Product Review: Follow Hollow Performance Alpaca Socks

Follow Hollow

Performance Alpaca Socks

For the past month, I’ve been testing these Alpaca Performance Socks from Follow Hollow. They haven’t been released to the public yet, but the Kickstart campaign is up and running, and off to a great start, so I’m hoping they’ll be available to the soon. (You can find more information on that here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/briandavis/performance-alpaca-socks)

OK, on to the good stuff. I’ve never been one to spend more than a few bucks on socks at the big box discount stores. If they were cheap they’d work for me. I’m also going to publically admit something that my family will likely kill me for. For the purposes of this review, I wore these socks for 14 days straight, without washing them, just to see if they’d start to smell. In my defense, I showered every day, and it wasn’t in the heat of the summer, so it honestly wasn’t all that bad. Now you may be asking yourself, why would I ever need to wear them for that long without washing them? You likely won’t. But if you’re a hiker, hunter or a backpacker, packing a few pair of these instead of one pair for each day you’re off the grid can greatly reduce what you need to take with you.

They wear like iron, even wearing them 14 days in a row. There was no slippage, they stayed put, and they’re wonderfully cushioned. They wash well, (yes, I did wash them, and have washed them several times since my initial 14-day torture test). The first time I washed them, they looked like they might have shrunk a bit, but they went right back in to place when I put them on my foot. They’ve been through several wash/dry cycles and they still fit and feel great.

I’d never worn alpaca fiber before, and these didn’t feel itchy or too hot. I’m looking forward to wearing these bad boys this winter as it gets colder to see if they keep their warmth while they breathe. These are truly high-performance socks made from a proprietary blend of 80% baby alpaca, 15% nylon and 5% spandex, which is imported from Peru and manufactured in North Carolina.

These socks have gotten around. They’ve taken 2 trips with me, they’ve been worn to my barn many times (note to my fellow equestrians, these are fantastic boot socks for riding), they’ve even golfed with me in a balmy 39-degree round today and my feet weren’t cold!

I’m hoping that when they’re available on the market, they will be offered in a variety of solid colors because I will be ordering more. These FollowHollow alpaca socks have ruined me for cheap socks!