Lorpen T3 Midwqeight Hikers are premium technical socks designed by people that know a thing or two about outdoor sports and adventure. Relative newcomers (by American standards) to the sock industry, this company based out of Spain has been in the business since the mid 1980s, and has very quickly made a name for itself among outdoor enthusiasts.
Socks are not something that most people who don‘t lead an active lifestyle think are important, and they’ll give you funny looks when you tell them you are buying socks by the pair, often at the same price as several packages of what they think are serviceable socks. Their cheap cotton socks are fine for everyday use when you won’t be tromping through knee high grass covered in dew, or crossing a stream that will be going over your boot and soaking your feet, or when your feet get cold and you can just duck inside a building or get in your car and crank the heater up. These are the not the kind of socks that we are talking about here.
T3 socks are a tri-layered sock that is designed for those of use that are going out where we WILL be getting wet, we WILL be in the cold, places where shelter doesn‘t include a built in heater. They are a combination of Merino wool, lycra and Primaloft Eco insulation, to keep your feet warm, dry and comfortable (blister free) in activities that take us where the couch potatoes fear to go. I will admit that I learned many hard lessons years ago about how important it is to keep my feet dry and comfortable. I always break in my boost and shoes before I use them for their real purpose, but I’m even more careful about getting boots that fit right in the first place and are comfortable, thus making the break in time less painful and shorter. All this can be for naught if the socks you‘re wearing aren‘t up to the job. They need to stay up and not bunch even after a long day of hiking, i.e. pounding your feet on the ground countless times over miles of trail. They can‘t create hotspots by letting your feet not breathe and get/stay wet. I found these socks to be great for the task at hand, they did an admirable job. Usually, my feet get pretty hot, sweaty and smelly. With the T3, they were perfectly dry, when normally my feet sweat a lot and are always damp. I have to let them dry out at the end of the day, but with these socks that was a thing of the past, they were dry and comfortable even after hiking several miles. Now I do have to say that I should have gotten a larger size because they did seem to be tight on my feet, but that being said, they didn‘t fall down or bunch up at all during my use, and my feet were able to breathe and stay comfortable. I didn‘t have to adjust or take care of hotspots once.
If you‘re like me, you’re on a tight budget and don‘t want to waste money on anything that won’t be performing up to the level that you expect. I plan on buying more of these for myself and my son to wear this fall and winter, since I’m confident that I will be getting my money’s worth. They’re tough, comfortable, and hold up well under harsh conditions. The hardest part of making this purchase will be choosing from the vast selection of socks available at Lorpen.com.
– Rob
Disclosure of Material Connection: We received a pair of Lorpen’s T3 Midweight Hiker for free from Lorpen in consideration for review publication.