As part of my job i regularly kit people out with footwear for cold environments. Everything from scotland in the winter through to -40C cold weather car testing stations. This is the outline we use:
1. Merino Wool socks, eg. Smartwool Expedition treking or Mountaineer. These have a merino wool content of between 75-85% and are probably the most wool rich sock that you can buy. 100% wool socks are useless as they will wear our far too fast. the higher the wool content the less durable the socks become. If this isn't warm enough, add a Smartwool Liner sock. these are around 55% Wool, but are far better than any others for insulation including silk.
Man made fibers eg coolmax or polypropalene will insulate, but not as well as wool and man made fibers rely on your feet being hot in order to move moisture away from your feet
2. Replace the insole of your boots with a Superfeet Footbed. These start from around £32, but make an huge amount of difference to the comfort of your feet, in numerous different ways. How they work would be impossible to explain on a forum, but one of the things they can do is improve the circulation to the feet - thus improving the body's ability regulate its temperature.
3. Ensure your boots are correctly fitted. I'd take a guess that most peoples boots, whilst acceptably comfortable, probably don't actually fit properly. I measure around 50-100 pairs of feet a week as and at least 60-70% of these feet are wearing the wrong size shoes.
Tight shoes restrict the circulation. Loose shoes make the feet work harder, therefore they sweat more(at least 50ml, per foot, per day when at rest :yikes: ). When your feet are sweatier, they will feel colder.
The key to all of this is to get your boots fitted by a shop that follows the Phil Oren Fitsystem for footwear fitting. This is an internationally recognised level of bootfitting expertise and will ensure that problems like cold feet or blisters are practically eliminated.
There are Phil Oren Fitsystem qualified shops across the UK and the US, so most people should have one near them.
Sorry if this is a bit long or seems like a bit of a rant - it's not meant that way. It's just that feet and footwear is my job, and I see people everyday who have had their feet destroyed by being in outdoors environments in the wrong footwear. I hope that this advice will prevent any of you ending up with destroyed feet
1. Merino Wool socks, eg. Smartwool Expedition treking or Mountaineer. These have a merino wool content of between 75-85% and are probably the most wool rich sock that you can buy. 100% wool socks are useless as they will wear our far too fast. the higher the wool content the less durable the socks become. If this isn't warm enough, add a Smartwool Liner sock. these are around 55% Wool, but are far better than any others for insulation including silk.
Man made fibers eg coolmax or polypropalene will insulate, but not as well as wool and man made fibers rely on your feet being hot in order to move moisture away from your feet
2. Replace the insole of your boots with a Superfeet Footbed. These start from around £32, but make an huge amount of difference to the comfort of your feet, in numerous different ways. How they work would be impossible to explain on a forum, but one of the things they can do is improve the circulation to the feet - thus improving the body's ability regulate its temperature.
3. Ensure your boots are correctly fitted. I'd take a guess that most peoples boots, whilst acceptably comfortable, probably don't actually fit properly. I measure around 50-100 pairs of feet a week as and at least 60-70% of these feet are wearing the wrong size shoes.
Tight shoes restrict the circulation. Loose shoes make the feet work harder, therefore they sweat more(at least 50ml, per foot, per day when at rest :yikes: ). When your feet are sweatier, they will feel colder.
The key to all of this is to get your boots fitted by a shop that follows the Phil Oren Fitsystem for footwear fitting. This is an internationally recognised level of bootfitting expertise and will ensure that problems like cold feet or blisters are practically eliminated.
There are Phil Oren Fitsystem qualified shops across the UK and the US, so most people should have one near them.
Sorry if this is a bit long or seems like a bit of a rant - it's not meant that way. It's just that feet and footwear is my job, and I see people everyday who have had their feet destroyed by being in outdoors environments in the wrong footwear. I hope that this advice will prevent any of you ending up with destroyed feet
