REVIEW: Do Hiker Heavy Crew Icebreakers have socks appeal?

It is very very cold in our house, as we are poor students who skimp on electricity bills and we live in Wales, not best known for its sunshiney weather. For this reason, I spend most of my time in industrial-strength socks, and thus am a bit of a sock expert. So I was pretty excited to get my hands on a pair of fluffy black and silver Hiker Heavy Crew socks by Icebreaker. They sell for £14.95 so you’d expect toasty feet. As with all my journalistic endeavours, I did not approach my review half-heartedly.

The product description: “The Icebreaker Hiker Heavy Crew has heavy cushioning throughout, whilst strategic reinforcement zones ensure maximum support, warmth and moisture management”.

Test 1: Hiking
The socks behaved themselves very well. My boots generally pinch a bit, but the Icebreakers kept me toasty warm and acted as good padding. Ideal.

Test 2: The gym
I wore my socks to the gym to see if they could cope with sweaty trainers (nice), and cope they did. I did a pretty arduous 30 minutes on the treadmill and the socks wicked away moisture efficiently. Although they felt damp when I took them off afterwards, my feet felt perfectly comfortable. Nice one.

Test 3: In bed
Toasty warm, possibly a little too much. However, whilst the socks are a size medium and I have normal sized-legs I woke up with grooves in my calves where the socks had dug in. Possibly they’ll loosen up with a few washes but they were uncomfortably tight in the morning.

Test 4: In the rain/being washed/drying
It took my thin cotton socks about two seconds to be completely soaked in water standing in a puddle. It took the Icebreakers about four seconds, so you do have a two-second window in which to step out of the puddle. They washed well but take quite a while to dry (radiators are best).

Verdict: Good quality and worth the money if you’re off trekking or hiking. I wouldn’t buy them for light walking or anything that won’t make you sweat, as that is when they work best and you’d be fine with something thinner. My only mild criticism would be that the tops are too tight – but perhaps I just have fat calves. All in all, happy feet.