SO many types of Thorlos

[Mish19]

I hope someone can help me with an opinion. I have it narrowed down to two different thorlo socks. The Thorlo Walking Mini Crew or the Thorlo Fitness Walking Mini Crew. I am leaning more towards the Thorlo Walking. Anyone have this type? I will be walking around WDW for hours and I am very prone to getting blisters.

 

[mle]

I have purchased both the Walking (Micro) Mini Crew and the Fitness Walking Mini Crew, in addition to the Lite Walking Crew. They all are quite comfortable and keep feet drier and provide more cushioning. They really helped my feet have less of that tired, flat feet feeling after many hours of walking/standing around WDW (no blisters, even with my relatively new shoes!). However, if your current pair of shoes fit just right with a regualr pair of socks on, your feet may feel a little cramped with the Thorlos on, so much that you may consider purchasing new shoes, to better fit for use with your very comfortable socks. The least padded, yet still very comfortable, pair of the three were the Lite Walking pair, which, BTW, were made out of CoolMax as opposed to ThorLon. All the Thorlos that I had purchased are very comfortable, but I primarily used the Lite Walking pair since they were the only ones that I could wear with my existing shoes that didn't make my shoes feel too tight. HTH

 

[Disney Talker]

I have been looking at the Thorlo's too..and bought a pair of the Tennis ones as they are all white, are the walking ones with the gray heel and toe area thicker and better for WDW?? The Tennis ones which I have worn were very comfortable and fit well with my regular sneakers so far. I always buy the same sneaker so I am sure they will all fit fine...any help would be appreciated.

 

[jmminarik]

Theorhetically, each 'model' of thorlo is sewn to function properly based on the type of motion commonly associated with the activity for which they are marketed.

I've gotten the walking, fitness walking, running, and I think light running thorlos, and compared to my old nasty all cotton socks, they all perform magnificently. However, there is a significant difference between the walking and running socks...the running seem to have less padding in the non-impact areas. I'm guessing the ergomonics of walking require more all around padding, plus the fact that one typically doesn't 'run' all day, whereas generally you can walk till you drop.

How the walking differs from the tennis I don't know, but tennis has alot more lateral movement, with lots of hard stop and go's. My guess is the sock is padded for that more than you'd find in the walking sock.

The 'walking' sock I have comes in both white and black. That's great so I can wear them in my casual life (white) and in my enforced business attire life (black).

They also have different ankle heights, but I'm old school. I think socks should at least cover the ankles and shorts should be well above the knee...not socks barely out of the shoe and shorts 1" less than 'floods'.

-Joe
Aspiring curmudgeon who likes his shorts short and his athletic footwear called sneakers.

 

[bcinohio]

I used the Thorlos last summer at WDW and they worked great. They had the gray toe and heal. I also picked up a tip from this board to use spray deoderant on your feet before you put your socks and shoes on and it worked. Between the two I had no blisters. Other years after a few days I had them. Have a great trip.

 

[Chance's Mom]

Okay, I went to Galyans and checked out all the Torlos. Here is what I purchased:

The Thorlo lite walking mini crew made out of Cool Max. They are not as bulky as the other types, and my tennis shoes feel fine with them on. I have a really bad sweaty foot problem and these really help wick the moisture away. They are padded where you need it, but fairly thin in other areas. I didn't like the other types, my feet felt "squished". I love the cool max ones. I am wearing them every day to get ready for my Aug. trip. It feels like you a walking on little pillows!

You can also purchase these on the www.rei.com site

Also--they have the gray heel and come in sizes. I am a size 7 and purchased the Mediums. They fit perfectly.

 

[Disney Talker]

As I said before I had purchased two pairs of the tennis ones and they work fine for walking for me, on an everyday basis. Last week I bought a pair of the thick running ones with the gray heals and I wore them to a local amusement park sunday,, where we walked all day and it was over 90 degrees. These worked perfect for me, my feet were not tired at all, and I wore my older pair of sneakers as I have not purchased the new ones yet. I have arthritis in my feet so need a good cushioning sock. I will be purchasing more pairs of these running socks as they worked perfect for me and the thick padding was exactly the cushioning I needed.

 

[jmminarik]

I just realized I forgot to mention that Thorlos are often available for ~= $4.00 at the Marshalls 'discount' store. These are irregulars, but functionally they're the same...the pad your feet, wick away moisture, and provide shearing protection in the areas likely to rub.

You don't get much choice in style...I had to buy 'Golf' socks for my business wardrobe and 'running' socks for my casual wear, but they're both functional enough for my day-to-day life. Yes, I almost exclusively wear Thorlos, even outside WDW. Maybe that's why I cleaned out the Marshalls in Franklin Mills Mall in NE Philly a few months ago....

-Joe
who 4 years ago would never have thought he'd spend $100.00 on socks.

 

[JC Butterfly]

I just went to the REI web site and found they are selling another brand called Wigwam for a little cheaper. Does anyone know if the Thorlos are the absoulte best or do you think the others would be comparable?

Thanks,
Brenda

 

[jmminarik]

Originally posted by JC Butterfly
I just went to the REI web site and found they are selling another brand called Wigwam for a little cheaper. Does anyone know if the Thorlos are the absoulte best or do you think the others would be comparable?

Thanks,
Brenda

I've not worn any of the wigwams, though wifeypoo has one pair she seems to like. She does seem to wear the thorlos more often though.

Doing a quick search on wigwam.com, it seems they have many different types of socks, many including cotton (a big no no in moisture control). For casual wear, I'd imagine their 'cool' moisture-wicking line would be more than adequete.

However, the Thorlos are all specificially knitted for a particular activity, with dedicated padding zones and dedicated shear zones specifically 'engineered' to provide protection based on the type of use for which they are designed.

Based on my own anecdotal experince, the shear zone works. I had an older pair of 'cheap shoes' I wore one day at work. Over the course of the day, the heel of the Thorlo wore away in the spot about where the achilles tendon attaches to the heel. If I'd had regular socks on, I'd have had a nice big blister there. Needless to say, I remembered why I didn't wear the shoes much, I confirmed my liking of the Thorlos, and I tossed the cheap shoes.

You can compare the two brands if you like. thorlo.com and wigwam.com

-Joe

 

[CarolA]

My suggestion on both Thorlos and shoes is to go buy your shoes at the end of the day with the Thorlos on.

I wear a womens size 9. Last year I did the Avon Breast cancer 3 day walk and went to store that was helping the walkers and got professionally fitted. I wound up buying a 9.5 running shoe. These shoes are great! I had two pairs for the walk and have since replaced them. I had never thought about going up half a size, but the shoe fitter stated that for the Breast cancer walk (60 miles in 3 days) they recommended it. I have a feeling that I will be wearing 9.5 tennis shoes from now on. It really helps when the day is long and hot to have some "expansion room"