Wool Socks

[Biciclista]

that's good news then. so don't wash them hot, the best thing to do is gentle cycle, and then line dry; but if you don't remember you're probably not going to ruin them, they hold up well but do shrink a little.

[alpinerabbit]

wash cold/gentle.

and use wool detergent. regular contains protease. wool is protein. bad combo.

[SadieKate]

Why not just email Sock Guy? They have a form on the website.

I wash all my commercially-made wool cycling socks (as well as all my Smart Wool hiking and casual socks) in cold water and tumble dry. I've noticed that some Smart Wool styles dry better than others. In other words, some shrink a bit and some don't. It has seem to become more prevalent with more recently produced items.

My few Sock Guy wool socks seem to be consistent in bahavior with Smart Wool socks. You don't quite know until you try . . . and I have line-dried socks. Too stiff.

[Jolt]

I wash all mine (Smartwool, Fox River and Life is Good) in cold water like I do everything else and put them in the dryer...so far so good.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

All my Smartwool socks go in the gentle cycle washing machine (lukewarm) with Woolite, then into the dryer on LOW. They hold up great, but they all shrink just a little and then stop shrinking.....which is why I tend to buy my wool socks a little on the large side 'cause I know they do shrink just a bit.
With wool in general- NEVER hot wash, NEVER hot dryer. Always gentle everything. Then again, you don't have to wash 100% wool as often as other kinds of clothing items. Wool repels dirt and takes a long time to get stinky.

[Susan Otcenas]

For what it's worth....

I toss all my smartwool socks in with my regular wash (usually on cold) and they ALL go straight into the dryer on regular temps. Most come out *looking* very small, but as soon as they go on my feet, they are back to their normal size again.

I also machine wash AND dry all my smartwool, ibex, sugoi and icebreaker base layers. I would say they initially shrunk a few percent, but that's it. I've had some of these items for YEARS and the washer/dryer routine doesn't seem to have hurt their performance one bit.

YMMV, but my experience has been good overall. In the winter time, they all come out of the dryer with a bit of static cling, but they're base layers so I don't especially care. If I wanted less static, I would probably hang dry them.

Susan

[OakLeaf]

Also FWIW...

it's not the feet part of the socks shrinking that gave me problems, it's the leg part. Cuts off the circulation in my calves, gives me leg cramps. Folding them down to my ankles sometimes helps, if they're not shrunk too much, but it doesn't always help, and it always looks super goofy. Not good for a $15 pair of socks.

And, I never understood why "hard water" was called that until I quit using the dryer in the summer time. You know the only reason why the dryer "softens" clothes when you're not using fabric softener, is because it beats them around for the length of the cycle and breaks up the mineral crystals or whatever. Shaking each item out very thoroughly after you take it off the line has the same effect.