Welcome to Roughing It With Ruth: the channel where everything is a bit rough around the edges!
So full disclosure: these Silverlight socks were sent to me for free by the Silverlight company to
review. I did not send them this video first; they didn't have any say in the contents of this video;
this is my honest opinion of these socks, but I did get them for free from the company.
The socks themselves are made from 53 percent merino wool, 40 percent nylon,
5 percent silver threads and 2 percent spandex. They also have a sort of dual layer construction
which means that the inner part of the sock is composed primarily of merino wool and then there's
an outer layer of the sock which is composed primarily of nylon. The socks come in various
different sizes from small to XXL, and I think that makes a really big difference to how they fit
your foot because if you go and look at the size guide and you buy the sock that's correct for you,
it's not too small, and I think that might have been one of the issues with previous socks that
I have had, is that they're just slightly too small for my foot. This sock is definitely not too
small for my foot and although it does have this compression area in the middle, that hasn't caused
me any discomfort at all, ever. I've been testing these socks now for about a month both hiking and
trail running and doing spinning classes in the gym, and for every one of those things they have
been completely, 100 percent comfortable. They're quite thick; much thicker than other synthetic
sports socks that I use for running and working out at the gym, particularly in the toe area
and the heel area. They're just thick enough to provide more padding than what I'm used to,
without being so thick that they make my shoe fit in an uncomfortable way,
which is quite impressive. They also don't move around at all inside of my shoes. I've worn
them for quite long periods of time - the whole day really - and they don't bunch up or crease
or slide down inside of my shoe. Once they're on my feet, they stay on my feet, in that exact same
position without any extra effort required from me and that is very, very nice. The silver threads
that they put into these socks; what they claim is that the silver threads are an antibacterial
agent and they also stop the socks from smelling too bad (with the merino wool contributing to
the anti-stink thing as well) and I was pretty skeptical about that. When I've used these socks
for shorter periods of time, like for a short hike or a short run where I don't sweat too much,
I can't really tell the difference between these socks and my regular synthetic socks.
What I've done to test this out is I've worn a different sock on either foot
and when I finish exercising, I do the sniff test and see which one smells worse, and for shorter
periods of time or less intense exercise, I really can't tell. They smell pretty similar to me; not
terribly bad, either one of them, but when I use them for something where I sweat a lot,
for instance working in the garden when I'm wearing gum boots that are very non-breathable,
so they cause my feet to sweat a lot, or if I go and do a spinning class at the gym where I
sweat like an absolute pig, then I can tell the difference. These socks definitely smell better
than my synthetic socks do. So let's talk about the downsides of these socks. The very first one
that I'm going to have to mention is price: these socks are pretty expensive. For this medium-sized
ankle sock, if you just buy one pair it's 25 dollars. If you buy a five pack of the crew socks
(the longer socks) then it's 119 dollars. So it does range in price quite significantly, depending
on whether it's an ankle sock or crew sock and what pack of socks you're buying, but they are
quite expensive no matter what way you cut it, and one of the reasons for that is that the socks come
with a lifetime guarantee. Now obviously, I can't really test that out in a month's time. I haven't
seen any significant wear on these socks at all, despite wearing them nearly every day except for
when I'm washing them. The other thing that I really dislike about these socks, and I
just think it's a design flaw, honestly (or maybe a marketing flaw is a better way of putting it)
but these socks do have a right and a left sock. They are not interchangeable. The toe box
at the bottom - I don't know if you can see it so very easily here - but the one side slopes
in a lot more and the other side is a lot more straight. On other socks that I've had,
they have an indication of right and left, like an L and an R somewhere on the sock,
to show you whether it's right or left. On these socks, on the inside of the sock, here
on the one side, it says "venture" and on the other side it says "out". Venture out.
You're supposed to be able to use that printing to tell which one is left and which one is right, but
I constantly forget whether "out" is left or right or "venture" is left or right and I keep having to
look up on the website which one is left and which one is right and I find that pretty frustrating.
Also, if you didn't happen to read on the website that there is a left and a right and "venture"
means left and "out" means right, then you're just not going to know that. It's not a very intuitive
thing. Something else that you should also keep in mind if you're intending on using these socks in
very warm climates, like in South Africa in summer at the moment (it is just crazy hot)
the thicker material does mean that these socks are a little bit hotter than other socks. It does
give your feet a lot more cushion and I have been using these in the blistering sun in the summer
and it's been okay, but I can only really wear the ankle socks in summer in South Africa. The
crew socks I can only wear if the weather is cool; if it's raining or something or in the winter,
because the thickness just makes them a little bit too hot. They do manage moisture pretty well:
they don't tend to give me blisters even if my feet do get quite sweaty, but that is something to
keep in mind if you're primarily going to be using the socks in a very warm climate. In conclusion,
I must say these socks are my favorite pair of socks currently. If they're clean, I will
100 percent put these socks on over and above any other sports sock that I own. I really like the
fact that there is additional cushioning on them and I really like the fact that they don't move
around on my foot as much as my other socks do. If you are able to, I would highly recommend getting
these socks. A lifetime guarantee for extremely well constructed, very nicely padded, blister-free
socks is quite a good deal I think. Thank you so much for watching this video! If you'd like to see
more from me, then you can click on my channel name to see videos that I've made in the past,
or you can subscribe to my channel to see videos that I'm going to make in the future.