Long Term Review: Injinji Socks

Review: Injinji Socks

Letting my toes air out in the Alps in a pair of Injinji

The Injinji Run Lightweight No-Show and Mini-Crew socks are my daily choice while guiding hiking trips in the Alps.  They’re all I wear and have effectively stopped me from getting blisters with over 1000km hiked every summer since I began wearing them. 

Overview

  • Material: 27% CoolMax® 68% Nylon, 5% Lycra® 
  • Number of Toes per sock: Five per foot
  • Number of Toes per foot: Should be five also

What are Injinji Socks about?

Traditional socks are much like a mitten. One big pocket with all your toes snug together, each little piggy warming up it’s neighbor with friction, getting all nice and sweaty. This certainly leads to blisters and between-toe blisters are what I used to get. 

That’s a lot of Toes

Injinji socks are like gloves for your feet. They wrap each toe individually, eliminating any skin-on-skin contact thus keeping me from getting blisters between toes. In the summer, I don’t need to keep my toes warm. On the contrary, I want them to be kept cool. This is where I find the Injinjis benefit. By separating my toes they are kept cooler and thus my feet don’t get as hot and sweat less resulting in fewer blisters. 

Is it all Roses and Happy Toes?

Putting on and taking off a pair of Injinji socks is a little unusual at first. I find my toes do not slide into place like fingers into a glove. I have to feed the sock over each toe individually. When removing the socks, each toe will in turn become inside out. So you’ll have push the toes back through before you put them on again. It’s a small price to pay for comfortable feet in my opinion. This means that I typically only wear the Injinji Socks when on the trail. When heading out on town afterward I’ll often wear a normal sock. 

Injinji Mini Crew, one fo the few moments they weren’t on my feet this summer

No-Show vs Mini-Crew

The No-Show and Mini-Crew socks are my two favorite models. They are, from the ankle down, essentially the same socks. Where they differ is the Mini-Crew comes just above ankle height. When I wear sneakers that are a little higher than average I opt for the Mini-Crew for a little extra protection. Most of the time, and my tan line will attest to this, I wear the No-Show.

The Injinji Mini Crew sit above the Ankle Bone
Injinji Mini Crew sit just below the ankle bone

Overview

Over ten years of guiding hiking trips I’ve found one surefire way to ruin a trip: blisters. I count myself fortunate in that I rarely used to get blisters and when I did, it was between my toes. Since I started wearing Injinji Socks I have stopped getting even those blisters. Does this mean Injinji socks will stop everyone from getting blisters? No, of course not. They work for me, and they work extremely well for me. I only wear Injinji Socks while hiking and don’t feel the need to try anything else. 

Sure, when taking off the sock I pull every toe inside out and then have to push them all back through. Then, when putting them on I have to go toe by toe. It’s a small price to pay for foot comfort.    

Pros: Cool, long-wearing socks that make people say WTF when you take your shoes off. Kiss blisters and hot feet goodbye. 

Cons: A little more effort pushing the toes in and out. I’d love a merino version. 

If you are interested in checking out Injinji Socks head on over to their website and pick a pair up!

Black Sheep Adventure sports was provided with free samples of Injinji Socks. This in no way affected our opinion and review.