Advnture Verdict
An excellent single-layer garment, made mostly from recycled materials, the 1000 Mile Repreve three-season sock offers comfort, performance and protection for foot-based escapades and adventures across most of the calendar. It has padding where it’s needed, allows feet to breathe when they’re hot and supplies support to your arches without feeling restrictive. They’re built to last, and the price is refreshingly sensible.
Pros
- +
Tough and long lasting
- +
Comfortable
- +
Made with majority recycled content
Cons
- -
Odors can build up
- -
Not warm enough for winter use
- -
Single layer only
You can trust Advnture Our expert reviewers spend days testing and comparing gear so you know how it will perform out in the real world. Find out more about how we test and compare products.
1000 Mile Repreve single-layer three-season hiking socks: first impressions
These 1000 Mile Repreve hiking socks come from a British brand whose name states its aim: 1000 Mile trade on the robustness and long-lasting nature of their foot-hugging products, promising that you’ll enjoy serious mileage from each pair of their socks.
• List price: £21 for a twin pack (UK)
• Weight: 2.7oz / 76g
• Gender specificity: Men’s / Women’s
• Sizes: Men’s: M / L / XL; Women’s: S / M
• Materials: Repreve recycled nylon (78%), polyamide (20%), elastane (2%)
• Colors: Charcoal / Navy / Black
• Best for: Hiking, trekking, day walking, backpacking
Paying a fortune for good walking socks only to have them hole-up after a few treks is a huge bugbear for all hikers, so this is a solid selling point, and in my experience the brand’s claims are largely true. And believe us, you really do need special socks for hiking.
I’ve tested plenty of pairs of 1000 Mile socks now, and while I can’t claim to have actually done 1000 miles in each set, they are all still very much in active service after umpteen trail tramping trips in all sorts of conditions. Longevity isn’t worth much without comfort and performance, of course, so let’s take a closer look at the Repreve single-Layer three-season hiking sock, starting with the components.
Repreve is a material made mostly from recycled nylon, and this accounts for over three-quarters of the fabric used in this sock, giving it nice light environmental footprint (no pun intended). The rest of the material mix is polymide and elastane, which assist with strength, stretch, support and protection, and help the garment keep its shape.
1000 Mile Repreve single-layer three-season hiking socks: on the trails
I have been testing these 1000 Mile Repreve hiking socks on hikes along the South West Coast path in Dorset and Devon, and on alpine adventures in the French Alps amid the Haute Savoie, on trails that wend around the foothills of the Mont Blanc massif.
They are long enough to reach above a high walking boot collar, but these are single-layer socks, and don’t offer enough thermal protection for mid-winter walks in snow and sub-zero conditions. They perform very well across three seasons in a range of positive temperatures, however, and proved perfect for trekking in the Alps in the fall.
While not being exceptionally thick all over, there is extra padding in the places you really need it, especially around the heel and the toes, which I very much appreciated while hiking steep and technical paths to passes and peaks around les Contamines-Montjoie.
Meanwhile, areas of the socks that endure less stress feature ventilation zones, to help with breathability, which is excellent when you’re working up a sweat during steep ascents – as I was during the exceptionally warm daytime conditions I enjoyed in the Alps. On evening walks, however, when temperatures dropped quite dramatically, and when hiking to higher and chillier reaches of the range, the thermal protection was good and my feet never felt cold.
The variations in thickness across the design – and the padding, support and temperature management this facilitates – feeds into the overall comfort rating of the socks, which I consider to be excellent, and further enhanced by the flat toe seams, which cause no irritation whatsoever.
I found that the tailored shape offered appreciable arch support, and my feet did not slip around or move at all within the socks. As a result, even on long trail days there was no rubbing or friction, both primary causes of blisters.
The material mix means the socks offer warmth even when wet, and they also dry quickly. There are no natural fibers employed in the construction of the socks, though, and they can hang on to odors over time. Sold in twin packs for a sensible price, these socks offer excellent value.
