of sock for every preference, in lots of color variations, cushion variations, sport specific variations, and of course, every cuff height variation. Before testing out Swiftwick socks, I mostly wore Smartwool or Darn Tough brands, which are great socks that I hold in very high regard. However, the thinner profile of the Swiftwick sock, smoother feel, total foot dryness, lack of odor after repeated wear and the light to medium compression of the material is a winning combination. For these reasons, I have consistently grabbed the Swiftwicks out of the sock drawer every time.
Disclosure: The items in this review were provided by the company in exchange for an honest non-biased review by our reviewer. The links contained in this article are affiliate links. By shopping through these links you help support our work with no additional cost to you.
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