Injinji Trail Midweight Crew socks review: five days of friction-free fun trekking in the Himalayas

Injinji Trail Midweight Crew socks: first impressions 

With some of today's best trail athletes (Courtney Dauwalter, Tara Dower) sporting Injinji toe socks, there's no doubt that the San Diego brand has found its corner of the footwear market for both trail runners and hikers.

Like all of Injinji's patented socks, these hiking socks feature separate pouches for your toes, so they're like a glove for your foot, and the focus is on improving foot health by helping your toes spread out more once they're inside your hiking boots. This also prevents your toes from rubbing together, which can eliminate blisters altogether for some walkers.

Designed with footbed padding and arch support, these fit perfectly to prevent bunching up inside your boot and are made with a blend of nylon, Lycra and Coolmax fabric, which is made from recycled plastics. The result is socks that are durable even after lots of miles and great at managing moisture and letting your feet breathe.

The synthetic makeup also means that they will get quite smelly after several days of wear, so if that's of concern, check out the wool version, which is a little pricier.

These midweight socks are about the right thickness for longer treks and cold to mild temperatures, though perhaps a little warm for summer when you can trade them out for the Ultra Run Crew, which are a little thinner but just as good.

With only two sizes for women, I did wonder if these socks could possibly work for all feet, but after taking them out on the trek to Everest Base Camp, I'm convinced that toe socks are a big step forward for hikers and this well-priced pair is worthy of your attention.

Injinji Trail Midweight Crew socks: in the field 

I've been wanting to test out Injinji toe socks for ages, and when I was offered the chance to trek to Everest Base Camp, something that meant 11 days of walking, I knew it was a good opportunity.

I brought three pairs of Injinji socks along with me on the trip, and ended up wearing the Ultra Run socks for the first five days because they're a little lighter and conditions were quite warm. When they got embarrassingly smelly, I switched to these, which got me up to Base Camp and back down, so I put about 50 miles in, wearing them for at least six hours of walking a day.

Here’s how they performed:

Fit and comfort

My feet are a UK 3.5 (US 5.5) which is pretty small. In fact, my 9-year-old now wears bigger shoes than me. I bring this up because I have, on occasion, found that even the smallest socks available aren't small enough for me, and they end up bunching up inside my shoes.

When I saw that these socks only ran in two sizes for women, I was concerned that this would be an issue, but the smaller sizing manages to just fit my feet perfectly, with my toes taking up all the room in the toe pockets and a snug fit around my high arch and heel.

The crew design comes halfway up my calf, which gives loads of protection against even the highest hiking boots and keeps debris from the trail at bay. The thickness adds some warmth on cold days, but they're not so bulky as to crowd my feet once I'm wearing boots.

The synthetic fabric feels nice and soft against my skin, and the seamless design really adds to the comfort level, whether I'm padding around the house or wearing these on the trail. But most of all, I have to admit that I just really like the feel of that slight separation of my toes, and I really didn't struggle with tired feet on my trek.

Moisture management and blister protection

I wore these with my Lowa Renegade Evo hiking boots, which are waterproof, but between the boots and these socks, my feet never felt sweaty, even though we were hiking in T-shirt weather for a lot of the trip.

The Coolmax fabric does a really good job of keeping my feet dry in warm weather, and the only time I had cold feet was hiking at 3:30am at 18,000ft when I really needed winter boots and thick socks, but fortunately, it was a very short hike. I'd trust these for hiking through winter in Scotland in all but the gnarliest conditions.

Obviously, the big promise of these socks is that they help prevent blisters because your toes don't rub together, which is the main reason I wanted them for my trek. My sister-in-law swears by them, and while I'm not overly prone to blisters and have broken in my boots well, I have in the past suffered blisters on my pinkie toes on multi-day hikes. To cut to the chase, I hiked 80 miles over 11 days without a hint of a blister or a hot spot and I credit this largely to Injinji.

Odor resistance and ease of use

If you're like me and have long surrendered to the virtues of merino wool socks, the synthetic makeup of these socks is going to pose a slight problem. I frequently go months without washing my wool socks because they don't get smelly, whereas after five days, these were really quite ripe.

On the one hand, synthetic fabrics are tougher than wool, so they'll arguably last longer, but I also think a lot of people buying these will be doing so for longer hikes, and for that I think it's worth paying a little extra for the merino wool version.

Finally, I don't usually include a note on ease of use when I'm reviewing socks because typically you just pull them on, but I know you're wondering, do they take hours to put on?

The short answer is yes, they do take longer to put on than regular socks because you have to place each toe in its pouch, but we're talking seconds, not minutes. If you want to cut down on hassle, pull them off by the toes when you get home from your hike so they don't end up inside out.

Also consider

Comparison table

• How Advnture tests products